(St. Petersburg, Florida)- The 2019 edition of the U.S. J/70 Youth Championship will be taking place from November 22nd to 24th on the sunny, warm waters of Tampa Bay. Hosting the top J/70 youth teams from across the country will be the St. Petersburg Yacht Club, in St. Petersburg, FL.
The regatta will be sailed in supplied J/70s from StPYC’s Junior Sailing Center. The goal of this event is to help develop and build leading-edge junior keelboat sailing programs across America. Selection for this year's event was done by application for the ten spots, with skippers and crews submitting their sailing CV's to the U.S. J/70 Youth Selection Committee.
Like the inaugural event held last year in Newport, RI by SAIL Newport, the youth teams will be sailing in a round-robin format and short-course racing of less than 20 minutes each. The action should be fast and furious and will be held just off the beautiful St Petersburg city waterfront.
The following teams have qualified for the event:
- Augusta Sailing Club (Georgia)- Nathan Bowen skipper, with crew of brother Mike Bowen, Isabel Smith, and sisters Ellie & Lucy Spearman
- Brown Sailing (Rhode Island)- Jack Murphy skipper, with crew of Blaire McCarthy, and siblings Chase & Julia Reynolds
- Cooper River YC (New Jersey)- Zack York skipper, with crew of Sean Groskoph and friends
- Eastern YC (Massachusetts)- Haley Andreasen skipper, with crew of Jack Dalton, Phil Jeffries, Anders Kearney, Anna O'Conner
- Lauderdale YC (Florida)- Joey Meagher skipper with crew of Garret Dixon, Sam Juskiewicz, and Bobby Rielly
- Little Traverse YC (Michigan)- Trip Wagner skipper, with crew of Caroline Grin, Maren Matthews, Jack Miller, and Kate Moran
- Mudratz Youth Team (Connecticut)- Lily Flack skipper, with crew of Jack Derry, Dylan Flack, Jonathan Gardner, Tanner Kelly
- San Francisco YC (California)- Jim Golden skipper, with crew of Luke Koerschner, Hannah Sellers, and Caleb Yoslov
- South Carolina YC (South Carolina)- James Thurlow skipper
- St Petersburg YC (Florida)- Heather Kerns skipper, with crew of Emily Allen, Heidi Hicks, and Emma Shakespeare
- TS Golden Bear (California)- Kyle Collins skipper, with crew of Justin Zmina, and brothers Brock & River Paquin.