The best youth match racing teams from across the U.S. will descend on Sheboygan, WI, for the U.S. Youth Match Racing Championship for the Rose Cup (“USYMRC”), hosted by Sail Sheboygan and the Sheboygan Yacht Club, June 21-25.
The USYMRC is an invitational event open to sailors who have reached their 16th birthday but not their 21st birthday during the calendar year in which the event is held. The Championship features world-class coaching and race management and serves as an outstanding training ground for young sailors who are interested in match racing and focused on competing at the next level.
This year’s applicants were extremely geographically diverse, with ten teams from seven different states. Not only that, but they are one of the stronger groups of fleet/team racers the event has seen in a number of years.
Entrants include the team of Justin and Mitchell Callahan, who are both coming off a win at the ICSA Team Race National Championship, where they were part of Harvard’s winning team. Callahan was also a competitor in the finals of last year’s Rose Cup – his team is sure to bring some excitement to this year’s event!
Skippers Chapman Petersen and Robby Meek have had success on the International Laser Class Association (ILCA) circuit, with Petersen set to compete at the combined World Championships later this summer for the US Sailing Team. Meek has been a high-level competitor In the ILCA 6.
Dave Perry (Southport, CT), a five-time U.S. Match Racing Champion, will lead an Advanced Match Racing Clinic on Wednesday and Thursday, June 21 and 22, ably assisted by match racing and youth sailing coach Ryan Davidson (Charleston, SC).
“I’m really excited to work with the 40 sailors competing this week at the U.S. Youth Match Racing Championship,” said Perry. “They are the best youth match racers in the country and will soon be competing at the college level and for the U.S. Open and Women’s Match Racing Championships.”
The Rose Cup started as an invitational youth match racing event in 2010. It was founded by members of Balboa Yacht Club in Newport Beach, California, and the Newport-Balboa Sailing & Seamanship Association (“NBSSA”). Its mission is to assist in the promotion of youth match racing in the United States and improve the quality of US competitors in national and international competition.
Thanks primarily to the efforts of US Sailing Match Racing Committee Vice-Chair Dave Perry, US Sailing made the event one of its three match racing championships, officially becoming the U.S. Youth Match Racing Championship in 2015.
The Rose Cup was named by NBSSA for America’s Cup, Congressional Cup and offshore tactician Andy Rose for his contributions to youth match racing and the Governor’s and Rose Cups.
Also presented at each USYMRC is the Nick Scandone Sportsmanship Award. This trophy, named for the late US Paralympic Gold Medalist Nick Scandone who, in addition to winning the Gold Medal at the Beijing Olympics in 2008, was beating both able-bodied and physically challenged competitors throughout the last year of his life as he fought ALS. Nick’s persistence against seemingly insurmountable odds provides inspiration to winners of the Scandone Sportsmanship Trophy and to all sailors.