Eliza Dawson & Britz Grant working hard to keep the boat flat and fast.
The sailing team is hosting an open regatta on Saturday May 8th at the NWMC.
The sailing team has had a very busy 2010 season. We are excited to be hosting a regatta in Port Townsend next weekend and wanted to make sure that we let you, our supporters, know in case you can stop by to watch some of the races. The racing should start around 11AM, Saturday May 8th and continue with the last race starting not later than 4 PM. The teams will be racing in Vanguard 15’s and we hope to have 20 boats out on the water.
This year a lot of the teams have been making the effort to bring boats to the regatta’s making for some exciting racing with big fleets. The most boats we saw this year were at the Seattle Yacht Club, where they were able to get 30 boats. Since we were able to get a trailer together, with a lot of peoples help and support, we have been able to help with this effort. So this season when the boats at the regattas have been Vanguards, we have helped with the effort.
This year we have 16 youthful sailors on the team: a senior, a junior, a sophomore, a slew of freshman and some enthusiastic junior sailors. They have all been making a great effort at showing up at practices (Monday, Tuesday and Thursday) and regattas. The team has attended all of the regattas, eight of them so far this season, and they are planning to attend the Team Racing District Championships May 15/16 (a first for this group of sailors). Coach Erik has hopes that some of the team will be able to compete in the summer youth circuit, to help hone their skills. In any case, they are all enjoying the sailing and becoming good sailors. They are a great group of young adults.
We now also have alumni that are sailing on college teams. Meghan MacDonald is in her second year at WWU and is a very active member on the WWU sailing team, Mariah Vane and Alyce Flanagan are both on the UW sailing team (Alyce just qualified to go to Nationals with the UW Women’s Team), and Clara Nyby is sailing at Tulane.
Once again we want to thank all of you who support the team; those who donate your time and skills through rigging, sail making, fiberglass repair, and engine repair; the Port Townsend Sailing Association who arranges fund raisers; those who donate your time and boats for the fund raising sail; and those who donate to the team by coming on the fund raising sail. Then there is the Port Townsend High School, the YMCA, the Port of Port Townsend, the NWMC…..and parents. We appreciate all the support. We hope that you will have time to come watch the team sail!
Fair Winds,
Leslie McNish