California Junior Sailors Everett and Panebianco Victorious at C420 Nationals

St. Francis Yacht Club (StFYC) junior sailor Caleb Everett and his crew JP Panebianco of Alamitos Bay Yacht Club (ABYC) were victorious in the 2025 Club 420 Association US Nationals at Hyannis Yacht Club in Hyannis, MA, on July 21–24. Everett and Panebianco competed as part of the national “73 Sailing” team and totaled 26 points from eight races in a fleet of 148 boats.

The first day saw only one race sailed due to light winds. Everett and Panebianco placed 15th in their half of the split fleet.

“The second day was absolutely champagne,” the 18-year-old Everett tells Latitude 38. “It was 12 to 15 knots. We ran four races in absolutely perfect conditions.” It was on that second day of racing that the duo found their groove, finishing the four races that day in fifth, first, first, and third places, respectively.

On the last day of racing, with the fleet split into gold and silver, Everett and Panebianco wrapped up the regatta with a third, a bullet, and a 12th.

“There were two to three more knots of pressure,” Everett says of day three. “That was kind of an awkward condition for us. We were debating whether to pin down, and were apprehensive of doing so because we had done that in the past in similar conditions and struggled with being underpowered.”

After dropping the 15 from their first race, the duo from California had racked up a net score of only 26 points, six points clear of the second-place team of Gilman Hackel and Avery Peterson.

“It was super-close racing, and a super-competitive fleet,” Everett reflects. “Just a great experience to sail in a fleet that big against so many good boats … the downwinds were awesome. Perfect breeze in some great swell, just getting on waves and ripping. It was great getting to sail against so many of my homies.”

Everett and Panebianco have trained extensively together this year in both the I420 and the C420. They finished third out of 30 boats at the I420 North Americans, and 34th out of 101 boats in the I420 Worlds in Turkey earlier this summer, making them the second-highest-finishing American boat.

“While we’re both technically skilled in the boat,” Everett says of his partnership with Panebianco, “there are people that are more technically skilled, but where we excel is that we work really well together and have spent so much time together in a 420.”

Outside of 420 racing, Everett is entering his senior year on the sailing team at The Bay School of San Francisco, where he has been a team captain for the past two years. The high school sailing season begins in earnest in September. Everett’s next big event is the 2025 Sears Cup on home waters at StFYC from August 7 to 10. He will be skippering a StFYC team that took third last year in the Sears Cup, and is looking to win the event at home this year.

You can see the full results from the 2025 Club 420 Association US Nationals Regatta here.