San Diego Yacht Club - Sinks and McElvain are an unstoppable pair

by Katelyn Montero on 6 Feb 2015 If Scott Sinks and Rebecca McElvain weren’t already on your list of young sailors to watch out for, the Yacht Racing Union of Southern California is making sure that they are now. Together, Sinks and McElvain are an unstoppable pair. As a pair, they have collected a number of titles, including first place in the 2014 U.S. Sailing Youth Championship and 2014 C420 National Championship. They both helped steer Point Loma High School to become three-time High School Team Race National Champions and to win the 2014 ISSA Mallory High School National Championship. Now, both young sailors are recognized for their individual contributions to the sport.

Sinks, winner of the Youth Excellence Award, is no stranger to accolades. His pursuits as a youth sailor have led him to become two-time CFJ National Champion, the 2013 SDYC Junior Commodore and a sailing coach at SDYC.

McElvain, receiving the award for Yachtswoman Excellence, placed fourth at the 2014 Ida Lewis Jr. Women’s Championship and placed third at the 2014 C420 Orange Bowl. She also coaches at SDYC.

Both sailors grew up sailing in the SDYC Junior Program, and cite San Diego’s year-round practice weather and the great coaches at SDYC as their main secrets to success. 'We are so lucky to be able to sail and have good wind conditions year-round,' Sinks says. 'Along with the stellar conditions, the facility and the coaches at SDYC are top of the line.'

For McElvain, one of the Junior Program’s greatest strengths is the strong competition from fellow sailors. 'I really owe a lot of my success to having such an amazing program. It encouraged me to always improve and never gave me an excuse to slack off in practice.'

For Sinks and McElvain, who are 19 years old and 17 years old respectively, this is only the beginning of their sailing careers. A current student at Boston College, Sinks is focused on tackling the demanding requirements of a varsity college team. 'College sailing is the only type of sailing on my plate right now,' Sinks said.

McElvain, still attending Point Loma High School, has her eyes set on a championship repeat. 'Winning Youth Champs was a great experience. It was the perfect way to finish sailing with Scotty,' McElvain cites as her favorite sailing memory from the past year. 'Right now, I’m focused on the I420 to get ready for Youths again this year.'

We expect this is still only the beginning for these talented athletes, and will definitely be keeping our eyes out to see where sailing takes them next. Congratulations Scott and Rebecca!