Youth trifecta

Something seems to be going right at Lauderdale Yacht Club when it comes to training their youth racers. First it was Christopher Williford who beat out 198 boats to win the 2009 Optimist North American Championships, raced in Boca Chica, Dominican Republic. Next up was 15-year-old Erika Reineke, who travelled to Charlottenlund, Denmark to race in the 2009 Laser Radial Youth Europeans, where in the girl’s fleet she finished first in the under 17 division, and second overall against a very competitive fleet of 75 girls, from 26 different countries. Rounding out the trifecta was skipper Channel Miller, who along with crew Yuri Namikawa (Ranchos Palos Verdes, Calif.), won the 2009 U.S. Junior Double-handed Championship for the Ida Lewis Trophy. They topped 36 other teams of young women over 7 races sailed out of Hampton Yacht Club in Hampton, VA.