Final Day Jumbles Finish at Youth Champs
The US Sailing Youth Championships, hosted by San Francisco YC June 29- July 2, concluded yesterday and it didn’t even need a medal race like the Olympics to create some down-to-the-wire drama — two of the fleets were decided in the final race. We mention the Olympics, because if the roster of past winners of the event is any precedent, some of these sailors will probably end up there at some point — especially since, despite hailing from lighter-air venues, they proved capable of mastering the 15- to 20-knot breezes and Berkeley Circle chop they saw this weekend.
In the 22-boat Laser fleet, Cam Cullman, sailing for the American Yacht Club out of Rye, New York, pulled off an upset victory. Early leader Luke Lawrence of Jupiter, Florida, was OCS in the eighth and final race — his second of the regatta — which dropped him to fourth place overall. The victory was especially sweet for Cullman who was sailing in his last Youth Champs before becoming ineligible due to age. "I feel amazing," he said. "This is the best feeling in the world!"
In the 38-boat Laser Radial fleet, early front runner Chris Barnard from Newport Beach dropped to third place after a 16th in the final race. Philip Crain of Houston, vaulted into the top spot with solid second- and third-place finishes on the final day. Colin Smith of Ft. Lauderdale, who won the Laser division last year, took second. Saratoga’s Claire Dennis was the top female and top singlehanded Nor Cal finisher in ninth.
San Diego’s Tyler Sinks and Briana Provancha romped to an 18-point win in the 36-boat Club 420 after they each won the event in previous years, Sinks in the Club 420 and Provancha in the 29er. San Diego’s Judge Ryan and Hans Henken won the 9-boat 29er division by five points over the top Nor Cal finishers in the event, Max Fraser and David Liebenberg of Capitola and Livermore respectively. "We went out the first day and posted some pretty good scores," Ryan said, adding that the final day of racing was the most challenging as everyone was "finding their groove." Ryan and Henken used the event as a tune-up for representing the U.S. at the Volvo Youth Sailing ISAF World Championship, coming up in a couple weeks in Denmark. Although the US Sailing Youth Champs traditionally functioned as the qualifier for the world event, this year saw a change where a separate qualifier was instituted to allow the teams heading to the Worlds more preparation time.