Way to Go! Student places in '29er' sailing competition
Steven Hardee placed 10th this winter in the “29er male” category of the 2021 Youth Sailing World Championships. Credit: Bruce Jeffrey
A Stony Brook student recently made a splash at an international sailing competition.
Steven Hardee, a senior at The Stony Brook School, placed 10th this winter in the "29er male" category of the 2021 Youth Sailing World Championships, a multiday competition that featured more than 350 sailors from 55 countries in Oman. A "29er" is a two-person high-performance sailing skiff.
Hardee, who is from St. Croix, represented the U.S. Virgin Islands in the competition with fellow sailor J.J. Klempen, who attends Christchurch School in Virginia. To reach this year's world championships, the pair placed first among teams from the U.S. Virgin Islands at a qualifying event last summer in Rhode Island.
"There was a lot of work put in before the event that really set up that good result," Hardee said of the team's top-10 placement. "I was just really grateful for all the coaching and support I was given."
Hardee, who started sailing when he was 9, began competing internationally three years later and has since participated in competitions including four world championships, three youth world championships and three European championships. He was also part of a crew named the "Top North American Team" at the youth world championships in 2018.
Hardee, 18, is also captain of his school's sailing team and a member of the school's Honor Council.
— MICHAEL R. EBERT
Michael R. Ebert is an education researcher and has worked for Newsday in various capacities since 2003. He was part of an 11-person team named as 2008 Pulitzer Prize finalists for investigative coverage of the LIRR's platform safety issues.
