The weekend before Halloween, the Saint Francis Yacht Club hosted the 2024 Fall Dinghy Regatta. It was an incredible experience on so many levels and one of the biggest experiences for me and my new 29er partner, August Felgenhaur. August and I just recently began to sail together. In fact, we’ve teamed for the entire 24/25 29er Hamlin Series and this was our first ever regatta sailing as a team.
Olympian Paris Henken returned to SDYC in early October to coach an advanced 29er clinic with a stellar coaching team including her brother Sterling Henken, Noah Nyenhuis and B Lindsay. Saturday’s focus was drills to improve down-speed boat maneuvering — a crucial skill for skiff sailors to be able to hold their spot on the starting line. Drill 1 - “The Glide” / Time & Distance, Drill 2 - Rounding a mark without tacking, and Drill 3 - Quick double tacks. [If you are wondering how skiff sailors can round a mark without tacking, it involves managing your speed, communicating with your teammate on the right times to back the main and jib in order to move forward and then sideways and then sail backwards]. Sunday was a “Clinigatta” with seven races as part of the Luff-in Series won by Olympia / Maribelle Barelli, 2nd place was Kevin Cason / Holland Vierling and 3rd place was Sean Kaseburg / Braden Ozarski.
This past summer San Diego Yacht Club had the honor of hosting the 2024 CHUBB Triple-Handed National Championship for the Sears Cup. This event was a momentous experience made possible by long hours contributed by Junior Program staff, volunteers from our membership and SDYC staff on every level. The Sears Cup entry list boasted 17 teams, meaning 68 competitors, from 10 of US Sailing recognized areas across the country.
On August 1st, my skipper Anton and I got the opportunity to travel to Little Egg Harbor Yacht Club, in New Jersey to compete in the 2024 C420 National Championship. When we first arrived at the venue, we were greeted with hot and humid weather and very good breeze. The four practice days were relatively the same, starting out around 8 knots, and then eventually building to a 13-16 knot sea breeze. On the first day of the regatta, we experienced very similar conditions to the practice days, which allowed us to excel, achieving a 1st, and two 4ths.
My crew, Wyatt Kelly and I recently traveled up to Redwood City in the Bay area to compete in the 2024 C420 North American Championship. This was our second year participating in this event. 106 participants were registered for the regatta.
Recently, my team and I attended the Rose Cup Youth Match Race Nationals. The event was held in Marblehead, Massachusetts, and spanned over five days. The first two days were composed of extensive debriefs, boat handling, and on-the-water practice. The priority was to get all the teams up to match racing speed. The renowned coach Dave Perry led the regatta and clinic teaching all the sailors the intricacies of match racing. Match racing in a nutshell is two boats that sail against each other with certain rules related to this style of sailing. Each boat sails against every other team in a round-robin series. After the round robin is complete, the top eight teams move to a quarter finals, then a semi-finals, and finally the last two boats remaining sail to the best of three against each other.
This past week we, Julia Stewart and Bennett Simpson, flew as a team to Bristol, RI to compete in the US Youth Champs in the 29er fleet. It was a great experience and we learned many lessons from it. A few of our goals for this event was to go out there and have fun, work on communication, and get experience sailing in heavy breeze. We both are so proud of how we have come together as team and have accomplished all of those goals.
We (Kevin Cason/skipper and and Holland Vierling/crew) recently attended our 3rd US Sailing Youth Championship, this year located in Bristol, Rhode Island. This was a super fun regatta for us. So cool to see our growth as a team over the past 3 Youth Championship races. I(Holland) showed up sleepy after a long redeye flight, and immediately ran into the US Sailing Coaches -Phil and Rosie. They let me jump in their coach boat on the way to another race. An hour later I was competing in the Bridge to Bridge race from Newport to Bristol, RI on a Wingfoil - and I ended up placing 1st for Wingfoil! What an amazing experience!
The 7th annual San Diego Olympic Classes Regatta (OCR) rolled out on a perfect June weekend. The classic San Diego "June Gloom" burned off quickly and a nice westerly filled in for the majority of both days. With winds ranging from 7-14 kts, and modest little swells running down the course, 28 sailors in three classes completed seven races on a trapezoid course located just south of Point Loma on the Coronado Roads.
This month I went to Toms River, New Jersey to compete in the 2024 Waszp Atlantic Coast Championships. The competition was intense and very high, with the majority of the competitors having world and national titles.
When I arrived the first day, I put together the charter boat that was given to me from the SailGP Inspire Program. While in the boat park, I met some sailors from Hawaii and the America One Racing Team who invited me to train with them that day. Once we got our boats rigged and ready, we all headed out for a nice 12 kt session.
We are excited to announce that registration is now open for the 2024 INSA Junior Sabot Nationals, which will be held at San Diego Yacht Club July 29 through August 1! Make sure to register online before 1700 on June 14 to avoid late entry fees.
For the first time since 1962, the INSA Junior Sabot Nationals is returning to SDYC, making it an unprecedented event in the modern history of the Junior Sabot Nationals. While this marks an exciting new development for the Sabot Fleet, it is also a return to form in many ways, with a qualification series limiting the championship series to 120 boats and the Cove Cup Consolation Regatta.
