Heath sailor wins silver at US Jr Olympic Sailing Festival

Team Geoffrey Nelson/Max Hudson earns silver medal finish at 2012 Hobie North American Youth Sailing Championship

HobieYNAmedal — Max Hudson (left) of Shreveport Yacht Club and Geoffrey Nelson, of Chandlers Landing Yacht Club, stand on Bembe Beach in Annapolis, from which the catamarans launched. The racing took place on the Chesapeake Bay, east of Bembe Beach and south of the Bay Bridge. Photo submitted by Dawn Nelson.

July 11, 2012 – Geoffrey Nelson, 16, of Heath, and Max Hudson, 16, of Shreveport, Louisiana, won the Silver Medal at the 2012 Hobie North American Youth Sailing Championship, hosted by Annapolis Yacht Club, as part of the U.S. Junior Olympic Sailing Festival in Annapolis, Maryland on July 6-8, 2012.

A high pressure system over the Chesapeake Bay kept the temperatures unusually high, near 100F every day, with light winds filling in to 6-8 knots each afternoon.

While Trey James and Gabe Longo, of Syracuse, New York were firmly in first place by the end of the second day of racing, Nelson/Hudson were amongst a pack of sailors all within two points of each other vying for the silver. On the final day of racing, Nelson/Hudson sealed the Silver medal finish with consecutive first place finishes in the final two individual races of the regatta by adapting to tricky tidal currents to leave the other catamarans well behind them at the finish line.

Submitted by Dawn Nelson of Heath.

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2012, championship, Geoffrey Nelson, Heath, Hobie North, sailing, US Junior Olympic Sailing Festival