Excellent weather and a range of conditions from light to moderate blessed the junior sailors attending the U.S. O’pen Cup, hosted by New Bedford Community Boating Center.  The Juniors enjoyed conventional buoy racing as well as “Un-Regatta” style Giant Slalom and “O’pen Cross” courses.   Mandatory capsizes, stand-up sailing, and 360s were popular with the racers.  The kids also enjoyed the minimalist rules where Rule #1 required fun at all times.  Perhaps the highlight of the event for the kids was the individual and tandem freestyle competitions.  New moves were broken out with spectacular “wheelies”, “hood ornaments”, creative capsizes, and dismounts stealing the show.

The Juniors, ages 8-12, were broken down into Under 12 and 12+ age groups.  Some of the sailors were experienced Opti and 420 racers while others had never thought about “competition” before.   The short courses and fast-paced format worked well for the wide range of ability levels.  Josh Morrell from Tortola took the hotly contested U12 division with Sam Shannon sneaking the Freestyle.  Max Lewis (son of Cam) took the “Oldsters” Freestyle with Elie Jordi & Rasmus Sayre styl’n the Tandem Freestyle Division.  Elise Gehling not only had the lowest race score in the 12+ age group, but demonstrated such excellent sportsmanship and was so supportive of the younger sailors that she was awarded the Overall Prize for “Un-Regatta Spirit”.   The crowd erupted with “oohs” and “aahs” as Elise gleefully accepted the coveted BIC surf board as Grand Prize.