Five Junior Olympic Sailing Festivals in August

by Cynthia Goss on 17 Jul 2007 By August 1st, the 2007 USA Junior Olympic (JO) Sailing Festival season will be more than halfway over. And if you could tally the results from this national family of regattas coordinated by US SAILING and supported by sponsors West Marine, Gill, and Active.com, you'd see a lot more than medals handed out for regatta wins. You'd see hundreds of young sailors from throughout the United States who have already had hours of fun this summer on the water at JO regattas—improving their skills, making new friends, and laying a foundation for a lifetime of enjoyment under sail.

A total of nine events are left in the 2007 series. August events are coming to East Coast and West Coast locales, and young sailors ages 8 to 21 still have plenty of opportunity to visit the starting line of one of these national events (see schedule below).

JO regattas are hosted by clubs and organizations located throughout the country. Each host club selects the boats sailed at their event, but many of the JO events feature popular youth classes such as the Optimist, Club 420, Laser, Laser Radial, Laser 4.7, high-performance 29er, and several windsurfing classes (see below for classes raced at the August regattas).

The 2007 series kicked off in June and will conclude in Miami (Fla.) in December with the 'Orange Bowl,' the largest event of the season that consistently draws over 600 young sailors. The 2007 events are expected to attract a total of some 4,000 sailors.

The calendar below includes details of all August JO events.

Aug 10-12
USA Junior Olympic Sailing Festival - Rochester
Rochester YC, N.Y.
Classes: Laser, Laser Radial, Byte, Club 420, Optimist
Event contact: staff(at)rochesteryc.com
www.rochesteryc.com

Aug 11-12
USA Junior Olympic Sailing Festival - Long Island
Sayville YC, Blue Point, N.Y.
Classes: Laser, Laser Radial, Laser 4.7, Sunfish, Club 420, Optimist
Event contact: Doug Shaw - shawd(at)sayville.k12.ny.us
www.sayvilleyachtclub.com

Aug 13-15
USA Junior Olympic Sailing Festival - Mass Bay Sailing Youth Regatta
Lincoln Boat Club, Hingham, Mass.
Classes: Laser, Laser Radial, Club 420, N-10, Optimist
Event contact: Ellen Dresser - edresser(at)lincolnmaritime.org
www.lincolnmaritime.org

Aug 13-16
USA Junior Olympic Sailing Festival - Narragansett Bay Jr. Race Week
Barrington YC, R.I.
Classes: Laser, Laser Radial, Laser 4.7, Sunfish, Club 420, Optimist
Event contact: NBYAAdmin(at)nbya.org
www.nbya.org

Aug 18-19
USA Junior Olympic Sailing Festival - Northwest Youth Sailing Championship
The Gorge, Cascade Locks, Ore.
Classes: Laser, Laser Radial, Club 420, 29er, Optimist
Event contact: Brian Ledbetter - brianl(at)seattleyachtclub.org
www.seattleyachtclub.org

For more information about USA Junior Olympic Sailing, please visit www.ussailing.org/youth/racing/jo or contact Lee Parks, US SAILING Inshore Director, at 401-683-0800 or via e-mail at juniorolympics(at)ussailing.org.

The United States Sailing Association (US SAILING) is the national governing body for sailing. Founded in 1897 and headquartered in Portsmouth, Rhode Island, the organization provides leadership for the sport of sailing in the United States. US SAILING offers training and education programs for instructors and race officials, supports a wide range of sailing organizations and communities, issues offshore rating certificates, and provides administration and oversight of competitive sailing across the country, including National Championships and the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Sailing Teams.

For more information, please visit www.ussailing.org.