Houser Sails to Championship in Lasers; Hardesty/Ware Wins in Flying Juniors

San Diego-area sailors won two of the three U.S. Yacht Racing Union Junior National Sailing Championships as the week-long competition ended Friday in Newport Beach.

David Houser, 16, of the Coronado Yacht Club won the single-handed Smythe Trophy in Lasers, and Bill Hardesty, 15, and crew Paul Ware, 16, of the Mission Bay Yacht Club won the Bemis Trophy in Flying Juniors.

Scott Elting of the Houston Yacht Club, with crew Carter Perrin, Sam Pyne and David Thomas, won the Sears Cup contested in Etchells 22s.

Houser led the Lasers most of the week but had to break a one-point spread with Mike Hare of Houston and Brett Davis of St. Petersburg in the final race.

Houser sailed toward the right side of the course in light eight 10-knot winds and won by about 3 1/2 minutes; Davis and Hare went left in less favorable winds and placed fourth and eighth.

“I could tell there was wind to the right,” Houser said. “(The water) was darker. The guys that didn’t notice that, it showed up in their places.”

Hare and Davis started close to each other, but Houser sailed his own race.

“My idea was to stay away from them and just sail as fast as I could,” Houser said.

Earlier this month, Houser, a junior at Coronado High, placed second against 14 adults as the youngest competitor in the USYRU O’Day series for the national single-handed title open to all ages.

“I thought the guys in the O’Day would be real tough,” Houser said. “The guy that won (Morgan Larson of Capitola) was real good, but the others were just there. Half the guys in this (event) could have taken my spot.”

Hardesty, a sophomore at Point Loma High School, and Ware, a junior at Bishop’s, sailed a consistent series of four firsts, two seconds, two thirds and a fourth in the nine-boat fleet, playing the subtle wind shifts to their advantage.

“And every race that we didn’t win was very close,” Ware said.

Last weekend, several world-class sailors conducted a clinic for the competitors. Olympic bronze medalists John Shadden and Charlie McKee and veteran Dave Ullman offered the fleet some tips.

“(Shadden and McKee) taught us how to tack better,” Ware said.

“Dave Ullman’s local knowledge was really good,” Hardesty said.

Ullman’s son, Jake, said: “They listened, and the other guys didn’t.”

The winners qualify for the USYRU/Rolex Junior Sailing Team. Other members include San Diegans Brian and Giselle Camet and Kevin Quan.