FBYC Race Teams Chill in New England!
on Sunday August 24, 2014 12:20PM
Since our last email update, the FBYC Race Teams have continued to dominate, racing in CHILLY New England (and Michigan) and on the HOT Chesapeake! And as you can see, where ever they race, they are the coolest as well as the best dressed.
We ended the last email update with the Hyannis Regatta on July 25-27. From Hyannis, the Laser teens detoured through Newport for a fun sail on the beautifully restored 12 Meter Nefertiti, before trucking to Marion, Massachusetts, for the Buzzard Bay Annual Regatta on August 1-4. The Buzzards Bay is a notoriously rough regatta, with strong currents and big winds, often in misty conditions. Our team performed wonderfully, with Alexander Hanna leading the Gold Division going into the last race, match racing against the adult coach from SSA racing in the Radial Division-which allows adults. Both boats scored OCSs, which dropped Alexander to fifth; still an outstanding finish in one of the country’s most prestigious regattas. Luke Hayes was 16th in the Silver Division, and Eric Roos was 14th in the Full Rig Division. There were a total of 101 Lasers from across the country and oversees, including former World and Olympic competitors!
The next day Alexander Hanna flew to Northern Michigan where he represented FBYC in the Chubb U.S. Junior Singlehanded Championships, organized by U.S. Sailing. Alexander qualified for this regatta by winning the regional regatta in Cape May, NJ, with the rest of the team back in July. The regatta was sailed in Bytes. Stepping into a Byte for the first time, Alexander finished second against the best junior sailors from around the country! He then flew back to Virginia to win the Laser Radial class at the AOD! Former FBYC teammate Hannah Steadman was fifth.
The same week end as Buzzards Bay, the Opti Race Team left for the Opti New England Championships in Newport. The teams literally met at a marina to exchange coach boats on August 4, an interesting logistical challenge! The New England Championship is the largest regatta of any class in the United States in 2014, drawing an unbelievable 376 competitors in Red, White and Blue. They raced in flights of nearly 100 boats on the line! The USODA regattas draw very serious professionally run teams from across the country and overseas, and often kids who are looking towards Olympic campaigns. Our results were outstanding: 28th: Boyd Bragg, 43rd: Benton Amthor, 89th: Nathan Smith, 105th: Ian Street; and most of our sailors were in the top half of the fleet, earning them invitations to the prestigious USODA Team Trials next year.
Not to be outdone, the Opti Development Team raced closed to home at the Ware River Yacht Club’s Governor’s Cup on August 2-3. Again our younger sailors dominated against the local competition. In the Blue Fleet, Evie Wensell was second and Michael Mason was fourth, while in the White Fleet Josh Almany was first, Reed McAllister second, and Swayne Sparkman fourth!
All three of our teams then rushed home for our final summer week end and home regatta, the Annual One Design. The Opti Race Team parents and sailors staggered in from Rhode Island on Friday afternoon, while the Opti Development Team spent their last day of practice sailing Coach Austin’s Tartan Ten keelboat for fun.
The next day all three teams closed out their summer season at the AOD on August 9-10. For the second year in a row, our club’s Hawksworth Memorial Trophy was awarded to the Opti Division winner! The award is given to the largest class at the Annual One Design. This year the award was given to Benton Amthor, who finished first overall in the Optis. Boyd Bragg, Nathan Smith, Trent Levy (last year’s Hawksworth winner), and John Vail rounded out the top five. Our Opti Race Team members swept all divisions five deep against teams from Hampton Yacht Club, Ware River Yacht Club and Big Blue from Norfolk. Alexander Hanna won the Laser Radial Division, with two past Race Team members finishing second, Erin Jacob, and third, Jeremy Herrin. Eric Roos finished third in the Full Rig Division against very competitive adults.
For those of you keeping score: the FBYC Summer Race Teams sailed in 17 separate regattas this summer, and our members won first place in either the Laser Radial or Opti Overall in 13 of those regattas, and placed in all but one! A total of 32 of our kids placed at least once in the top 5 of their division in at least one regatta this summer, many multiple times!
The summer might be over, but our sailing is not!
The week end after the AOD, Opti Race Team member Boyd Bragg travelled to New Jersey for the USODA New Jersey Championships. Boyd scored an impressive 10th overall out of 126 boats, including two bullets. Perhaps even more impressive, Boyd was awarded the Sportsmanship Award while representing FBYC! (This was the second time this summer our members have been recognized with the Sportsmanship Award at large regattas-Eric Roos won it at the Junior Olympics.)
This week end, August 23-24, both Boyd and Benton Amthor are representing FBYC at the Middle Atlantic Midgets. This is a prestigious youth regatta established in 1914. Boyd and Benton qualified to represent FBYC at this regatta by placing first and second at the Chesapeake Bay Junior Olympics. Only FBYC qualified to send Optis from the Bay region; and AYC qualified to send a 420 team. Go Boyd and Benton! Look for a report in the coming weeks.
For the 16th year, FBYC is supporting the St. Christopher and St. Catherine High School Sailing Team by providing our 420s, two coach boats, and numerous team members. The team will practice at the club through Labor Day, then race around the Richmond area against other high schools this fall.
Finally, the FBYC Fall Race Team will be kicking off its season in September. Plans are underway to practice at the club and to travel to the USODA Southeastern Championships in Atlanta, The ACCs in New Jersey, the Halloween Howl in Annapolis in late October, and the USODA Mid-Winters in New Orleans over Thanksgiving.
Look for future updates!
Here are the recent detailed results for the Summer Race Teams:
Buzzard Bay Regatta (Laser only; Marion, Mass.) (August 1-3)
Alexander Hanna finished 5th in the Gold Division, Luke Hayes finished 16th in the Silver Division, and Eric Roos finished 14th in the Full Rig Division. In total, 101 Lasers competed, 62 Radials and 39 Full
USODA New England Championships (Opti only, Newport, RI) (August 5-7)
376 Optis competed in the Red, White and Blue Fleets. Top finishers: 28th: Boyd Bragg, 43rd: Benton Amthor, 89th: Nathan Smith, 105th: Ian Street
Ware River Yacht Club Governor’s Cup (ODT only, August 2-3)
Blue Second: Evie Wensell, Fourth: Michael Mason
White First: Josh Almany, Second: Reed McAllister, Fourth: Swayne Sparkman
Chubb U.S. Junior Singlehanded Championships ( Traverse City, Michigan) (August 6-8)
Second in Singlehanded Division: Alexander Hanna
Annual One Design (Optis and Lasers, August 9-10)
Optis: team members swept all but one division 5 deep, and the regatta and the Hawksworth Trophy was awarded to Benton Amthor.
Laser Full Third: Eric Roos
Laser Radial First: Alexander Hanna (second & third were won by former team members.)
Opti Overall First:Benton Amthor, Second: Boyd Bragg, Third: Nathan Smith, Fourth: Trent Levy, Fifth: John Vail
Red First: Benton Amthor, Second: Boyd Bragg, Third: Trent Levy, Fourth: Alex Resio, Fifth: Ian Street
Blue First: Nathan Smith, Second: John Vail, Third: Gannon Troutman, Fourth: Guthrie Braun
White First: Baylor Goldthwaite, Second: Joshua Bendura, Third: Reed McAllister, Fourth: Logan Hayes, Fifth: Joshua Almany
GO FBYC!
Mark Hayes
Junior Division Commander
Tags: juniorraceteam