U.S. Youth Match Racing Championship - Rose Cup preview

by Jake Fish on 17 Jun 2015 The launch of the 2015 US Sailing National Championship season will be sparked this week by the U.S. Youth Match Racing Championship for the Rose Cup, hosted by Balboa Yacht Club in Corona del Mar, Calif. on Friday, June 19 through Sunday, June 21.

The Rose Cup, founded by members of the Balboa Yacht Club and the Newport-Balboa Sailing and Seamanship Association (NBSSA), started as an invitational youth match race event in 2010. The mission is to promote youth match racing in the U.S. and improve the skills of competitors in national and international competition from around the country.

US Sailing is proud to be the organizing authority of this new US Sailing National Championship. In 2014, the event founders and the Rose Cup Committee, under the direction of US Sailing Match Racing Committee Chair and four-time U.S. Match Racing Champion Dave Perry, successfully elevated the Rose Cup to an official US Sailing National Championship.

“We could not be more excited to finally have a true youth match racing national championship in the U.S.,” said Perry. “It will be quite an honor for the team who wins. Match racing is an exciting discipline in our sport, and we want to encourage the 16 to 20 year old group to get involved and be proficient at match racing, as this is an excellent bridge to higher levels of sailing.”

The U.S. Youth Match Racing Championship is an invitational event based on requests for invitation from qualified skippers. The event will be sailed in the Governor’s Cup 21 sailboat, with teams of three or four sailors (maximum crew weight of 578 pounds) who must be at least 16 and no older than 20 years old in 2015.

Coaching and instruction will play a major role in these sailors’ experience this week in Corona del Mar. Competing sailors will take part in a North U Advanced Match Racing Clinic led by Dave Perry on Thursday, June 18.