U.S. Youth Championships - Climactic finish on Lake St. Clair

by Jake Fish on 15 Aug 2014 A climactic finish unfolded on Lake St. Clair on Thursday at the 2014 U.S. Youth Championships. It came down to the wire, including the final race of the regatta for several fleets. The crowded leaderboards and windy conditions provided an exciting finish to this pinnacle US Sailing Youth National Championship, hosted by Grosse Pointe Yacht Club.

Scott Sinks (San Diego, Calif.) and Rebecca McElvain (San Diego, Calif.) saved their best effort for the final day. The San Diego tandem proved to be the most consistent team of the week to win the Club 420 fleet after four more races Thursday. Placing second was Martina Sly (Weston, Fla.) and Ian Morgan (Shady Side, Md.). Sinks and McElvain also won the 2014 Club 420 National Championships.


Club 420 Top Five – Final Standings
1. Scott Sinks/Rebecca McElvain, San Diego Yacht Club, [14]-11-9-2-10-4-4-4-2- ; 46
2. Martina Sly/Ian R Morgan, 10-9-2-6-8-12-3-[15]-3- ; 53
3. Campbell D’Eliscu/Briggs D’eliscu, 1-23-5-[34]-1-1-7-21-4- ; 63
4. Thomas Walden/William Hundahl, 12-1-8-11-[16]-16-2-3-13- ; 66
5. Matthew Kaplan/Sean Walsh, 9-8-3-12-14-3-8-12-[19]- ; 69



Malcolm Lamphere (Lake Forest, Ill.) was dominant this week in a tough Laser fleet. He won five of eight races, including the final race of championship. Finishing second was Erik Weis (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.), who placed six points back. He also won three races this week. Lamphere was the runner-up in last year’s Radial competition at the U.S. Youth Championships.

Laser Top Five – Final Standings
1. Malcolm Lamphere, 1-[5]-1-1-1-4-2-1- ; 11
2. Erik Weis, 2-1-5-5-2-1-1-[9]- ; 17
3. Will Dana, 9-[11]-4-3-3-3-5-2- ; 29
4. Marshall McCann, 10-[19/BFD]-6-2-5-2-3-8- ; 36
5. Richie Gordon, 6-6-2-8-7-6-9-[11]- ; 44

Scott Rasmussen (Cape Coral, Fla.) made a late surge on Thursday by posting a 2-1-1 scoring line over the final three races to win the Radial title. He edged Drake Lyon (Grosse Pointe, Mich.), Patrick Shanahan (St. Petersburg, Fla.), and William Marshall (Newton, Mass.) in another closely contested fleet.



Radial Top Five – Final Standings
1. Scott Rasmussen, [31/BFD]-7-5-7-8-4-2-1-2- ; 36
2. Drake Lyon, 10-1-3-4-3-11-6-3-[29]- ; 41
3. Patrick Shanahan, [31/RET]-11-6-1-7-5-1-2-9- ; 42
4. William Marshall, [31/BFD]-2-1-2-2-1-10-12-19- ; 49
5. Max Guerriero, 3-4-12-6-[26]-10-7-4-18- ; 64

Nicolas Muller (Fort Pierce, Fla.) and Ian MacDiarmid (Delray Beach, Fla.) advanced their lead through four more races today to win the 29er fleet by eight points. They won the last two races of the championships, including six overall through 14 races. Sean Brennan (Miami, Fla.) and Pere Puig (Key Biscayne, Fla.) came on strong and placed second. Muller finished third last year at this event in the 29er.

29er Top Five – Final Standings
1. Nicolas Muller/Ian MacDiarmid, [8]-4-2-5-1-2-1-1-3-1-5-2-1-1- ; 29
2. Sean Brennan/Pere Puig, 2-2-3-1-6-7-4-2-1-5-1-1-2-[8]- ; 37
3. Max Brill/Zach Malcolm, 1-1-1-2-4-5-3-3-2-4-[6]-5-4-6- ; 41
4. Jacob Rosenberg/Rhodes Garner, 4-[7]-5-4-3-1-5-5-6-3-4-3-3-4- ; 50
5. Romain Screve/Andrew Person, 6-6-4-6-2-3-6-[7]-4-2-2-6-7-5- ; 59



Chris Keller (Riverside, Conn.) and Peter Schneider (Greenwich, Conn.) held ground to win by four points after four more races Thursday. James Westerberg (Riverside, Conn) Pierce Ornstein (Old Greenwich, Conn.) finished second. Both teams posted an OCS in Race 7. Keller and Schneider did not finish worse than fourth this week outside of the OCS.

I420 Top Five – Final Standings
1. Chris Keller/Peter Schneider, 1-2-2-2-4-2-[10/OCS]-2-4- ; 19
2. James Westerberg/pierce ornstein, 4-6-1-4-1-3-[10/OCS]-1-3- ; 23
3. Kristopher Swanson/Alexander Ron, [10/OCS]-4-3-1-2-1-3-3-8- ; 25
4. Christine Klingler/Victoria Thompson, 3-1-5-7-5-4-[10/OCS]-4-1- ; 30
5. Macey McCann/Lenox Butcher, 2-[7]-4-5-3-6-4-6-5- ; Event website