2014 ISAF Youth Worlds Qualifier

My teammate Nico Schultz and I have been officially named to the 2014 ISAF Youth Worlds Team and will be sailing in this event in Tavira, Portugal. This summer Nico and I will travel to Europe, meet up with ten other sailors that will also be representing Team USA, and compete in the most prestigious youth sailing event in the world. Each country that is able to support a team sends sailors to race in different boats including the Laser, I420, 29er, RS:X, and SL16. This will be my second year at the event and I will bring experience as well as a matured perspective that will hopefully be of benefit to all members of Team USA.

In order to qualify to be a member of this selective team, Nico and I competed at two qualifying events over this past year to demonstrate our commitment and skill in the multihull class. The first event, the US Youth Sailing Championship, took place during August in Corpus Christi, TX and presented us with rough sailing conditions and 15-20 knot winds every day. The second event, held during January in Miami, FL, differed from the first as we sailed in a mixed fleet of F16s and Nacra 17s and had more diverse atmospheric conditions. The members of Team USA were then chosen based on the combined results from the two regattas. This two-part qualification system gave sailors a chance to race at two venues and in different weather conditions, truly forcing consistency in racing results.

2013 US Youth Sailing Championship

Training was absolutely essential to our success in these two regattas. We spent our time in the months leading up to both events sailing F16s, F18s, Club and High School 420s, and various keelboats in order to gain experience racing against the level of competition we expect to face in Tavira. Of course it is essential to perfect boathandeling and speed in our specific class; however, we understood the importance of becoming well rounded athletes and did not limit ourselves to only multihulls. In addition to spending time sailing, we performed boat maintenance to make sure our equipment would function properly in use and improved our physical fitness by exercising regularly in the gym. Sailing is a physically demanding sport and as regattas are typically held over several days muscular endurance allows sailors to remain strong throughout an event.

A view of downtown Miami.

Now it is time for us to focus on the path that lies ahead. Nico and I are planning on attending several regattas in the near future, including the F16 World Championship. In late June F16 sailors of all ages from around the world will travel to Newport, RI and race in a five day regatta. The winners will become the new F16 World Champions and the top team from the United States will be named the F16 National Champion and take ownership of the perpetual trophy Sam and I claimed in Racine, WI last summer. Even though we will not be sailing together for this event, Nico and I will be able to use the experience gained from sailing in Newport and apply it to the Youth Worlds. We are both ready to display our hard work and commitment to our sport at upcoming regattas and I am especially excited about having a second opportunity to represent my country in Europe this summer.

To read the full press release on the 2014 ISAF Youth Worlds Team click here.

To read the full press release on the 2014 US Sailing Development Team click here.

US Youth Sailing Championship

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

2013 US Youth Championship

After sending in an application a few month's ago, I finally heard back from US Sailing yesterday and found out that I was accepted to compete at the US Youth Sailing Championship! This summer one of my teammates, Nico Schultz, and I will travel to the racing venue at Corpus Christi, TX and sail against stiff competition from around the country. This event is also one of the two that qualify full youth teams for the 2014 ISAF Youth World Championship. In order to attain the privilege of represent the United States in Portugal next year, the best youth team in the country will have to come out on top of the other competing youth teams at this event and another later in the year, which will most likely be the Orange Bowl in Miami. I'm excited that I have the opportunity to race against some of the best competition in the country this summer as it will help me gear up for other big events that I am planning on attending later this year, especially the F18 America's Championship that will be held in our very own Sarasota, FL.