San Juan County, Washington

The junior summer lessons are winding down, it seems to me that they have been the most succesful ever! We had some fantastic instruction from our professional staff of Tate Wester, Barrett North & Taylor Smith. Volunteer coaches Jake White, Gavin Brackett, Sam Parish and others helped as well. Bob's web site design and support was terrific and there is no way this all would have happenned except for Betsy and Gina's support organizing all the logistics of sailors and instructors. We are in the final week of lessons with a Race Clinic, instructing sixteen junior sailors in begining racing. Nine OIHS sailing team members are helping me with that instruction providing one on one instruction for the junior sailors in the V-15's. I think the Open Bic's have been a great help getting more junior sailors excited about sailing this summer.. also getting kids more solo tiller time. We plan to continue to use the Bic's in our fall exploratory program. West Coast Sailing and Bic are asking me how our program is liking the Bic's and if we are planning to purchase the three loaner Bic's that have been supplementing the three Bic's Sail Orcas owns. I would like to say yes to Bic on the purchase of the 3 Loaner boats we have used this summer at a reduced used cost.

FYI if you have not heard, Orcas High School sailors took a gold and silver last weekend at the Northwest Junior Olympics hosted by Seattle Yach Club. &mdash Burke

Northwest Junior Olympics Results

Eight members of the Orcas High School sailing team participated in a full week of sail training at the Columbia River gorge the first week in August. There were two days of practice, three days of clinic and two days of racing all crammed into one week. The three day clinic is named the Wind Clinic and it lives up to its name every year, with winds this year gusting to 25 mph in the afternoons. With the wind blowing in the twenties, little steering and kinetic mistakes are amplified and the laser sailboat capsizes abruptly, spilling it’s rider into the water. The good news is with air temperatures hovering close to eighty degrees, the sailors were never cold. By the end of the clinic the sailors were all controlling their boats in the strong winds and ready to race.

Friday was designated a practice day after the WIND clinic and before the weekend Columbia Gorge One-Design (CGOD) regatta. A small group of sailors including Orcas’s Jake White and Taylor Smith opted for the ultimate extreme practice known as the Gorge blowout, a 24 mile sail upriver from Cascade Locks to Hood River. This trip tests a sailors skill for downwind sailing like no other I have seen, with extreme puffs of wind,current and in sections of the river large standing waves. Two weeks prior to our attempt at the blowout, 30 very experienced laser sailors did not finish the annual blowout and were pulled off of the river half way, due to winds in excess of forty mph, with sailors experiencing multiple capsizes and gear failures. For Jake and Taylor’s trip, wind gust peaked close to 30 knots, with five of the fifteen in the group not able to finish. Jake and Taylor finished the blowout still going strong and will be in a group of less than a hundred lasers sailors to complete the trip for 2010.

The CGOD regatta on Saturday and Sunday saw winds ranging from ten mph to the low twenties. Nine races were completed in the 24 boat laser radial class, with the top four boats battling it out each race. Teddy Weaver just beat out Karl Haelsig, with Jake White taking third. Five other Orcas sailors all completed the nine race regatta in the radial fleet. Taylor Smith participated in the Laser full rig class sailing against the adults, placing 7th overall, and was first of the youths. Rhys Thompson placed 8th in the Laser 4.7 class.

Due to the huge demand for Junior Sailing this year, all of our August classes have been nearly filled. Fortunately, our excellent instructors Tate and Barrett have agreed to teach in the evening. So, if you have been interested in having your child continue their learning progress in sailing this summer, please give Gina a call at 376-5339 for details. These sessions are for intermediate/advanced sailors.

Thirteen sailors from the Orcas High School sailing team traveled to the first summer youth regatta of the season June 25-27 at Vancouver Lake Wa. Summer sun and wind greeted the sailors making for some awesome sailing with temperatures soaring into the low 80's and a moderate shifty wind setting down on the lake. The team also enjoyed the lakeside camping and fire pit provided by the Vancouver Lake sailing club.

