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Sailing
VI Sailors Invited to US Youth Championships
By Dean Greenaway
May 28, 2008, 09:36

TORTOLA—A U.S. and British Virgin Islands sailor has been invited to the June 26-July 1 U.S. Youth Sailing Championships in San Francisco, Calif.

St. Thomas’ Rian Baruther and Tortola’s Alec Anderson are among 36 of the 61 applicants accepted so far and invited to participate in the Club 420 championships. In February, Baruther and Anderson placed ninth in the mid winter championships held in Florida. Anderson said when they went to Florida, he did not have much experience with the boat but Baruther had and it was enough to help them.

“It’s a really fun two person boat and we wanted to compete in some other regattas and the people we were staying with suggested we try for the U.S. Youth Championships which is a good regatta,” Anderson explained. “We applied and we were accepted so we are going to go at the end of June and do our best.”

Going to different qualifying events to get positions wasn’t a requirement for getting into the championships Anderson noted. Rather the application process included providing information on results from previous competitions, background info, training plans and goals. “Different things to show what kind of sailor you are,” Anderson said. “The committee then chooses the applicants that are well fit and suited for the event. With our ninht at mid winters and our background, we were accepted. But, we weren’t going to be hugely disappointed if we weren’t accepted, because we would have gone to another regatta with lesser criteria but, we got accepted and we’re pretty happy.”

Since he doesn’t have one of the boats he will compete in on Tortola, Anderson will train with Baruther in St. Thomas in preparation for the championships. He said from what he knows, the regatta is a pretty classy event and not many regattas have the same format, which makes it more top notch because not everyone can go—something that makes it more prestigious. 

“It’s a higher competition level,” he noted. “Rian and I are very excited and we’ll begin training together soon. We always have fun together and we are looking forward to it and its going to be a great experience in San Francisco.”