North U 2015 U.S. Youth Match Racing Clinics Underway

by Dave Perry on 29 Jan 2015 North U kicked off its 2015 season of youth match racing clinics around the U.S. with a successful clinic hosted by the Texas Corinthian Yacht Club in Kemah, Texas on Galveston Bay near Houston.

Forty high school and college sailors spent two-and-a-half days learning about match racing and training in Sonars on flat water and 6-12 knots of breeze. Coaching the clinic was four-time U.S. match racing national champion, Dave Perry. 'I was so impressed with how quickly the sailors picked up the match racing moves and the techniques for sailing the Sonar fast,' said Perry; 'the sailors ended the clinic wanting more, which is perfect.'

Stewart Masterson, TCYC fleet captain and the principle organizer of the clinic said, 'Dave moved everyone in the audience with his enthusiasm, energy and integrity for sailing and for life. This was perhaps the single most important weekend for junior sailing in TCYC history.'

North U currently has twelve match racing clinics scheduled around the U.S. in 2015, including southern California, Chicago, New Orleans and Annapolis. Over half of these clinics are targeted specifically for college and high school aged sailors, and require no prior match racing experience. Thanks to the generosity of an anonymous match racing enthusiast, the cost to participate is very low.

The next youth clinic is February 14-15, at the Balboa Yacht Club (Corona del Mar, CA) in the Governor’s Cup 21. BYC is the host for the 2015 Rose Cup (the U.S. Youth Match Racing National Championship) and the 2015 Governor’s Cup (an international youth match racing championship). Information on the North U clinics, and the Rose and Governor’s Cups, can be found here