Bermuda Sailors At US National Jr. Champs
Coming right off the heels of a busy weekend at the Hyannis Yacht Club Regatta, local youth sailors Ryan Powell and Mackenzie Cooper entered the 2011 CJ Buckley Regatta this week on opposing teams.
The regatta acts as the 2011 Club 420 Association National Jr. Team Race Championship, so the best sailors from US high school team racing tend to gravitate to this event. The Regatta is hosted by the East Greenwich Yacht Club, Rhode Island and Greenwich Bay Sailing Association.
It is was started and named in memory of former Tabor Academy sailor, CJ Buckley (17) who passed away December 2002 from brain cancer.
Brewster Academy sailing team member Powel formed a team known as the “Croissant Crushers” while Cooper strayed from his Tabor Academy team mates for this regatta, joining rival sailors from St. Georges School, aptly named themselves “Rivals”. 36 three boat teams were randomly split into groups of six and sent out on two courses in round robin fashion for two full days of short course racing.
From there the groups were reshuffled into Gold, Silver, Bronze, Red, Blue and White fleets and 3 more rounds were completed. At the conclusion of each round the teams with the best record moved up and the teams with the worst record moved down.
For an event of this scope, the modified Swiss-league system works well because it allows teams of similar skill and knowledge to continually race each other, the result is close, action-packed racing fun for all. While Powell’s “Croissant Crushers” made it to 3rd place in the Bronze Fleet, Cooper’s “Rivals” were able to sail their way to the the finals of the Gold Fleet but lost the final “rubber match” to Antilles High School after it was all tied with 2 wins a piece.
Over the course of 3 days over 400 races were sailed with over 200 participants, a great tribute to the 17 year old Buckley who loved the sport so much Powell and Cooper head to the waters of Buzzards Bay for the Annual Buzzard’s Bay Regatta (BBR) which starts on Friday.
Powell will be sailing in the large 146 boat Club 420 fleet while Cooper joins the 88 boat Laser Radial fleet. Other Bermudians sailing at the BBR include Dimitri Stevens, Connor Astwood and Ellie Wollmann, all in the 420 class.
