2014 Long Beach Junior Match Race - NHYC Team of Shannon and Hou win

by Rick Roberts on 8 Jun 2014 Patrick Shannon and Newport Harbor Yacht Club teammate Joseph Hou won the second annual Long Beach Junior Match Race Invitational ISAF Grade 5 match race Saturday in this event hosted by Long Beach Yacht Club and sponsored by Kaenon Polarized.

Racing on LBYC’s fleet of CFJs (Club Flying Junior) against seven other teams ranging in age from 10 to 18 years old, Shannon and Hou won six of their seven races held in Long Beach’s Alamitos Bay in dominating fashion.

When asked how much match racing experience they had, Shannon said, 'Hou and I sailed in this (regatta) last year and we’ve sailed as crew in other races.'

The local June gloom overcast burned off early and the warm sun brought out solid breezes of seven to eleven knots. Just enough wind for good racing but not too much for the young sailors who, some of which, have little match racing experience.

'This was a lot of fun today,' Shannon said. 'We had perfect wind, a great host club and great sponsorship. Our goal was to go undefeated today and we came pretty close.'

Taking second place on a tiebreaker was Balboa Yacht Club skipper Porter Killian and his teammate Peter Joslin beating out their friends Jack Joslin (Peter’s brother) and Max Brennen who took third place on the day.

Hou talked about today’s regatta.

'We met a lot of friends today we haven’t seen in a while,' Hou said. 'It was great.'

When asked what future sailing plans they have, Hou replied, 'We plan on doing a lot of racing together,' Hou said. 'In December, we plan on racing in the Orange Bowl (International Youth) Regatta in Miami in 420s.'

The inspiration for the regatta came from LBYC’s Junior Commodore Jack Berg who raced in the inaugural regatta last year.

'My dad (Eric Berg) and I were looking at the America’s Cup AC45s on TV and I said, ‘it would be really cool to have a match race for juniors.’

'The next day my dad was at the club’s board of directors meeting and mentioned my idea. Then it just kept growing.'

Final Results:

1. Patrick Shannon/Joseph Hou, NHYC, 6 wins - 1 loss
2. Porter Killian/Peter Joslin, BYC, 5 - 2 (tiebreaker)
3. Jack Joslin/Max Brennen, BYC, 5 - 2
4. Luke Van Lant/ Beth Golison, LBYC, 3 - 4 (tiebreaker)
5. Bastien Rasse/Gavin McJones, Cal YC, 3 - 4
6. Alan Peoples/Tren Turigliatto, Alamitos Bay YC/LBYC, 3 - 4
7. Ryan Schack/Max Berg, ABYC/LBYC, 2 - 5
8. Owen Schaffer/Evan Arnold, Coronado YC, 1 - 6