Youth sailing: from Optis to high school and college teams
As the Chesapeake youth sailing scene turns the page to July, high school and collegiate sailing have given way to summer junior programs and regattas.
Youth sailors, parents, and coaches will be especially busy this month. Many clubs not only have summer programs in full swing, but they will also host their annual junior regattas. These fun-filled events build community and inspire the next generation of sailors, but they are, indeed, labor intensive, taking small armies of dedicated adults to pull them off. So, here’s to the coaches, parents, and volunteers (both on and off the water) who make junior racing and summer sailing programs possible.
High School Scene: Severn School Captures Mallory Trophy
Three local high school sailing teams were among the 20 teams competing in the Interscholastic Sailing Association (ISSA) Fleet Race National Championship, AKA the Mallory, which unfolded May 30-31 ona Lake Pontchartrain, LA. At the conclusion of racing, Severn School (Severna Park, MD) topped the leaderboard, having performed consistently well throughout the regatta.
Day One was beautiful and sunny, and at the start of the day a light northwest breeze at six knots greeted the top teams in the nation. Throughout the morning and early afternoon, the breeze gradually swung to the right and faded to three to six knots, with powerboat chop at times making the racing quite difficult. Eventually, a southerly filled in at about 5 p.m., and racing got back underway with a six- to 11-knot south-southwest breeze. Race 8B was completed, and boats were back ashore by before 8 p.m.
As teams made their way to the racecourse on Day Two, the promising westerly flow died, and teams were sent back in to wait for the breeze, which came back enough for racing to get underway. As the day went on, the breeze built and clocked right. By early afternoon, six to 10 knots of north-northeast breeze made for some tight racing. The race committee made good use of the conditions and was successful in getting all the way to Race 16 in both divisions.
In the end, Severn School emerged victorious. St. George’s School captured second, and Mater Dei completed the podium taking third. Chesapeake-area teams Christchurch School (Christchurch, VA) placed eighth, and Key School (Annapolis, MD) placed 11th, with 20 schools competing.
For Severn School, fresh off capturing the Baker Trophy (see the June issue of SpinSheet), the back-to-back victories made for a jubilant sendoff for retiring longtime coach Tom Sitzman.
Find full Mallory results at scores.hssailing.org/s26.
Collegiate Scene
On the college season, Annapolis-area native Thomas Sitzman posted an impressive performance sailing for Stanford University at the Inter-Collegiate Sailing Association (ISCA) Open Fleet Race National Championship Finals Regatta. Sitzman, sailing with Callie Hammond, captured the Low Point A Division. The regatta, held May 21-22 in St. Petersburg, FL, was hosted by the University of South Florida. Stanford’s team, which placed second, was bested by Brown University in a historic victory, given that Brown had not won an open fleet racing national title since 1948. Chesapeake-based teams included the US Naval Academy (fourth place), Georgetown University (eighth place), and St. Mary’s College of Maryland (12th place), out of 18 teams competing. Find full results at scores.collegesailing.org.
Junior Week at Fishing Bay Yacht Club
Junior Week at Fishing Bay Yacht Club is theorganization’s flagship camp, the heart of its junior sailing program, and a fantastic way to start summer. And it’s open to the public! Campers from ages six to 18 can choose from a selection ofboats and experience levels. Junior Week, followed immediatley by the club’s Junior Annual Regatta and Commonwealth Cup (held June 20-21), ispowered by a staff of top-tier national/international coaches,certified instructors, and dedicated volunteers.Evenings are full of fun—ice cream, poolparties, and family cookouts. Looks like fun! Learnmore at fbyc.net/junior-sailing.
