(St. Petersburg, Florida)- Eleven teams vied for the third annual J/70 U.S. Youth National Championship, hosted by St. Petersburg Yacht Club in St. Petersburg, FL from November 22-24. The weekend was dominated by the teams of San Francisco Yacht Club/Annapolis Yacht Club, led by James Golden, and Cal Maritime, led by Kyle Collins. Although they were tied on points heading in the 11th and final battle, it was Golden’s team who earned the victory by four points, with crew of Luke Koerschner, Hannah Sellers and Caleb Yoslov. They ended with 23 points to Collins’ 27. Golden and Koerschner are from Annapolis YC; Sellers and Yoslov from San Francisco YC. The Cal Maritime team consisted of Collins, plus crew of Justin Zmina, and brothers Brock & River Paquin.
Light winds prevented racing on Friday, but conditions allowed all 11 intended races to be completed over the next two days.
The goal of this event has been to help develop and build leading-edge junior keelboat sailing programs across America. Youth teams (representing CA, CT, FL, GA, MA, MD, MI, NJ and SC) competed on provided J/70s with class sails. Boats were identically rigged and tuned at base settings recommended by the sailmaker.
As teams gathered on Thursday for a practice race, local J/70 expert Marty Kullman conducted on-water coaching and classroom lessons at SPYC. Each youth team was permitted up to five crew, age 20 or younger as of December 31, 2019.
These were the eleven teams that participated in 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.
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