San Diego Yacht Club’s Jack Reiter became a back-to-back winner June 4 in Long Beach Yacht Club’s 2016 Junior Match Race Invitational. Eight Southern California skippers were invited to the race sponsored by Kaenon and sailed in Long Beach YC’s fleet of Collegiate FJs, with the requirement of a minimum age of 10 years and a maximum age of 18. One skipper withdrew at the last minute, leaving seven to race the single round-robin match racing format which took place inside Long Beach’s Alamitos Bay Marina.

Recently, my brother Jack and I competed against 34 other boats from throughout North America in the 29er National Championship in Newport, Rhode Island.   Preceding the event US Sailing held a 3 day Olympic Development Clinic that prepared us very well for the regatta.

Congratulations to the Will La Dow, Patrick Snow, Jake Reynolds, Scott Sinks, Nevin Snow, Grace McCarthy and Rebecca McElvain, the seven SDYC sailors awarded as College Sailing All-Americans for the 2015-2016 season.

Wounded warriors from all over the country are gathering in San Diego to experience a different type of basic training. They’re setting sail towards improving their lives. The Warrior Sailing program is building relationships and eliminating barriers as wounded, ill and injured service members of all military branches are put to the test and developing new skills.

SDYC hosted the Pacific Coast Collegiate Sailing Conference (PCCSC) Championships in April. Friday and Saturday 11 teams sailed in the 80th Anniversary PCCSC Coed Championship and Sunday 6 teams fought for 2 spots for the Team Race Nationals, also here at the end of May.

Canadians, Guatemalans and Americans descended upon Clearwater Florida for the 2016 Laser Midwinters East Championship. This major regatta attracted the best from North America, with 100 entrees in the radial fleet; racing was going to be tight. The forecast only added to this prediction.

In February I competed in Laser Midwinters East which is a regatta held off the coast of Clearwater, FL. I sailed in the Laser Radial class in yellow. There were two groups in the beginning, blue and yellow, because of the large number of boats. Even with a split in the fleet, there were still at least 50 boats on the line at once.

This past weekend I went to St. Petersburg, Florida for the annual Optimist Dinghy Exchange. We had a clinic on Friday to prepare for the Valentine’s Day Regatta, which was held on Saturday and Sunday. We had a fun weekend of sailing all lined up.