This past month, my skipper, Anton Schmid, and I took part in the 29er Midwinters West Regatta held out of Alamitos Bay Yacht Club in Long Beach. This regatta was also the single qualifier for the 2024 Youth Sailing World Championships.
In March, I spent the week in Long Beach, California at Alamitos Bay Yacht Club to take part in the CISA clinic and 2024 Youth World Qualifiers.
We started the week with the CISA clinic that lasted for three days. Our coaches for the 29ers, Willie Bride, Briana Searle, and Evan Heffernan were very knowledgeable. They all provided many resources and information to us with the goal to best prepare us for the regatta the following week, Youth World Qualifiers. I learned so much from this clinic that I can carry on with me for the rest of my sailing in the future. The wind ranged from light to medium during this clinic which was perfect because those were the conditions that my crew, Zach Peterson and I needed to improve in the most.
I agreed to sail to support my friend Carly Keiding who was looking for a crew at C420 Mid Winters East in Jensen Beach, FL. MWE is one of the largest regattas in the C420 with 148 boats competing.
I arrived a few days early where, along with a number of west and east coast teams, we trained in various conditions with the wind being light and shifty. With the number of boats in the fleet we knew they would break up the sailors into flights and eventually into gold, silver, and bronze for the final days.
When we arrived in Florida, I unloaded my 29er off the trailer and rigged it completely to ensure everything was rigged correctly. After that, I went to eat sushi with the team.
On the second day, we sailed about 30 minutes out to Biscayne Bay to practice. I was struck by how clear and shallow the water was in the bay. When we got out there, I could see hundreds of other boats sailing. We did a lot of up-downs and lineups, then a practice race with the other teams. It was hot and sunny. This was the last of the warm weather for the remainder of the trip.
This past month, my skipper, Anton, and I traveled to Florida to take part in the Open Orange Bowl regatta. It was the first time I was taking part in the event. We flew out Christmas night and rigged our boat the next day. We had one practice day before the regatta started.
Day one of the regatta was met with rain and wind. We had a 2-hour postponement on land before we were sent out. Once on the race course, we had 20-30 knots of wind. Following multiple capsizes within the 29er fleet, racing was called off for the day.
Days 2 and 3 were very similar with medium wind and very shifty. We learned a lot from that regatta and it helped us as we are preparing for the Youth World Qualifier that is coming up in late March in Long Beach.
Thank you to SDYC and HPYS for the support and for helping make the Orange Bowl possible.
On October 20 my dad and I flew to San Francisco where I was sailing in St. Francis Yacht Club’s Fall Dinghy Regatta in my 29er, we met up with my Crew Wes LaRue who with his dad Jon drove the four SDYC teams boats up to San Francisco. Saturday morning we had breakfast and then unloaded and rigged our boats. After making a few grip tape improvements to our boat we met with our two coaches for a great briefing on the day and what to expect. San Francisco Bay and the club is really pretty!
We got on the water and did some speed tuning with 3 of our teammates where we checked our upwind and downwind speed and angles. In the afternoon the breeze built to 13 with a flooding current right on the city front which was really pretty. The racing was super competitive and very fun. The wind all afternoon steadily shifted to the left and a dying breeze. The last 2 races were really difficult with the left shifts, dying breeze and a ripping flood tide. We happily ended Saturday in fifth. We sailed back to the club, unrigged had our de-brief and hot showers, San Francisco is cold!
This summer my teammates, Ava Gustafson, Kaya Hancock, and Taylor Ashton, and I went to Lakewood Yacht Club in SeaBrook, Texas to take part in the 2023 Sears Cup Regatta.
Our team was pulled together with the help of our coach, Steve Hunt, and our junior director, Erik Hallback, on the day of a J22 clinic. No other teams signed up so it was an amazing opportunity for us to learn even more about the J22. We practiced for 3 days with our coach and then completed in the US Sailing Area J Sears Cup Triple Handed Qualifier. This local regatta was super fun because we were the only all girls team and coincidentally had a pink spinnaker as well! It was definitely a challenge, but we managed to win first place and qualify for the Sears Cup. On August 9th we flew out to Seabrook, Texas and participated in the one-day clinic held by US Sailing. We were really grateful for this considering our team was only able to practice one time prior to the event. We had some spinnaker issues with raising and dousing it but it was very good practice for the racing to come. We also found out we were the only all girls team again at this event!
At the beginning of August, Anton and I traveled to Sayville, New York, to compete in the C420 South Shore Championship, the final regatta in the Triple Crown series. On our first day of practice, there was a nice sea breeze of about 12-16 knots, which made for a fun day of sailing. On the first day of racing, we were met with a sea breeze of about 12 knots, which slowly built all day. By the last race, the breeze had picked up to around 18-20 knots. We were really happy to take first place in the windiest race of the regatta since we are a relatively small team.
Over this summer, I had the opportunity to participate in my first international event, the ILCA 4 Youth World Championship held in Volos, Greece.
We left on July 15 with practice starting the next day. My coaches Susannah and Rosie Chapman coached me as well as 15 other US competitors and in total there were 26 US competitors competing in the most well attended 4.7 worlds so far with 430 competitors total.