A roundup of last week’s action and a look ahead.
Snow Storms Through Prince of Wales
Maybe it was to remind everyone that his win in this year’s Governor’s Cup was no fluke, but San Diego’s Nevin Snow dominated the regional qualifier for the US Sailing Match Racing Championships, also known as the Prince of Wales or “POW” regatta.
Snow, sailing for San Diego YC, dominated this years’ qualification series, not dropping a race in light fluky breezes off Newport. This was the same team that last month won the Governor’s Cup for junior match racing, and this time they took out a number of top ranked adult sailors too. When the smoke cleared Sunday afternoon Snow and team had a perfect 14-0 record – pretty impressive and unusual to see this degree of domination at a major regional qualifier.
Snow now qualifies to go the Prince of Wales finals that will be held in mid-October by Balboa Yacht Club. We’ll see then whether this top San Diegan junior sailor can bring another “Snow-storm” to the POW finals. Runner-up was fellow San Diegan Chris Nesbit who had already been invited to the POW finals.
CdM’s Kelter Wins at US Youth Championships
Corona del Mar sophomore Conner Kelter took top honors in the competitive 29er Class at the 2011 US Sailing “Youth Championships. Conner, crewing.for San Diego’s Paris Henken, won in the high performance double-handed 29er class.
Unlike many junior dinghies, crewing in these boats is in many ways considerably more challenging than skippering, with the crews typically trimming both mainsail and jib upwind from the trapeze, and adding spinnaker trim downwind.
Look for Conner to be a key returning sailor on Corona del Mar’s sailing team this year.
Upcoming Racing
Aug. 26-28 – Long Point Race Week, NHYC and BYC (PHRF). One of the most popular local racing events for local keelboats and offshore racers. This event typically attracts the best local racing programs for a fun three-day weekend of racing at Long Point on Catalina Island.
Sept. 4, Winter Series No. 1 (Harbor 20, Finn, Lehman 12) – NHYC kicks off its fall/winter sailing season with this fun afternoon bay race. Open to other classes with five or more entries.
Sept. 11-18 – New York Yacht Club Invitational (NYYC, Newport RI) – Newport Harbor Yacht Club earned the right to race in New York Yacht Club’s inaugural invitational regatta to be sailed next month in identical Swan 42s. This event is open to amateur yacht club teams from around the world, and is expected to attract about 20 top club teams from the US and internationally. The NHYC team will be led by Jim Madden, and includes Payson Infelese, who skippered the NHYC boat in this event’s qualifier.
