West Coast Team Wins Youth World Match Racing Championship

From June 21 through June 25, 12 youth teams from 11 different countries made their way to Middelfart, Denmark, to compete for the Youth Match Racing World Championships. The lone American team was a California-based group, sailing under the burgee of Newport Harbor Yacht Club (NHYC) with Morgan Pinckney at the helm. Racing with him were Kelly Holtus, Cam Spriggs, Jacob Posner and Alice Schmid.

The racing was tight throughout the round robin, with five teams (including NHYC) sitting at 8-3, and Australia, with Daniel Kemp at the helm, at 9-2. Teams were battling not only each other, but also the massive heat wave that has been sweeping through northern Europe as of late.

Pinckney, who is entering his senior year on the Yale sailing team, led his crew to defeat the British team, led by Jamie Tylecote, three wins to nil in the quarterfinals, and then bested the French team led by Marin Micoulot in similarly dominant fashion. This set up a final showdown with Daniel Kemp and the Aussie crew. The Aussies won the first race of the best-of-five final. NHYC then won the next two. Kemp battled back to take race four and force a decisive race five, which was won by the Southern Californians.

“Even though we got the start right and the umpires gave Daniel a penalty, I got a little nervous on the first beat, and he reeled us back in,” Pinckney says, per the regatta’s official press release. “He got ahead and killed his penalty, then we got ahead just before the last windward mark and managed to stay in the lead until the end, thanks to great crew work. I am so happy to be sailing with these guys.”