Skipper Jake White and crews Lee Gibbons and Connor O'Neil stepped into a three person `Lighting` sailboat for the first time Friday afternoon for a clinic before the regatta. Their learning curve was quick and they jumped out to an early lead Saturday by winning the first two races. Seven races were completed during the two day event for the lightnings with Jake and crew opening up their lead and securing the regatta win with some very tricky light air sailing on Sunday. They will now move on to represent the Northwest at US Sailing's Chubb U.S. Junior Championships for the Sears Trophy August 14-19 in San Diego,CA.

Skipper Carly Temple with crew Nile Reed had a strong showing as well in the V-15 class, leading after five races on Saturday they slipped to second place overall in the light shifty winds on Sunday.

The Laser class with 14 boats competing was the biggest class on the water and Taylor Smith was able to take third place in this fleet, this was a very strong showing for Taylor as he worked very hard to keep boat speed up in in the light winds.

Jake and Taylor will continue their summer training program by traveling to Canada and participating in the prestigious WAVES regatta July 2-4 hosted by Royal Vancouver Yacht Club. Next up for the team is the Port Townsend youth regatta July 17&18.

The Orcas and North Kitsap high school sailing teams,created a combined team and traveled to this years Pacific Coast Team Racing Championship, June 12 & 13th, hosted by Seattle Yacht Club on Lake Union. The sunny weather, moderate north winds and the Seattle skyline as a backdrop made for a stunning venue. Eighty eight races were completed on the digital N course during the two day regatta, featuring some of the best team racing ever seen in the Northwest, with most of the matches being won or lost on the final beat.

The combined high school team "Whipper Snappers" were competing against the best adult teams in the Northwest. The team took advantage of competing against this high caliber competition and showed improvement each race. By the second day of racing they were able to put up a good fight in all the matches they sailed in.

Twelve of the best high school sailing teams came to Seattle to compete for the title of ISSA HS Team Racing Champions. After 90 races, Point Loma High School emerged as the 2010 Baker Trophy Champions. Sailors arrived at Sail Sand Point in Seattle Friday afternoon for a day of practice on the waters of Lake Washington. Teams enjoyed a solid 5-7 knot Southerly that shifted slowly to the East during the afternoon practice session.

Saturday morning, racing started promptly at 10:00 in a light South breeze that built to 8 knots by 2:00. The wind started to die and shifted to the East. Several races were abandoned, and sailors waited on the water until a Northwest breeze filled and another 15 races could be completed. At about 6:30, the wind shut off for good and sailors were sent in for the day with 59 races complete, just 7 races shy of a complete round robin. Sunday morning the breeze was waiting for the sailors first thing. A 10 knot South breeze was in place and racing was started at 9:30. With the steady breeze, races were sailed right off the Sand Point pier. After the final seven races of the initial round robin were completed schools were split into Gold, Silver and Bronze divisions. Gold sailed a double round robin, Silver and Bronze both completed a single round. Racing concluded by 1:00.

All races were sailed on the Digital N course. Racing kept moving all weekend thanks to a spectacular race committee led by PRO Carl Buchan and the amazing group of umpires led by Chief Umpire Rob Overton. Check out video from the event thanks to Chris Love and Sailgroove at http://www.sailgroove.org/ Event photos from Sean Trew can be found at http://www.pacificfog.net/

Congratulations to Point Loma High School the 2010 ISSA High School Team Racing Champions! Point Loma HS Skippers: Kevin Laube, Jake LaDow, Olin Paine, Shone Bowman, Jake Reynolds. Crews: Claire Bagg, Will Herrin, Reece Bernet, Kyle Sutter. Coach: Steve Hunt.

