Point Loma resident Tyler Sinks, 18, won the United States Youth Championship Regatta, the top U.S youth event for competitive racing, after two consecutive years of placing second.
The championship regatta was hosted by the Southern Yacht Club (SYC) on Lake Pontchartrain in New Orleans between June 22 and 27.
The race is the premiere event in United States youth sailing (20 years old or younger), attracting top junior sailors from all across the USA and the Virgin Islands.
“I prepared much better this year with the help of my coach, Steve Hunt,” said Sinks. “He was a huge help. He helped change my practice regimen, went over power point and watched videos every week.”
The racing involves 12-foot dinghies and features a two-person crew: a trapeze and a spiniker. The trapeze is a type of ballast, according to Sinks, and a spiniker adjusts the sail of the boat to control the speed.
In order to qualify for the championships, potential participants must apply and become accepted.
Sinks has participated in the event the past five years and has been racing since the age of 7. He placed second in 2005 and 2006 in the championship regatta.
“Two years ago I was a bit younger, and I was competing against older, more experienced people,” Sinks said. “But last year I felt more frustrated because I didn’t improve at all from the previous year. That motivated me to win this year.”
Sinks’ crew included Point Loma High School junior Morgane Renoir.
In addition to being a member of the San Diego Yacht Club, Sinks is a recent graduate of PLHS, where he was part of the PLHS sailing team.
He was recruited for the Boston College sailing team this fall. The PLHS sailing team is made up of about 20 students and practices at the San Diego Yacht Club for about 7 hours during the week.
The championship regatta included four classes: the Club 420, Laser Radial, Laser Full Rig and 29er Skiff.
According to race organizers, the breeze was light and fickle throughout the one-day clinic leading up to racing and the four-day regatta itself had a full spectrum of breeze.
On the second day of scheduled racing, only a single race was completed as lightning strikes and thunderstorms threatened the course and the race committee sent the competitors to the safety of the shore.
Conditions improved on day 3, and five races were completed for all but the 29er class, where 4 races were fired off.
Even until the final day of racing, the outcome of the event was still in question in each class.
By day 1, the Sinks/Renoir duo was leading the class but slid into second place on day 2. But on day 3, this double-handed team focused on their prize and never finished worse than a sixth place in the day’s five races.
A final day of 3-1 finishes wrapped up the class win U.S.. sailing’s Manton D. Scott Memorial Trophy for Sinks and Renoir.