The USA Finn Association (USAFA) is proud to announce a new USAFA Travel Grant Program. This program is tailored to help young Finn sailors to travel and participate in Finn regattas around North America. All the USAFA members in good standing who didn’t reach their 26th birthday on the first day of the eligible event may apply for a grant. USAFA obligates to reimburse up to $400 in travel expenses for the eligible sailors. For more details about how to apply for the program visit: http://www.finnusa.org/usafa-https://islandsrace.com/documents/

Over 100 sailors in seven Olympic class fleets made their way to San Diego this weekend for the 2nd annual San Diego Olympic Classes Regatta. Skippers and crews of all different skill levels sailed in five races on their designated Pacific Ocean course, besides the Finn and Snipe fleets, who sailed seven races over three days.

Olympic hopefuls Nevin Snow and Dane Wilson led the 29er coaching team at the recent pre-SDOCR clinic at SDYC. Forty two youth sailors from all over California attended the three-day clinic held in late August in three of the Olympic development classes (29ers, Lasers and Int’l 420s). Additional 29er coaches included Chuck Eaton, JP Barnes, Giselle Nyenhuis and Pearce Mendoza. Both JP and Pearce coached one-on-one on a 29er to ensure that several brand-new skiff sailors had a very steep learning curve in two loaner boats that are part of the High-Performance Youth Sailing activity at SDYC. The head Laser coach was Mission Bay’s Doug Hart with new SWYC Junior Director Jackie Hollander assisting. JJ Fetter and Shawn Bennett volunteered to coach the four i420 teams.

On Sunday morning, all the sailors heard an inspiring talk by Nevin and Dane about their 49er campaign that focused on the importance of goal setting. Several parents donated support to the clinic including Morgan Spriggs and Steve Shughrou who were on the water in safety RIBs, Gordon Wanlass brought his motorboat from Newport Beach to run practice starts and short-course races and the Holthus family loaned their RIB to the clinic. Plus Paula Schmid provided snacks at the end of each day for the tired and hungry sailors and pizza on Saturday night. The next clinic will be for 29ers only and will be held on September 21-22.

What a week at NHYC! Great job, Team SDYC sailors, coaches, and parents, taking on the challenging 2019 INSA Junior Sabot Nationals.

Congratulations to 2019 Champion, Anton Schmid! Anton's had quite a run this summer, repeating his Sabot II Invitational (U12) title, winning A fleet at the Dutch Shoe; and now we're researching to see if there's ever been a younger Junior Nationals champ. Nice work, from our A fleet Captain!

St Francis Yacht Club in San Francisco was the host for four days of challenging city front sailing for the c420 North American Championship. With the water temp in the 50’s and the air temp only in the 60’s, we all wore full spray gear and wetsuits. Not to mention, most days had a lingering fog layer concealing the sun for most of the sailing time.

The trip started with an unfortunate 2 hour plane delay which limited our only practice time sailing next to the Golden Gate Bridge. However, my crew, Ximena Escobar, and I were able to fit in about an hour of sailing in the early evening. The conditions lived up to the legend of San Francisco sailing, with 20 knots, 1- foot chop, and frequent capsizing which would be a trend over the next few days of racing. On the first morning of the regatta,  93 boats launched on a single launch ramp starting right at 10am with a noon start.

Nine fleets have been invited back to San Diego for the 2nd annual San Diego Olympic Classes Regatta (SDOCR) on September 7-8, 2019. With the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games in sight, the San Diego Yacht Club introduced this new event in 2018 to provide a venue for sailors to train and compete in international, high-performance classes. The regatta will include two courses in Coronado Roads, allowing for national level management and competition.

Invited Fleets: 29er; 49er; Finn; I420; Laser; Laser Radial; Nacra 15; Star; Snipe

The 29er U.S. Nationals were held on the Columbia River Gorge, a sailing venue notorious for high winds and flat water. This was the first time my brother, Ian, and I would be sailing there. When we arrived at our campsite where we would be staying for the regatta, we were dumb struck by the shear awe of the venue.

The biggest challenge that lay before us was the fact that the Gorge is a river, which meant that water was always going to be pushing you somewhere and that it can completely change the way that you have to think about racing. Luckily for us, we had two days of training beforehand to get used to the current and when the first day of racing came we were feeling confident in the skills and knowledge that we had.

Nearly 200 sailors, both junior and senior, competed in the annual Dutch Shoe Marathon (DSM) today. This iconic regatta begins at the San Diego Yacht Club and finishes at the Coronado Yacht Club, a trek that for most junior sailors is their longest distance race yet. This year marks the 47th annual running of this Southern California right-of-passage.

Mission Bay Yacht Club’s Paige Tillson, 11, (C Fleet) came in first with a solid lead throughout the entirety of the race. Behind Tillson in second place was Siena Nichols (C Fleet) of Balboa Yacht Club, who pulled into the position in the second half of the race. Battling hand in hand with Nichols was Caleb Everett (C Fleet) of Bahia Corinthian Yacht Club. The three were able to hold their position in the front of the fleet right from the start.

When asked how it felt to win the Dutch Shoe Marathon, Tillson answered, “It’s exciting, but I’m also really tired.”