CALIFORNIA WEATHER JUST WHAT FLORIDIANS NEEDED
AT U.S. YOUTH MULTIHULL CHAMPIONSHIP

Long Beach, Calif. (April 2, 2007) - California must have cured whatever ailed Evan Miller and Alexander Stewart as the Panama City, Fla. sailors won the U.S. Youth Multihull Championship for US SAILING's Arthur J. Stevens Trophy Saturday and Sunday. Eighteen teams competed on new Nacra SL16 catamarans in conjunction with host Alamitos Bay Yacht Club's annual Olympic Classes Regatta that featured Finns, Lasers and a handful of Stars. The youngsters - boys and girls ages 13 to 18 - sailed inside the breakwater and enjoyed Long Beach's fresh sea breeze of 10 of 12 knots all weekend.

Miller, 16, and Stewart, 18, and, edged first-time catamaran competitors Andrew Mason, 17, and crew Chris Segerblom, 14, of nearby Orange County by half a point. Stewart arrived in town last week carrying a stomach flu that was running through his family, and when it hit Miller Friday their participation was doubtful.

"I thought we wouldn't be able to do it," Miller said, "but we felt better Saturday, and [Sunday] we were fine. I guess we’ll leave whatever we had in California."

They stayed at Mason's house, which despite their illness must have benefited both teams. Mason and Segerblom told them about sailing at Long Beach, while Stewart and Miller offered tips about sailing multihulls to their rivals who had never sailed anything with more than one hull until six days before the event.

Mason said, "When someone told us the Youth Multihull Championship was here we said, 'That sounds like fun.'"

They flipped four times on a windy practice day last week, started the regatta with 2-6-2-2 finishes Saturday and then won a race Sunday to give the Floridians a run to the wire.

Third-place finishers were Chase Shaw (Baycliff, TX) and Alex Scanlon (Kemah, TX). Graham Gardner (Honeoye Falls, N.Y.) received the Hobock sportsmanship award.

Complete results, daily reports, and photos of the Championship can be found on the event website at www.ussailing.org/championships/youth/multihull.  

First held in 2001, the U.S. Youth Multihull Championship is US SAILING’s newest National Championship. US SAILING is currently accepting bids from sailing organizations to host the event in 2008 and 2009. The event is part of US SAILING’s National Championship series. For more information on the series, please contact Liz Walker, US SAILING’s Championships Director, via e-mail at championships@ussailing.org or visit www.ussailing.org/championships.

The United States Sailing Association (US SAILING) is the national governing body for sailing. Founded in 1897 and headquartered in Portsmouth, Rhode Island, the organization provides leadership for the sport of sailing in the U.S. US SAILING offers training and education programs for instructors and race officials, supports a wide range of sailing organizations and communities, issues offshore rating certificates, and provides administration and oversight of competitive sailing across the country, including National Championships and the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Sailing Teams. For more information, please visit www.ussailing.org.

Final results:
1. Evan Miller/Alexander Stewart (both from Panama City, Fla.); 1-2-3-3-1-1, 8 points
2. Andrew Mason (Corona Del Mar, Calif.)/Chris Segerblom (Costa Mesa, Calif.); 2-5-2-2-1-1.5, 8.5 points
3. Chase Shaw (Baycliff, TX)/Alex Scanlon (Kemah, TX); 2-6-4-2-2-1, 11 points

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