Sophomore Twin Sisters Take 2- GOLD at 2025 American Youth Cup

American Youth Cup, February 15, 2025, Nathan Benderson Park, Sarasota, Florida;
Watch video at 3:24.12 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YL63KU7c7Sk

February 15-16, 2025, SARASOTA, FL. On Saturday, February 15, 2025, two heats--one with eight boats and one with seven and a scratch--lined up to compete in the Women's Youth Pair event on a wavy and windy course at Nathan Benderson Park in Sarasota. The usually sheltered water was showing white caps by the time these races were underway, thanks to a WSW cross-breeze measuring 10-20mph with some good gusts. And for twin sisters with a sailing background and lots of time watching wind on water, this might have made the difference.

Heat one had the tighter competition, with the 1st place boat finishing at 8:12.417, ahead of 2nd with a 0:07.080 second lead, and ahead of 3rd with a 0:07.848 second lead. The last of the eight boats came in with a 0:42.765 second lead for the Andert pair. (See Crew Timer results and scroll to 10:55 Event: Z - 14 H1 Womens Youth 2- H1: https://www.crewtimer.com/regatta/r14281.)

Heat two had a bigger spread, but Maija and Anna were the faster 1st place boat finishing at 8:09.968--even without the push from a more competitive field. AND, they were racing against boats in both heats who had "fresh legs", while just three hours earlier Maija raced in the 1V 8+ and two and a half hours earlier Anna raced in the 2V 8+ (boats that would go on to receive bronze and silver medals, respectively).

Maija (stroke) and Anna (bow) took the lead in heat two without a lot of "moves", but they did put in a sprint at the end because after looking at the even heavier wind forecast for Sunday they realized that it was unlikely that pairs would race their finals and that the medals would be decided based on heat finish times. This turned out to be the smart strategy as Sunday pairs racing was indeed canceled.

Heat two had a 2nd place boat with a 0:11.909 second lead, a 3rd place boat with a 0:17.290 second lead, and the last boat with a 0:51.509 lead for the 1st boat. (See Crew Timer results and scroll to 11:02 Event: A - 14 H2 Womens Youth 2- H2: https://www.crewtimer.com/regatta/r14281.)

Maija and Anna credit their coaches, JonMichael Francis and Michael Small, for teaching them how to balance the pair in all kinds of conditions. They credit their dad (a lifelong competitive sailor) and their sailing coaches with teaching them how to predict and contend with wind angles, shifts and puffs to know how to time their moves and steering. Other boats in the field seemed to have some steering issues, perhaps related to these wind conditions.

Maija and Anna were awarded the gold medal for this event for their overall top time, which was a decisive 0:02.449 faster finish.

Watch my favorite race ever for these two here, forwarding to time 3:24.12: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YL63KU7c7Sk

GUESS WHO'S BACK. BACK AGAIN. OARS IS BACK. TELL YO FRIENDS. M-DIRT BACK. A-DIRT BACK. WATCH YO BACK. MEDAL DAT.