Barrows leads U.S. Singlehanded Champs

by Rich Roberts on 20 Aug 2005 The U.S. Virgin Islands have produced Tim Duncan of the NBA champion San Antonio Spurs and Peter Holmberg, the America's Cup helmsman who may be closer to Thomas Barrows' heart.

And who is Thomas Barrows? Perhaps the next world-class sailor to come off the island of St. Thomas, judging by recent performances including Friday's opening day of the U.S. Singlehanded Championship for the George O'Day Trophy, hosted by the Alamitos Bay Yacht Club.

Barrows, who will turn 18 in November, was among 23 competitors from Hawaii to the Caribbean who qualified or were invited to the regatta on their recent success. He won the U.S. Youth Championship earlier this summer and was second in the U.S. Junior Singlehanded Championship just last weekend. Here, against rivals ranging to age 50, little seemed to change. He won the first two races and placed sixth in the third to lead Kevin Taugher of nearby Huntington Beach (3-4-2) by one point with six races remaining through Sunday.

All are sailing Lasers, an Olympic class boat since 1996. Friday's other winner was Vann Wilson, 49, of Long Beach, who at Barrows' age had may not have heard of a Laser, which was introduced in 1971.

‘I like sailing against older guys,’ Barrows said with all due respect. ‘It's different [than sailing against other teenagers] because they're bigger and it's more of a challenge going upwind against them in a breeze.’

There was a breeze Friday, the classic Long Beach southwesterly sea breeze building from 9 or 10 knots at the first noon start through Barrows' two wins until the velocity reached 15---advantage to big old guys and other beefy rivals in keeping their tender little 14-foot boats flat and fast, disadvantage to the 160-pound Barrows.

‘It got a little too windy for me in the last race,’ Barrows said.

But he may learn to love the venue, as Holmberg did when he was winning four Congressional Cup match racing titles in five years.

Wilson is tied for fourth with Peter Phelan of Santa Cruz, Calif., behind Taugher and Reed Johnson of Toms River, N.J.---and feeling lucky to be there.
Johnson led Taugher most of the way before Wilson worked his way past both of them near the end of a hard, choppy upwind slog on the last eight-tenths of a mile leg.

‘Kevin and Reed were corralling each other and let me slip in there,’ Wilson said. ‘[Call it] one for the old guys. That was a thrill. I can go home now.’

Not likely. Youth may have its day, but not necessarily if the wind keeps blowing like it did Friday. Saturday the challenge gets tougher when the race course moves outside the breakwater into open ocean where the swells bring another dimension into the equation.

‘I'm looking forward to it,’ Barrows said. ‘I hear there are bigger waves out there. That'll be good going downwind, and maybe that will help me.’

Wilson said, ‘The kid is an excellent downwind sailor, and so is Reed. The downwind sailors are going to do well.’

The one female competing---Anne Bowen, 22, of Charleston, S.C.---is only 140 pounds and she expected to struggle in double-digit breeze, which she did with finishes of 21, 23 and 22.

‘As long as it's not too breezy I'm OK,’ she said. ‘Otherwise, I'm just glad to be here.’

The event is once again sponsored by Vanguard Sailboats, which provided the Lasers, and Rolex Watches, which has consistently recognized excellence in every important arena of competitive sailing dating to the 1958 America's Cup. Vanguard has been a dedicated sponsor of numerous U.S. national championships for more than a decade.

The U.S. Singlehanded Championship is one of US Sailing's 11 national adult championships.

More information about it: http://www.ussailing.org/championships/adult/ussc

The leaders (23 boats; 3 of 9 races):

1. Thomas Barrows, St. Thomas, U.S.V.I., 1-1-6, 8 points.
2. Kevin Taugher, Huntington Beach, 3-4-2, 9.
3. Reed Johnson, Toms River, N.J., 7-3-3, 13.
4. Vann Wilson, Long Beach, 12-5-1, 18.
5. Peter Phelan, Santa Cruz, Calif., 5-6-7, 18.

Complete results: www.ussailing.org and www.abyc.org