HISTORY MADE AND CHAMPIONS CROWNED
AT U.S. YOUTH SAILING CHAMPIONSHIP

Westport, Conn. (June 30, 2005) – History was made and National Champions were crowned today, the last day of US SAILING’s U.S. Youth Sailing Championship hosted by Cedar Point Yacht Club in Westport, Conn. For the first time in the 23-year history of the event, an all-female team has won the doublehanded Club 420 fleet. Emily Dellenbaugh (Easton, Conn.) and Leigh Hammel (Warren, Vt.) deserved the honors, demonstrating great consistency throughout the Championship by always finishing in the top six of seven races in the 50-boat fleet. Thomas Barrows (St. Thomas, USVI) was victorious in the Laser class and Kyle Rogachenko (Collegeville, Pa.) won the Laser Radial class.

Racing was intense in the Club 420 fleet with the overall lead changing several times throughout the Championship. In the end, only six points separated the top three finishers in the event with Tyler Sinks and Myles Gutenkunst (San Diego, Calif./Mill Valley, Calif.) taking second place and San Diegans Adam Roberts and Nicholas Martin finishing third. Dellenbaugh attributes her team’s win to “lots of practice.” She and Hammel have been sailing together for about a year and when they’re not sailing together, Dellenbaugh practices in her Club 420 with her sister Rebecca. Dellenbaugh and Hammel take home US SAILING’s Manton Scott Memorial Trophy.

In the Laser fleet, competing for his third time in the Championship was the charm for Thomas Barrows (St. Thomas, USVI), who defeated 34 competitors to take home the National Championship title. “This year’s event was the best competition I’ve ever been in,” said Barrows, adding that his high school sailing experience and a recent Advanced Racing Clinic in Newport, R.I. helped him prepare for the Championship. With 23 points total, Barrows finished seven points ahead of the second-place finisher Robert Noonan (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) and ten points ahead of current US Youth World Team-member Royce Weber (Surf City, N.J.) who finished third.

By winning the event, the 17-year-old Barrows has received US SAILING’s Robert L. Johnstone III Trophy and has also qualified to compete in the U.S. Singlehanded Sailing Championship for US SAILING’s O’Day Trophy to be sailed at Alamitos Bay Yacht Club in Long Beach, Calif., on August 17-21, 2005.

With a total of four wins in seven races in the 25-boat Laser Radial fleet, Kyle Rogachenko took the lead on the first day and held on to it throughout the Championship. This event served as great practice for Rogachenko who was recently named to the 2005 Laser Radial Youth World Team and will represent the U.S. at the Laser Radial World Championship in Brazil in December of this year. David Hernandez (Miami, Fla.) finished in second place overall, one spot higher than last year’s event when he finished third. John Moulthrop of Middlebury, Conn. finished third overall.

The David M. Perry Perpetual Sportsmanship Trophies were awarded to the sailors voted by their peers as most sportsmanlike in each fleet. The awards went to Fred Strammer (Nokomis, Fla.) in the Laser fleet, Zeke Horowitz (Sarasota, Fla.) in the Radial fleet, and to Club 420 skipper Tyler Sinks and crew Myles Gutenkunst.

For more information about the 2005 U.S. Youth Sailing Championship, including complete results, daily reports, and photos, please visit www.ussailing.org/championships/youth/youthchamp.  

About the U.S. Youth Sailing Championship
The U.S. Youth Sailing Championship is considered one of the premier youth sailing events in the country for sailors under age 20. In this year’s event, 161 sailors were selected by sailing resume from a list of more than 260 applicants. The event was first held in 1973 as an invitational championship and grew quickly in popularity and size. This required then-U.S. Yacht Racing Union (now US SAILING) to limit the number of entries. Currently, applications are submitted and participants are selected based on their sailing resumes by the U.S. Youth Championship Committee. Next year’s event will be hosted by the Southern Yacht Club in New Orleans, La., with exact dates to be determined.

About U.S. Youth Sailing Championship Sponsors
Demonstrating a continuing commitment to youth sailing, the U.S. Youth Sailing Championship is once again sponsored by Vanguard Sailboats, manufacturer of the boats used in the event, and West Marine, Official Marine Retailer of US SAILING. Nautica, the Official Apparel Supplier to the US Sailing Team, is also sponsoring the event, establishing its roots in youth sailing development. In addition to the national sponsors, the event is also sponsored by Aquafina, Subway, Gill, Bear Naked Granola, Westport Magazine, Gowrie Barden & Brett, Zodiac, Harken, North Sails, and The Boat Locker.

About US SAILING
The United States Sailing Association (US SAILING) is the national governing body for sailing and sailboat racing. Headquartered in Portsmouth, Rhode Island, the organization’s mission is to encourage participation and promote excellence in sailing and racing in the U.S. US SAILING offers training and education programs, supports a wide range of sailing organizations and communities, and provides administration and oversight of competitive sailing across the country, including the US Sailing Teams and the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Sailing Teams. For more information, please visit www.ussailing.org.  

Final Results
Laser
1. Thomas Barrows (St. Thomas, USVI) 6-1-6-2-(9)-6-2 23 points
2. Robert Noonan (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) 10-4-3-8-(19)-2-3 30 points
3. Royce Weber (Surf City, N.J.) 7-(24)-1-3-17-4-1 33 points
4. Fred Stammer (Nokomis, Fla.) 1-2-7-(12)-12-5-9 36 points
5. Cy Thompson (St. Thomas, USVI) (14)-3-11-11-6-1-6 38 points

Radial
1. Kyle Rogachenko (Collegeville, Pa.) 5-1-1-(21/ZFP)-1-6-1 15 points
2. David Hernandez (Miami, Fla.) 6-3-3-(16/ZFP)-2-7-2 23 points
3. John Moulthrop (Middlebury, Conn.) 15-(17)-5-5-3-1-5 34 points
4. Tomas Hornos (Swampscott, Mass.) 4-4-(16)-6-12-2-7 35 points
5. Cameron Cullman (Rye, N.Y.) (19)-9-9-3-6-5-8 40 points

Club 420
1. Emily Dellenbaugh/Leigh Hammel (Easton, Conn./Warren, Vt.)
5-2-5-1-3-4-(6) 20 points
2. Tyler Sinks/Myles Gutenkunst (San Diego, Calif./Mill Valley, Calif.)
4-12-2-4-1-(14)-1 24 points
3. Adam Roberts/Nicholas Martin (both from San Diego, Calif.)
3-3-7-6-2-(10)-5 26 points
4. Marco Teixidor/Adrian Hernandez (Guaynabo, PR/San Juan, PR)
1-4-15-(36)-7-6-2 35 points
5. Michael Menninger/Marla Menninger (both from Costa Mesa, Calif.)
2-5-1-11-(16)-15-11 45 points

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