by Christine Brown
For the second time in a week, the Bainbridge High School (BHS) Sailing Team won a district championship, and this time they accepted the invitation to Nationals. The team won the NWISA Fleet District Championship April 25-26 but declined to participate in the Mallory National Championship, giving second place Woodinville High School the berth. By NWISA policy, a NWISA school may attend only one ISSA double-handed national championship per season. BHS had hopes of winning the NWISA Team Racing District Championship, which was held this past weekend at Sail Sand Point on Lake Washington, and is the qualifier for the ISSA Baker National Team Racing Championship.
Team racing involves three sailboats from one high school racing against three sailboats from another high school. Boat speed and handling, strategy and tactics come in to play as each team tries to get its group of three boats to finish in the top positions while impeding the other team. Seven Northwest high schools participated in the varsity fleet. The BHS varsity sailors ended with a record of 20 wins and 1 loss, dropping only one race late in the 2nd day of racing to the 2nd place team, Woodinville, which ended with a record of 14 wins and 7 losses. Sehome High School from Bellingham placed third with 12 wins and 9 losses.
Conditions were very nearly perfect on Saturday, with sunshine and a steady breeze from the north in the mid-teens. The wind moderated somewhat on Sunday with some oscillation. The races ran continuously for two days, with the race committees managing 72 varsity races and 90 junior varsity races.
BHS sailors in the varsity fleet were Co-Captains Will Brown and Joshua Rentz, Stasi Burzycki, Jackson McCoy, Hannah Harrison, Nick Dresel, Blake Bentzen, and Nicole Sanford. These team members will represent the NWISA in the Baker Trophy ISSA Team Race Championship to be held at the Chicago Yacht Club May 22-24.
Front row: Coach Susie Kaseler, Nicole Sanford, Hannah Harrison. Back row: Nick Dresel, Stasi Burzycki, Blake Bentzen, Joshua Rentz, Jackson McCoy, Will Brown.
The BHS Sailing Team hosted a junior varsity regatta at the same location as the district championship, which allowed for extra sailors to have the opportunity to compete in team racing. This bracket included a second and third team from BHS, a second team from Orcas, and varsity teams from seven other Northwest high schools. The BHS Blue team remained undefeated through 18 races. The BHS Gold team took third with a 14-4 record, just one point behind second-place Wilson High School with a 15-3 record.
Bainbridge Blue sailors were Lucas Burzycki, Caelan Juckniess, Olivia Mitchell, Kat Smith, Sophia Kasper, Sophie Crandell, and Harry Saliba, who sailed for second place Wilson on Saturday and BHS Gold on Sunday. Bainbridge Gold team members were Karl Anderson, Elizabeth Rolfes, Zach Mellin, Cole Garthewaite, Francine Brownell, Christoph Webber, Maddie Ekin, and Liam Sherry. Complete results can be found on the NWISA website and at scores.highschoolsailing.org, where regatta results are posted in real time.
The Sportsmanship Award, presented to the team that best exemplifies the ethic of sportsmanlike conduct, fair play, and friendliness on and off the race course, was won by Oak Harbor. The BHS Coach Kaseler was especially delighted that BHS was among the nominees for this award. “Competition is fun, and the goal is to earn the respect of your competitors. You cannot win that respect without sportsmanlike behavior, on and off the water. I have also been impressed this year with BHS sailors’ willingness to load up boats for transport everywhere, even those boats that were another team’s responsibility. This year’s team has worked hard for their success and thoroughly earned the respect of their competitors and coaching staff.”
BHS Sailing Team Co-Captains Josh Rentz and Will Brown commented on how impressive it was to see both junior varsity teams compete so well at team racing. “It shows off our depth and why we have a tradition of winning team racing districts. It was also really rewarding to show that we can also excel at fleet racing; we sail fast and sail smart. We are ready for Nationals.”
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Featured photo shows Blake Bentzen, Will Brown, Jackson McCoy, Hannah Harrison. Photos courtesy of Jay Brown.
