LYC Junior Sailors Have Successful Summer Home and Abroad
Summer 2010
Markus Edegran and Nick Gallagher blasting upwind at Club 420
NAs en route to a 5th place finish overall
Some of LYC’s top junior sailors spent the majority of the summer on the road traveling to dozens of national and international championship regattas, bringing home trophies at many stops. LYC teams also won the JSA Championships in Optimists and Club 420s.
Several Optimist sailors qualified for international regattas by virtue of their strong performances at the National Team Trials. Drew Gallagher traveled to Poland in early July to compete in the Opti European Championship, placing 18th overall out of 146 boys. Results. Around the same time, Jack Budill, Elizabeth Hansen, Chrissie Klingler and Matt Kaplan traveled to Belgium for the Flanders Regatta, with Matt Kaplan placing 28th overall with large tides and waves in the North Sea. Results. Later in July, the Opti sailors came home to participate in the Opti Nationals at Fishing Bay YC (VA). A LISOT team featuring four LYC sailors (Harry Koeppel, Reinier Eenkema van Dijk, Drew Gallagher and Ty Ingram) finished second, behind Lauderdale YC, at the team race nationals. Koeppel then went on to place third in a light air fleet racing nationals with Ingram 18th out of 262 sailors, ten of whom were from LYC. Results. After the Opti Nationals, 16 LYC sailors traveled to Newport to race against 325 juniors at Opti New Englands. Drew Gallagher placed seventh overall, Koeppel tenth and Budill 20th. Results.
Drew Gallagher sails through his competition to leeward at Opti
Europeans in Poland in July
Meanwhile, the older juniors more than held their own, with Markus Edegran and Nick Gallagher placing fifth out of 109 teams at Club 420 North Americans at Brant Beach YC (NJ), with two other LYC teams competing. Results. The following weekend Casey Klingler and Alex Liggins traveled to Hyannis YC and, of 102 teams, won the Club 420 division at the Hyannis Regatta, a result made all the more impressive because it is the duo’s first year in the boat. Results. The next weekend, Edegran teamed with Sam Fitzgerald to finish sixth out of 157 teams at the Buzzards Bay Regatta, and several other LYC teams competed in 420s and Lasers. Results. The Mollerus brothers spent part of the summer racing overseas. Andrew Mollerus, with crew Charlie Peck, competed at International 420 Worlds in Haifa, Israel, placing 10th in the silver fleet. Results. Brother, Matthew Mollerus competed at Laser Radial Worlds in Scotland, and, despite being one of the youngest competitors at the event, won the first race of the regatta and qualified for the gold fleet, ultimately finishing 50th out of 215. Results. Reinier Eenkema van Dijk also spent time in the United Kingdom, teaming with his cousin Maarten in August to finish ninth of 57 teams at International 420 UK Nationals in Brightlingsea, England. Results. To cap off the summer international circuit, Mollerus and Peck, along with Gallagher, were invited to compete in mid August at the International 420 Junior European Championships in La Rochelle, France, with Mollerus/Peck placing 21st out of 120 teams. Results. Markus Edegran stayed closer to home that week and was a member of the team that won the Club 420 Junior Team Racing Championships out of 32 teams in Narragansett Bay. Results.
The juniors came home in mid August to compete in the JSA Championships, and demonstrated what they’d learned all summer. LYC nearly swept the Opti Champs, sailing in their home waters versus 172 racers from around the Sound. Koeppel won the 2010 title, with Ingram third, Matt Kaplan fourth, Budill sixth and Elizabeth Hansen seventh. 18 LYC sailors qualified for the championship. Results. In Club 420s, Klingler and Liggins became the first LYC team in 22 years to win the JSA 420 championship, held at Pequot YC. Results.
Entering the fall season, October 9-10, Reinier Eenkema van Dijk placed third out of 51 teams at Club 420 Mid Atlantics at Noroton YC (CT) with crew Spencer McDonough. Among several other LYC teams, Edegran and Nick Gallagher placed seventh, with Klingler and Liggins ninth,. Results. Also over Columbus Day weekend, Koeppel placed second out of 157 teams at Opti Atlantic Coast Champs at Tred Avon YC (MD). Jack Budill placed 23rd and Chrissie Klingler 27th, and 4th overall among all girls. Results.
