2018 Youth Sailing World Championships - Day 2

Good fortune continued to wash over Team USA on Day 2 of the 48th annual Youth Sailing World Championships being sailed on Corpus Christi Bay.

American sailors lead four of the nine classes – Boys' and Girls' 420, Girls' Laser Radial and Boys' RS:X – with a mix of veteran sailors and newcomers leading the way.

In the Girls' 420 Class the reigning gold medalists, Carmen and Emma Cowles (both Larchmont, N.Y.) of the U.S. stubbed their toes in the first race and then bounced back to win the second by a large margin. Since they've completed more than three races they're permitted to discard their worst finish. That means that the Cowles are counting three first-place finishes and lead the class by 4 points over Vita Heathcote and Emilia Boyle of Great Britain.

"We just jumped the line a bit in the first race," said Carmen Cowles, the skipper. "If we keep cool and collected in the boat, it'll be fine. The event's still up for grabs, so we'll have to stay conservative on the start line. We can give up half a length to not worry about being over."

The Cowles twins won the class last year by 26 points, counting all firsts and seconds and discarding a disqualification. Although they have now recorded a discard Emma Cowles, the crew, complemented her sister for keeping the boat moving fast.

"After the start we're focusing on keeping the bow down and going for the pressure," said Emma Cowles. "Carmen's doing well with the controls in the boat and making sure we have max power."

In the Girls' Laser Raidal Class, Charlotte Rose (Houston, Texas) posted two first-place finishes and leads with the low score of 3 points, good for a 2-point lead over Emma Savelon of the Netherlands and a 6-point lead over third-placed Valeriya Lomatchenko of Russia. Rose is the reigning gold medalist in the class and won both races today by a comfortable margin.

"I had better starts today and just tried to stay on the lifted tack all the time. The key was to keep it simple," Rose said.

Rose, however, was unable to pinpoint a singular reason for her speed advantage, although she said that hiking harder plays a role in it.

"I try to hike as hard as I can," said Rose. "The harder I hike the sooner the upwind leg ends. But after 15 minutes sailing upwind I start to notice my feet going numb, so I guess that's hiking hard."

In the Girls' 29er Class, Berta Puig (Miami, Fla.) and Bella Casaretto (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) added a first and fifth to their scoreline and moved into third place overall after holding fifth last night. They have 19 points and trail Pia Andersen and Nora Edland of Norway by 11 points.

"Today went well, I'm proud of the way we sailed," said Puig. "I'm happy that we were able to stay consistent and keep moving up the leaderboard. We just have to keep working hard and moving up the leaderboard."

Chase Carraway (Wrightsville Beach, N.C.) also moved up the leaderboard today in the Boys' Laser Radial Class. After holding eighth overall last night, he finished 7-5 in today's two races and now lies sixth overall, 12 points behind leader Josh Armit of New Zealand and 7 points behind third-placed Juan Cardozo of Argentina.

In the Nacra 15 Class, Nico Martin (Houston, Texas) and AnaClare Solé (Houston, Texas) posted a 12-7-4 and have 33 points, good for eighth place overall. Their day might've gone better had the hook on Solé's trapeze harness not broken.

"AnaClare fell overboard in the first race," said Martin. "She got back onboard quickly so we didn't lose too much. Luckily it was light air and only one of us had to trapeze, so I did it instead of her.

"The day could've gone better," Martin continued. "We were happy with our start in the last race and then the wind shifted far right, which we didn't expect. But we had good speed and were able to be in the top five at the windward mark."

Elsewhere in the fleet, Geronimo Nores (Miami Beach, Fla.) of the U.S. continued to lead the way in the Boys' RS:X Class. The tall, 6-foot, 6-inch sailor added a 1-2 to yesterday's three first-place finishes, while discarding a fourth, and has 6 points in five counted races. He leads Italy's Nicolo Renna by 4 points and France's Fabien Pianazza by 7 points.

In the Girls' RS:X Class, Dominique Stater (Miami, Fla.) holds 13th place after posting finishes of 12-13-13 today.

The Boys' 420 duo of JC Hermus (Bellport, N.Y.) and Walter Henry (Syosset, N.Y.) posted two first-place finishes to cement their lead in the class. After discarding their Race 1 third-place finish, they now have the low score of 4 points, good for a 7-point lead over Otto Henry and Rome Featherstone of Australia, last year's gold medalists.

In the Boys' 29er Class, Charlie Hibben (Concord, Mass.) and Nicholas Hardy (Newton, Mass.) finished 3-15-17 and hold 12th place overall.

Racing is scheduled to continue tomorrow with 23 races planned among the nine classes.

For complete results please visit the Youth Worlds results page.