Aug. 17—The future of sailing was on full display in Marblehead last week, where more than 100 of the best young mariners in the country chased some of the oldest and most prestigious prizes in their sport at the Junior Sailing Championships last week.
It was the 100th anniversary of the first Sears Cup held in 1921 at the same Eastern Yacht Club in Marblehead.
Four races were held on both Wednesday and Thursday while conditions on the water didn’t allow for sailing on Friday, meaning the standings from the first two days were final.
In the ILCA 6 division, Houston Yacht Club’s Hamilton Barclay captured the Smythe Trophy by finishing first with a total of 23 points earned by playing in the top five in seven of the eight races. One of the more local sailors, Drew Mastovsky from Marion, came in second with 26 points and California’s Zoey Ziskind was third with 28 points.
“I was able to limit making mistakes, cue my boat speed up, and be as consistent as possible this week,” said Barclay. “I learned a lot this week from the coaches and the competitors, which is what I really like about this event. The event organizers were great with so many volunteers supporting the regatta.”
Each of the top three singlehand sailors earned a spot in the US Youth Sailing Championships this October in North Carolina.
In the Club 420 division, the doublehanded competition, Morgan Pinckney and Kennedy Leehealey came across the country from Newport Coast, California to win the Bemis Trophy with 25 points. They finished in the top four of the 20 competing pairs in five of the eight races. It was the second title for Pickney, who won the Bemis two years ago as well.
“We have a lot of experience in this boat, having competed in this boat for four years, and Kennedy and I have been sailing together in high school for the last year and a half,” said Pinckney. “Some of these teams are new to the circuit, so it seems like we had more experience than most teams.”
Jacob Posner of Seattle and Peter Schnell of Oregon came in second place with 34 pints and Blake Behrens and Richard Rychlik Jr. of California finished third with 36 points.
“It’s important to know when to play it conservative and when to take your gains,” Kennedy said of the win. “Everyone here had good races this week. It was our consistency that helped us most.”
The Sears Cup in the RS21, the quadruplehand junior championship, went to Kyle Pfrang and his partners Parker Moore Pierce Brindley and Dungkun Li all of Virginia. Their 16 points were just ahead of Eden Nykamp’s crew from Michigan in second place.
“Boat speed was the key to success for us this week,” said Pfrang. “We focused on our trim and making sure we were powered up through the chop and transitioning between the light air stages and wavy stages. We were aiming to be at full speed at the start of each race.”
Sportsmanship awards went to: Jack Carroll of Seattle for the Faye Bennet (singlehanded) Award; Jacob Posner and Peter Schnell for the Demis (doublehanded) Award; Chase Englehart, Wesley Seifers, Elsa Simenstad and Charlotta Versavel for the Cox (quadruplehanded) Award.
The seamanship/ship shape awards went to Patrick Wahlig of Maine (singlehanded), Julius Heikoetter of Texas (doublehanded) and the crew of Makani Andrew, Jaxon Hottinger, Bryce Huntoon and Noe Velasco of Hawaii (quadruplehanded).