Who knew the final hours of Youth Champs would be the breeziest?
The US Sailing Youth Championship Regatta came down to its final races today. The whole regatta was sailed in 10 knots or less until the last day. A beautiful sunny morning came along with a consistent 12-15 knot breeze starting from the South and oscillating slightly right and back. The competitors all were relieved at the steadiness and wished it had blown like that all week! The playing field was definitely more level, and the teams used to sailing in bigger breeze finally got to show off their stuff.
Grass Island Marina Facility was the launching site for the competitors. Indian Harbor was the host club, but majority of the on-land festivities were held at this venue just across the inlet. The facility had a great view of the harbor and a nice ramp for launching. Volunteers for the event helped each kid into and out of the water everyday, making the event a great team effort by all.
With great volunteers, good wind, and even better competition, the last day of racing definitely made for awesome spectating. The trapeze were up and the bows were down. All competitors, from the 29ers to the Lasers, worked hard through the chop and made the windward- leeward courses seem like a breeze. Each class had a series of races to complete with the exception of the 420 class which only had one race scheduled.
After a great day of racing the results showed a surprising twist. Out of the 4 boat classes, two of them were won by West Coast sailors, Laser- Zeke Horowitz (Team FOR), and 29er- Antoine Screve/James Moody (SFYC). While the C420 class came down to the wire with Stephanie Hudson (Lake Beluah YC) and Rebecca King (California YC) beating the So-Cal team of Kevin Laube (Mission Bay YC) and Reece Bernet (Southwestern YC) by just 3 points. The Radial class was also a close one with Christopher Stocke (Sarasota Youth Prgm) beating the second place Cali man Nevin Snow (SDYC) by only 6 points. 
A great effort made by all and special thanks to Indian Harbor Yacht Club for getting a great event in youth sailing to Long Island Sound! For Full results go to Youth Champs Online.
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