Wager out on the water(left), Emery Wager(right)

2003 US Youth Championship

In his fourth time to the US Youth Championship, Seattle Yacht Club's Emery Wager dominated the Laser fleet from the first day to win the Robert L. Johnstone III Trophy. Wager's score of eight bullets, a fourth and a fifth for 17 total points. That score allowed him to claim the championship without participating in the final race.

Wager credits his win to good practice. "In Seattle, we can sail year round. I can practice in a variety of conditions on Puget Sound as well as Lake Washington." Former U.S. Youth Champion and Olympic medalist Carl Buchan is one of Wager's role models. Wager says that Buchan advised him, "If you want to win, it's not enough to just sail fast, you have to be tough."

Throughout the competition, Emery showed great speed by passing boats both upwind and down. Dropping his worst race, Emery led the 35-boat Laser fleet with a (5)-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-4 in ten races. Wager's many days of training this year paid off. He sailed hard and aggressively all week.

Emery has attended several large races and clinics in the past year such as the Miami OCR, Alamitos Bay OCR, Radial worlds (finishing as top American), the St. Francis junior symposium and the CISA clinic.

In addition to top performance in racing, the David M. Perry Perpetual Sportsmanship Trophies are awarded to the sailors voted by their peers as demonstrating true sportsmanship behavior in each fleet. What a great tribute to exhibiting good character in competition. In the Laser class the trophy was awarded to Emery Wager. It goes to show you that good guys do finish first!

U.S. Youth Sailing Team - US Sailing has named its 2003 U.S. Youth Sailing Team. The team members are considered the best and brightest of young sailors in the U.S. The U.S. Youth Sailing Team is an honorary team. All members were presented with official team uniforms at their qualifying event. Emery Wager made the team with his win at the U.S. Youth Championship in the Laser class.

2003 Laser Radial World and European Championship

Since the U.S. Youth Championship, Emery has been collecting some international experience with a couple of Laser regattas in Europe.

Wager just finished competing at the 2003 Laser Radial Open Worlds and European Championship in Riva del Garda, Italy, 25 July - 9 August. Emery distinguished himself as a top-ten finisher AND finishing with the best American score in the competition. Wager placed 9th out of 230 boats after 12 races with a (45)-1-8-11-10-3-7-19-21-4-19-(24) in the posted results (scores include to discards)!

For the latest results: - click here (Scroll down the page to the section "Results Male - Gold")

For more information on racer profiles and the event - click here.