The U.S. Youth Multihull Championship started today with a bang at Alamitos Bay Yacht Club in southern California. Right out of the box, Richard Feeney (Regatta Coach this year) got the kids thinking about racing. Not wanting to waste any time, the kids launched the 10 new SL16s supplied by Performance Catamaran and off they went. From what I saw out there today, no one was bashful when it came time to hoist their spinnakers. Sailing in 8-10 kts this afternoon, all the kids dove right into flying hulls and every other thing you can do with a catamaran. This fleet will prove to be a very competitive bunch of sailors.

Today was get acquainted day with the new boats. Rigging questions were answered. A few short announcements were made, lunch at the club and then the balance of the day was spent sailing. Tomorrow is registration in the morning before the wind comes up. Then practice racing all the rest of the day. Who will be a leader in this event is anyone’s guess at this point. But one thing is for sure. Our youth sailors are pushing the envelope; adults better take notice, a kid just might be passing you at your next regatta.

And from Dan DeLave, Regatta Chairman:

I took on the job of regatta chairman of the US Youth Multihull Championship to promote catamarans to a new group of sailors. This could be the best first step to introduce youths to high performance sailing, including hopefully, potential Olympians.

This will be the first time the U.S. public will be introduced to the SL16, a boat designed for youth sailing, which includes double trapeze and spinnaker.

When the boats were being assembled and tuned Wednesday it was obvious that the regatta was going to happen. JC representing the factory and Mike Siau, past winner of the Youth Multihull event, coming out on his own to help out, got the boats finished up about 7 in the evening. They looked great, like little soldiers standing in the yard waiting for the weekend.

Many teams were there Thursday morning anxious to get on the boats. We checked in the teams finished putting the numbers on the boats and setting the sails, and they were off. Thursday was a day of “fun sailing.” Time to get used to the boats and conditions of Long Beach. A sunny day, breezes between 9 and 11 miles per hour and flat waters; all the teams seem to be doing pretty well sailing. That went on for about four hours, then we all went back to the Yacht Club for dinner, debriefing and registration.

I deliberately scheduled for this event with the Olympic classes regatta, a big deal at Alamitos Bay Yacht Club, in order to garner interest for future multihull sailors. At the OCR there will be a large number of juniors sailing Lasers, and I'm hoping for a nice exchange of information between the two events.

Many of the youth teams’ parents who came called me previously to offer their assistance to the regatta. I hope I can use them all; they are great! We have Richard Feeney here as the coach for all the teams. Jamie Livingston to help out with this event. This is the sixth time he has pulled his wallet out to be at the Youth Multihull Championship. On Friday, will introduce Pete Melvin, two-time world champion on A-Cats, for a clinic before practice racing. There are numerous other people that are coming to witness the event and I will tell you who they are later.

If the weather we had Thursday continues throughout the weekend, everybody should have a great time!

photo: Darline Hobock