Sailors shine at nationals

GROSSE POINTE, Mich. ? Several local competitors had strong finishes in the U.S. Youth Sailing Championships that were completed Wednesday on Lake St. Clair.

In the Club 420 class (4.2-meter boats), Chris Barnard and Chris Segerblom, both from Newport Harbor High, finished third with a score of 33.

The pair competed in six heats with first-place being awarded one point, second place two and so on. Teams try for the lowest number of points and have their worst finish dropped from their final score.

The pair won two of their heats, finished sixth in another, and finished 10th and 15th in two other heats.

Charlie Buckingham of Corona del Mar High finished fourth in the Laser (single-handed) Division. Buckingham finished second, third, fifth, sixth and 21st in his heats.

Also in the 420 class, Newport Harbor’s Cole Hatton and Sage Hill’s Cameron Stuart finished seventh with 42 points. The duo finished second, fourth, fifth, sixth and 25th in their heats.

Wade Hatton, from Newport Harbor, and Perry Emsiek, a Balboa Yacht Club member, were 20th in the 420 class with a score of 86, followed by Corona del Mar High’s Andrew Mason and Rachael Neal, from the San Diego Yacht Club, with 91 points.

Mason and Neal won the Perry Sportsmanship Award.

Blake Warner, a Balboa Island resident who attends Calvary Chapel High, finished 18th in the Laser Division.