U.S. Youth Match Racers finish intensive camp

by Stephanie Larsen on 7 Jul 2010 Twenty five U.S. youth sailors just completed an intensive five-day match race training camp run by three-time U.S. national champion and US Sailing Team Alphagraphics women's match race coach Dave Perry (Southport, CT).

The Camp was hosted by the U.S. Sailing Center of Sheboygan and the Sheboygan Yacht Club, and was sailed in the Center's Sonars. The sailors were from the east, midwest and west coast of the U.S., and represented a range of match racing skill and experience. The Camp began with three 12-hour days of classroom sessions, demonstrations, on-the-water training and video debriefs in which Perry focused on the tactics and communication needed for strong starting and downwind tactics. The Camp ended with a two day regatta, with Perry continuing to coach all the teams before and after the races.

Assisting Perry was a team of international and national umpires, led by Henry Menin of the U.S. Virgin Islands, and including Steve Wrigley (Fayetteville, NC) and Tom Rinda (St. Petersburg, FL). 'Having the quality of umpires we had was a strong element of the Camp,' said Perry; 'and they were each great about explaining to the sailors the nuances of the calls they made and of how the game is viewed by the umpires.' Perry was also assisted by US Sailing Center of Sheboygan Executive Director Rich Reichelsdorfer from Sheboygan, who ran drills and races for the sailors during the clinic phase, and then ran the regatta. 'I was impressed with the improvement each team made from the beginning of the Camp to the end,' said Reichelsdorfer; 'by the end you couldn't tell who had come to the Camp with more or less experience than the others.'

In fact, it was the team of Will Haeger, Peter Holz, Sean Hudson and Alex Curtiss from Lake Forest, Illinois who won the regatta having arrived at the Camp with essentially no prior match racing experience. Racing for Lake Beulah Yacht Club, Haeger's team went 5-1 in the single round robin event to tie for first with Andrew Mason's team from Newport Harbor Yacht Club, with crew Peter Kinney and Brooks Clark. As Haeger had defeated Mason, his team won the tie-breaker. Third in the regatta was Ryan Davidson, Walker Banks, Megan Kenny and Brandon Wood from the Balboa Yacht Club.

By winning the regatta, Haeger received an invitation to the prestigious Governor's Cup event, an international youth match racing championship hosted by the Balboa Yacht Club in Corona Del Mar, California in July.

'I couldn't be more pleased with the quality of the Camp this year,' said Perry; 'Sheboygan is a great host for these kinds of events. In our first year, which was last year, we had six sailors; this year we were up to 25. We can accomodate 36 and hope to fill it next summer. This is part of a national effort to grow youth match racing in the U.S. and help train our young sailors to become experienced match racers. It fits well with the conversion intercollegiate sailing has made for this fall, switching their sloop racing championship to match racing. We plan to schedule similar youth match racing camps around the country in 2010 and into 2011, with the goal of making match racing more accessible to youth sailors and growing the sport.'



US Sailing Center Sheboygan
The US Sailing Center Sheboygan is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to the advancement of the sport of sailing. Its mission is to help people discover sailing and thrive at the sport regardless of their age, income, ability or disability. We believe that those who come to understand the fundamentals of sailing, teamwork and seamanship understand more about themselves, others and the world around them.

www.ussailingcentersheboygan.org