Full Report - Day 2
Saturday, June 23Today competitors in the 2007 U.S. Youth Championships participated in the clinic prior to the start of racing. Led by David Perry and with participation of all the coaches present, the sailors reviewed local conditions on shore and then broke into fleets. Led by the coaching squad, each fleet worked on fine tuning their rigging prior to going out.
The fleets then headed out the channel onto Lake Ponchartrain where they split into singlehanded and doublehanded fleets. The breeze, while light was steady and in the hot and humid conditions, the coaches made sure all the kids had plenty of water. The fleets worked on starts, gates and mark roundings. It was a great opportunity for the sailors to practice and tune against each other. Then after lunch and the practice race, the sailors headed on shore for some time in the pool and a debrief by fleets.
Dave Perry, clinic director, said, "It was great and couldn't have gone better. The improvement from the beginning of the day to when they went out to when they came in was obvious."
Tonight will be the opening ceremonies here at Southern Yacht Club followed by the 2007 Nautica dinner and a panel discussion with Dave, Andy Lovell, Elizabeth Kratzig, Alana O'Reilly, Ward Cromwell, and Trevor Moore. Then a good night's sleep prior to the start of the championship.
Individual race results will be found at www.usyouthchamps.com.