Chesapeake junior sailors travel for international regattas at 2028 Olympic venues.
This summer racing season, several Chesapeake-area youth junior sailors traveled to Southern California to compete in events staged off of Long Beach and the Port of Los Angeles, the future venues for the 2028 Olympic Games.
One event was the Long Beach Olympic Classes Regatta (ORC), held July 12-20. The OCR was one of five events in the Sailing Grand Slam, formerly the Sailing World Cup, a circuit created to showcase top sailors in the lead-up to the Olympics. Leo Boucher, Robby Meek, and Pierce Brindley competed in ILCA 7, with Boucher finishing 20th out of 52 as the second American. My sister, Alders Kulynych-Irvin, competed with Key Biscayne Yacht Club in ILCA 6, finishing 29th out of 44 as the third American. She then participated in the US Youth National Team Clinic held at nearby Cabrillo Beach Yacht Club.
That clinic preceded the 2025 ILCA 4 and ILCA 6 Youth World Championships, held at the same venue. North American ILCA sailors qualified for Youth Worlds off of their standings in the ILCA Grand Prix, which assigns points to sailors based on their finishes in major ILCA North America events. Sailors are then offered Worlds berths in ILCA 4, 6, and 7 in the order of their ranking.
This year’s Youth Worlds saw favorable and consistent wind conditions off of the San Pedro coastline. There was concern due to a tsunami warning, but this was downgraded to just an elevated tide near LA.
In the ILCA 4 Championships, Flora Cole competed for Annapolis Yacht Club, finishing in the Silver Fleet.
Alders competed in the ILCA 6 Youth Women’s fleet, which featured 122 sailors, but had to withdraw from the regatta due to illness. Jake Beaver of Severna Park, MD, was one of 210 sailors in the ILCA 6 Youth Men, and finished 31st out of U17s in the Silver Fleet.
by Storrie Kulynych-Irvin
