Reiss, Whitehead revel in international sailing success.

Byline: Jason Shoot

Aug. 05--PANAMA CITY -- Taylor Reiss and Matthew Whitehead lived up to the hype emanating from the people around them. Now they're beginning to believe it, too. The two Bay County teenagers returned stateside this week following a month-long jaunt through Europe competing aboard catamarans in a pair of world-class regattas. Reiss and Whitehead placed sixth in the SL16 class at the ISAF Youth World Championships in Zadar, Croatia, and followed that with a third-place finish at the Formula 16 World Championships last week in Bordeaux, France. The local sailors admitted before leaving for Europe in June that they were unsure what to expect from a competitive standpoint. Much of what they had heard was that sailing in Europe is …