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Youth Championships
Welcome to the Midwest. Here, where the master practioners of the art go by such titles as the Wizard of Zenda and the Alchemists of Harken preside over the alley of broken dreams, a place where ideas lay defeated for existing 20 years before technology caught up with imagination. But here, in the present, at the 2003 Youth Championships we saw the future without the aid of a crystal ball The underlying competition vied east coast against west coast, as is normal in junior dinghies. 2003's 420 youths Champion, Frank Tybor returned with new crew Hilary Shapiro, using this as a warm up for the I-420 worlds as several others were. Zach Brown and Melanie Roberts arrived on strong form, having been a component of the all dominating Southern California high school racing scene along with Whitney Louflek and Adam Roberts who were paired up with Phil Stemler and Nick Martin respectively. But from the east coast came the brothers/sisters combination of Storck/ Kempton and Kempton/ Storck. Eric Storck has been trouncing the competition on the east coast all year, though now sailing with new crew John Kempton after his last crew aged out. These guys have had ample opportunity to pair up against their sisters Kaitlin Storck and Leigh Kempton for endless practice sessions.
In Lasers the balance of power has shifted coasts with Andrew Campbell aging out and stepping into coaches shoes this year, leaving the New England/New Jersey posse free reign. Reed" i eat oreos by the bag" Johnson, Kyle"who's your daddy" Kovacs, Mike Wilde and Matt Barry all being strong possibilities for the podium. The west coasts only fighting hope, the mild mannered Emery Wager who had been practicing hard and had arrived with a detached and relaxed determination. The regatta, like all US Sailing Youth Championships, takes what is now considered a tried and tested format that takes some of the credit for the continuing re emergence of US Sailors at the forward ranks of international youth sailing. The 140 sailors are selected based upon a submitted resume and slots are restricted to help provide a balanced coach to sailor ratio. The first 2 days are an intense series of on and off the water drills and clinics, led by Dartmouth coach Brian Doyle. Among the 10 coaches assisting him the veteran US Olympic coach Gary Bodie, current 470 Olympic campaigner Howard Cromwell, laser sailors Andrew Campbell and Nathaniel Strosselma all passing on hard won lessons providing a leg up not so available back in the day. Four days of racing began on the Monday with an ambitious 11 races planned. The light 8kts provided fleet divisions that were to pretty much shape the following days. Mike Wilde and Emery Wager launched themselves from the pack by taking all but one of the 1sts and 2nds to be had that day creating 13 points between themselves and third placed Kovacs, whilst in the 420s a similar thing occurred with the 'on fire" Brown and Roberts doing a horizon job on the fleet in 2 of the races, but it was no cake walk. As Frank Tybor summed up the competition "It was like racing Ferraris in LA rush hour". The skill level was high here but getting to the top mark and clear air always leaves the fleet wallowing in the muddied eddies of disturbed air.
Day two . Nothing much changed in the lasers Wager took all the bullets and Wilde dropped a little further behind with a 2-3-8 and let Kovacs snug up to his spot by closing the difference to 3 points between 2nd and 3rd. Matt Barry stayed in the zone and Reed Johnson found his pace and moved up the table. The battle royal raged in the 420s. Finding form in the 10ish knots building to 12- 14kts, the combined 205lbs "when soaking wet", Leigh Kempton and Kaitlin Storck warmed up after missing the initial heart beat, perhaps due to them being absent from the clinic days, Kaitlin attending to high school commitments and arriving only before the first race. Three bullets put them in 1st, with their brothers in 3rd 12 points behind after the throwout was activated.. Day three and the wind kicks up a notch with the lake popping sweet 3-4 ft waves in around 15kts of breeze. Laser sailors exchanged determined grimaces for masks of pain by the time the reaching legs had gripped them. Wager was unstoppable, clearly pointing higher on the upwinds to extend his lead over a now exasperated Wilde who had been doing nothing seriously wrong.
Perhaps Emery was listening to the parting words of one of his mentors and idols, the legendary Carl Buchan. "If you want to win its not enough to be fast, you have to be tough" he had said. Emery was tough and with 1 race to go on the final day, 1st and 2nd was already decided between he and Wilde. Behind them, Johnson was romping ahead with a 2-3-1 which put him ahead of home town buddy Kovacs into 2nd, Kovac having a consistent set of 5ths for the day. The 420s were still up in the air. The Mel and Zach Show was still holding the lead despite taking their first double digit finish, but the brothers, Storck and Kempton, were gaining on the sisters with a 2-1-1, that extra 40lbs helping in the building breeze and tiring fleet. There was no one else in consideration if form held. One race was held on the last day, Wilde and Wager sat it out on the spectator boat, a well deserved rest as their fate was settled. Reed Johnson continued with a nice 2nd for the finale to give him 3rd, not far ahead of the tied for 4th Kovacs and Barry. It was a breezy day out of the West pushing the doublehanders around the course. The boys, Storck/Kempton exerted one final push taking a 3rd over the sisters 8th. It was enough to flip their spots giving the boys 2nd and the girls 3rd but still keeping it in the family. The lasers results had been clearcut. As Mike Wilde later admitted "I just kept sliding down into him on the weather legs, he worked harder before he came and harder when he got here" & bullets from 11 races was the the royal flush. The 420s provided an interesting glimpse of competition to come from some top athletes. College will soon claim many and it remains to be seen how strong they emerge from a difference in sailing style that they will concentrate on for the next few years.
"The winds are not normally like this" said organizer John Strassman, but there was no doubt everyone was satisfied with conditions meted out, A good range of wind that set out an even field for the sailors. But there was far more to so many happy but tired faces at the prizegiving. As Becky Mergenthaler put it "This is the only sport i know of where you get to be so competitive on the water but remain such good friends off it" She was not the only one to really understand it. Leading Milwaukee Journal Sentinal Sports columnist Micheal Hunt in his leading column on the front page of the sports section on Thursday after attending his first ever day at a sail boat race observed "It's not like covering the world series or the NBA finals. In some ways its better because of the pureness of event". It is clear that although there is a strong, healthy and lively current debate about the path our sport should take and how we should train our future athletes, those who we now set on this unknown road will be focused and committed to reaching its end and will represent us all with grace and humility. Indeed, a fitting plaque that might be left here to commemorate this event, here in this corner of magic might read "The future passed this way". Thornton |
