Sail-World.com : Young Sailors compete in Chubb U.S. Junior Champs
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Young Sailors compete in Chubb U.S. Junior Champs |
Chicago Yacht Club's Belmont Harbor Station is gearing up to host the country's top youth sailors at the Chubb U.S. Junior Championships from July 28 through August 1.
Sponsored by the Chubb Group of Insurance Companies and LaserPerformance, the events will feature competition in single-, double-, and triple handed classes sailing Lasers, Club 420s and Lightnings respectively. Accomplished junior sailors from across the country have qualified to race in this regatta based on their performance in a ladder system of numerous eliminations held at dozens of sailing organizations nationwide.
The Laser fleet will race for the Smythe Trophy. Established in 1974, this award is named for D. Verner Smythe, who was dedicated to organizing US Sailing Championships. The competition in this class will be closely contested as last year's third place finisher Caleb Paine (San Diego, Calif.) square off against Michael Schalka (Seattle, Wash.), who took 6th at the 2008 ISSA High School Singlehanded Nationals, and Cleve Hancock (St. Petersburg, Fla.), last year's 6th place finisher and also a top-ten finisher at the ISAF Youth Worlds Qualifier.
The Bemis Trophy, established in 1975, will be awarded to the winning duo in the 420 fleet and is named for F. Gregg Bemis who was known for his work on the Racing Rules of Sailing and his leadership role in judging at junior and intercollegiate regattas. This fleet is comprised of a deep field of talented double handed sailing crews.
Among them are returning skippers Lindsay Grove (Lafayette, Calif.) and Tyler Wooldridge (Kailua, Hawaii), who placed seventh and eighth respectively in 2007. They will face off against the experienced team of skipper William Haeger and Laura McKenna (both from Lake Forest, Ill.). Haeger finished 10th at the ISAF Youth Worlds Qualifying event this year (single-handed) while McKenna was crew for the runner-up boat at the U.S. Junior Women's Doublehanded Championship in 2007.
The Lightning class will be competing for the coveted Sears Cup – US Sailing's oldest trophy - named for Commodore Herbert M. Sears of Eastern Yacht Club (Marblehead, Mass.) who founded the competition in 1921.
The 2008 triplehanded fleet will be comprised largely of newcomers to the event, including skippers Luke Adams (Middletown, R.I.) who is fresh off racing at the U.S. Youth Sailing Championship, Nevin Snow (San Diego, Calif.), who took 4th in the multihull division at the Youth Worlds Qualifier, and Will Stocke (Sarasota, Fla.) who is moving to the triplehanded division after taking 11th in the doublehanded event last year.
During the competition, daily results, updates, and photos will be posted at: www.ussailing.org/championships/youth/usjr/2008/DailyReport/DailyReport.asp.
For more information about each event, please visit the individual event websites at:
- Singlehanded Championship at www.ussailing.org/championships/youth/usjr/single;
- Doublehanded Championships at www.ussailing.org/championships/youth/usjr/double; and
- Triplehanded Championship at
www.ussailing.org/championships/youth/usjr/triple.
US Sailing's Chubb U.S. Junior Championships are part of US Sailing's National Championship series. For more information about these championships, please visit www.ussailing.org/championships.
by Marlieke de Lange Eaton
10:38 AM Thu 24 Jul 2008 GMT
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