Sandpoint Seattle, WA

Seven schools made the trip to Sail Sand Point to compete for the 2010 NW Team Racing Championship title and a berth to the ISSA National Team Racing Championship for the Baker Trophy. Although the weekend was full of sun, wind was not as present. After a short postponement Saturday morning, sailors started the first race in a light SE breeze of about 2-4 knots at 11:30. After 12 varsity races,the SE wind shut off. Sailors enjoyed the sun, the lake, good company and temps in the low 70's until a northerly eventually filled in at 5:00. Another 14 races were completed by 7:00 in a steady 6-8 knot northerly.

Sunday sailors pushed off into a 4 knot northerly that promptly died after the first race of the day. The race committee had their hands full with shifty winds and battling wind directions. Two more attempts were made at racing before the northerly finally won and filled at 2:00. 12 more races were completed before 3:45 when the wind said goodbye for the day.

With only 39 races complete, just 3 races shy of a second round robin, final scores went back to the first round robin. Congratulations to Bainbridge Island HS for their decisive win. Good luck at the Baker next weekend, right here at Sail Sand Point!!

All races were sailed on the digital N course. The rotation kept moving with limited umpiring by Rick Hatch and Dick Rose. A big thanks to Sand Point for hosting, Bainbridge Island HS and North Kitsap HS for bringing extra boats so we could have four fleets of FJ's on the water, Andi Pistay for heading up the food, and to all the volunteers on the race committee who made the most out of a difficult weekend running over 50 races.

Spring weather finally arrived on May 8th in Port Townsend, providing sunny skies, warm temps and moderate NW winds. Over a hundred sailors, making twenty-three teams from ten schools participated in the one day regatta which was hosted by the Port Townsend High School Sailing team and the Northwest Maritime Center. The backdrop was spectacular with the snow capped Olympics, historic old town Port Townsend and the sparkling new Northwest Maritime facility. The racing was exciting as well with great viewing of the 23 V-15's from the pier.

Fourteen races were completed , all windward-leeward courses, with Orcas boat #1 taking first place. The Orcas team travels to Seattle and Sail Sandpoint for 3 on 3 team race Districts' on May 14th-17th.

April 23-24 the Orcas high school sailing team participated in the Northwest Interscholastic Sailing Association double-handed district championships, hosted by Central Kitsap High School. The racing took place on Dyes inlet, just off the downtown Silverdale waterfront park. Mother Nature threw out more wind than some teams could handle Saturday afternoon and competitors were held on shore for four hours waiting for the breeze to back down. At the end of racing Saturday the top three schools were all within a point of each other. North Kitsap in the lead with 19, Orcas in second with 20 and Bainbridge Island sitting third with 21.

In sharp contrast to Saturday, Sunday brought light shifty winds. Sixteen races were completed over the two days and North Kitsap won the regatta, with Orcas taking second place, trailing NK by 8 points. The last six years in a row the Orcas team has finished no lower than second at NWISA double-handed championships. The team travels to Port Townsend May 8th, for a one day regatta.

Fourteen teams competed head to head in the George Prater Regatta Saturday April 17th, on Eagle Harbor. This was the final tune-up for teams prior to the NWISA Doublehanded District championships April 23-25 at Silverdale WA, where the winning team advances to ISSA Nationals at Indian Harbor Connecticut. Sailors were greeted with a light rain and no wind while rigging the twenty eight boats sailed in the George Prater Regatta, but shortly after the fleets took to the water the rain stopped and a light SE breeze filled in. The race committee worked very hard, getting a total of twenty-two races completed in the light and shifty breeze.

Jake White and Annalies Schuh won A division for Orcas #1 unofficially winning nine of the eleven races completed. Taylor Smith with crews Carly Temple and Annie Ryder also had a strong showing, finishing in the top 5 of A division with the Orcas #2 boat. The Orcas team will spend the week practicing hard on West Sound in final preparation for the NWISA Doublehanded Championships next weekend. For more information on High School sailing in the Northwest go to http://www.nwisa.org/