USA Takes Three Medals At 2016 Youth Sailing Worlds

In the Boy’s 420, Wiley Rogers (Houston, Texas) and Jack Parkin (Riverside, Conn.) successfully defended the championship won by fellow Americans Will Logue (Cos Cob, Conn.) and Bram Brakman (Darien, Conn.) at the 2015 Youth Worlds, and credited a competitive and collaborative U.S. 420 community for their success. “We wanted to keep the gold medal in our country, and hold up that legacy,” said Rogers, who with Parkin missed Youth Worlds Team selection by a single point at last year’s qualifier, the U.S. Youth Championship.

“Ever since last year we’ve been focused on this. It was the first thing on our bucket list, and this result represents a full year of many hours of work. You can also see that the class has come a long way in the U.S. We’ve all been going at it and pushing each other to the top of the world,” said Rogers. Parkin noted that adaptability was the key to success this week in Auckland. “We had good speed through all conditions, and managed to grind back in a few tough situations to save our event.”

The open Nacra 15 multihull class was a new addition to the Youth Worlds for 2016, and is closely related to the Nacra 17 Olympic catamaran. Americans Romain Screve (Kentfield, Calif.) and Ian Brill (San Diego, Calif.), formerly top competitors in the 29er class, made a rapid but successful transition to the multihull prior to the 2016 Youth Worlds. “We didn’t come in with a lot of experience,” said Screve, who was a member of the 2015 YWT in the 29er.

Pictured: Romain Screve (Kentfield, Calif.) and Ian Brill (San Diego, Calif.), Nacra 15 silver medalists.

“We hopped in the boat in October, and it was our first time in a cat. We had a steep learning curve, and I think the biggest thing was getting up to speed. We were not fast in the beginning, but our ODP coaches, especially Leandro Spina, Willie McBride (Santa Barbara, Calif.) and Raul Lopez (Miami, Fla.) helped us so much. The second thing that allowed us to perform here was using our tactical skills from the 29er fleet. It seems like there are a lot of cat sailors at this level who haven’t done much larger fleet racing. Our knowledge there was an advantage.”

Laser Radial athlete Carrson Pearce (Manahawkin, N.J.) relied on tactical consistency to get on the podium, and secured bronze with only one race result worse than 12th in the 57-boat fleet. “I was a little bit nervous going in to the final race,” said Pearce. “I was tied for 4th with the Spanish competitor, so I had to keep my eye on him. I wanted to just get a good start. After that, I stayed on top of the fleet as best I could.”

Pictured: Carrson Pearce (Manahawkin, N.J.), Laser Radial bronze medalist.

Coming an agonizing two points shy of the podium after a standout week of racing was the American Girl’s 420 team of Kathryn Hall (Haverford, Penn.) and Ashton Borcherding (Greenwich, Conn.). The pair won the opening race of the event and led after the first day, and continued to compete close to the front of the fleet for the remainder of the event. Despite a strong 5th place finish in the final race, Hall and Borcherding finished in 4th overall.

For the medalists, this result will always stand out as a special moment. “I don’t think it’s set in yet,” said Screve, whose brother Antoine Screve medaled at the Youth Worlds in 2010 and 2011. “I feel disbelief and am really excited. We’ll remember this for the rest of our lives.” Pearce agreed, and noted that the strong result was a full-squad effort. “I’m so excited for my teammates, and it was a really awesome regatta. We were all more confident in each other than we were in ourselves, and it had an impact on the results.”

“I’m just as proud of our whole team as I am of the medalists,” said Spina, who has now helped oversee 12 medal-winning performances for the U.S. at the Youth Worlds since 2010. “The way they approached the event was fantastic. Our coaches, Willie McBride and Steve Keen, also did a phenomenal Job. We managed distractions very well this week, and our sailors stayed focused on their jobs each day. I was just honored to be here to witness it.”

Final Results:

US Sailing’s Olympic Development Program (ODP) was launched in January 2015 to lead the progression of the most promising youth sailing talent in the US. Guided by the US Olympic Sailing Committee’s Project Pipeline strategic initiative, the ODP fosters an integrated approach to training in the core development and Olympic classes, and is part of a system to provide the United States with a steady stream of well-prepared sailors. Some of these athletes will go on to represent Team USA at The Olympic Games, and provide the national team with consistent success. The fundamental premise of the ODP is to focus on the critical transition from youth sailing to high performance racing in Olympic classes. The ODP is funded through generous donations by individuals and organizations. The lead gift as well as a matching grant has been provided by the AmericaOne Foundation, and the US Olympic Sailing Program is actively seeking supporters to meet this generous match.  For more information on the ODP and the America One Match campaign, please visit www.ussailing.org/olympics

About US Sailing

The United States Sailing Association (US Sailing), the national governing body for sailing, provides leadership, integrity, and growth for the sport in the United States. Founded in 1897 and headquartered in Portsmouth, Rhode Island, US Sailing is a 501(c) (3) non-profit organization. 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 US Sailing Team Sperry. For more information, please visit www.ussailing.org