Chubb U.S. Junior Championships day two

by Jake Fish on 13 Aug 2009 Light winds and cool temperatures set in for day two of US SAILING’s 2009 U.S. Chubb Junior Championships. Marblehead’s typical southeasterly sea breeze appears to be on vacation this week as a 5-to-10 knot wind came in from the north, north-east for the second day in a row.

The conditions created a combination of swell and chop for the 93 young racers competing for single -, double, and triplehanded national titles.

The venue for this week’s championships may be Massachusetts, but the leader board is all California. By the conclusion of another long day of racing, junior sailors from the Golden State now dominate the event, leading in all three divisions going into the last day.

The 2007 triplehanded champions, Scott and Evan Hoffman (Escondido, Calif.), racing with crew Colleen Hackett (El Cajon, Calif.), sailed a perfect day today, winning all five Rhodes 19 races to move from second to first overall.
'They just had a great feel for keeping the boat moving through the swell,' Coach Scott Ikle said of the Hoffman-Hackett performance today. 'They just seemed to do everything well.'

Lucas Adams (Middletown, R.I.), Dylan Vogel (Jamestown, R.I.), and Sam Hallowell (Middletown, R.I.) now trail team Hoffman/Hoffman/Hackett by seven points. Nathan Fast (Noank, Conn.), Ben Wilkinson (Noank, Conn.) and O.J. O’Connell (Niantic, Conn.), remain in third.

After nine races with all top-five finishes, Laser leader Kevin Laube (San Diego, Calif.) has yet to relinquish first place. He leads the event by a solid 18 points over Dan Nickerson (Noank, Conn.). Last year’s singlehanded champion, E.J. O’Mara (Burton, Mich.), held onto third place after yo-yoing throughout the day from sixth to fourth and back to third, aided by the throw out that came into play after Race 7. Second place overall in the Lasers is still very much up for grabs tomorrow as just two points separate second and fourth place.

The Club 420 top three also changed several times today. Kieran Chung (Newport Beach, Calif.) and Ryan Davidson (Costa Mesa, Calif.) moved into first place after the team’s two firsts and a third more than compensated for an OCS in the last race. They currently lead the event by nine points. Two OCSs dropped yesterday’s leading team, Jack Jorgensen (Pasadena, Calif.) and Samantha Gebb (Long Beach, Calif.), to fourth, while Michael Grove (Lafayatte, Calif.) and Alex Delle Cese (Alameda, Calif.) are in second after winning Race 8. Also making a jump to the leader board were Nick Johnstone (Jamestown, R.I.) and Katia DaSilva (E. Greenwich, R.I.), who moved up six positions to end the day in third.

The Championships conclude tomorrow. Forecasts are calling for another cool day with northeasterly winds between 8 and 10 knots. This event is sponsored by Chubb Group of Insurance Companies, LaserPerformance and Gill North America, and hosted by the Pleon, Eastern, Corinthian, and Boston Yacht Clubs.

US SAILING’s U.S. Junior Championships are held annually at different sailing venues across the country. An elite group of racers between the ages of 12 and 18 qualify to represent their region through ladder event eliminations held among more than 1000 yacht clubs and 150 community sailing programs across country.

Event website click here