This past week Nico Schultz and I emerged victorious after a long and tiring regatta in Corpus Christi, TX and were named the 2013 US Youth Multihull Champions. We decided earlier in the year to begin training together for this regatta, the US Youth Sailing Championship, for several reasons. First of all, this regatta also holds the title of US Youth Multihull Championship. Also, it is the first of two qualifying regattas that name the members of the 2014 US Youth Worlds Team which will be traveling to Tavira, Portugal for the 2014 ISAF Youth World Championship. We trained weekly in the F16 together up until I left for Cyprus. After that we were unable to practice together because we were both traveling to different places at different times. We were finally reunited in Corpus Christi a few days before the event, allowing us some time to rig the boat and work out any kinks in our teamwork before the championship began.
The conditions we encountered at this event were predictable yet challenging. We woke up every morning to a light breeze that was farther to the right than was predicted for the afternoons. At around eleven o'clock to noon the wind would die and then shift to the left, squaring off to the land, and would progressively build to speeds reaching the upper teens with the occasional gust over twenty knots. This posed challenges for Nico and I as we are a lighter team, yet through hard work during racing and the use of energy-saving tactics while waiting between races we were able to remain consistent with our finishing positions and ended up winning twelve of the fourteen races sailed in the regatta.
During our down time some of the sailors decided to take advantage of the venue, particularly the breakwater separating the yacht club from the bay, and went kiteboarding, putting on a show for the locals.
Sailing in Corpus Christi served as my second time participating in a sailing event in Texas, but it was an experience to be remembered. The racing, the competitors, and even the near-unbearable heat all combined to make this event unique. I am happy to have had the opportunity to sail in this event and would recommend spending some time sailing in Corpus Christi, especially if you like big breeze!
US Sailing wrote several recaps of the regatta that provide information on all the racing classes.
Day 1 Recap
Day 2 Recap
Day 3 Recap
Day 4 Recap
Also Nico and I are featured in several videos from the event and were interviewed in the day two recap video. Check it out!
Day 2 Highlights Nico and I are interviewed.
Day 3 Highlights
Youth Champs Wrapup
The conditions we encountered at this event were predictable yet challenging. We woke up every morning to a light breeze that was farther to the right than was predicted for the afternoons. At around eleven o'clock to noon the wind would die and then shift to the left, squaring off to the land, and would progressively build to speeds reaching the upper teens with the occasional gust over twenty knots. This posed challenges for Nico and I as we are a lighter team, yet through hard work during racing and the use of energy-saving tactics while waiting between races we were able to remain consistent with our finishing positions and ended up winning twelve of the fourteen races sailed in the regatta.
Sailing in Corpus Christi served as my second time participating in a sailing event in Texas, but it was an experience to be remembered. The racing, the competitors, and even the near-unbearable heat all combined to make this event unique. I am happy to have had the opportunity to sail in this event and would recommend spending some time sailing in Corpus Christi, especially if you like big breeze!
US Sailing wrote several recaps of the regatta that provide information on all the racing classes.
Day 1 Recap
Day 2 Recap
Day 3 Recap
Day 4 Recap
Also Nico and I are featured in several videos from the event and were interviewed in the day two recap video. Check it out!
Day 2 Highlights Nico and I are interviewed.
Day 3 Highlights
Youth Champs Wrapup