Eight members of the Bainbridge High School Sailing Tam traveled to San Juan Island on Saturday for the Islands Cup Regatta. Hosted by Friday Harbor High School, the competition drew high school sailors from Olympia, Port Angeles, Port Townsend, Central and North Kitsap, Anacortes, Orcas, and of course Bainbridge and Friday Harbor. Vanguard 15 class boats were supplied by Friday Harbor and Orcas. Twenty boats on the starting line in the early fleet races were an excellent practice opportunity for the national double-handed championship coming up in May which has a similar number of boats participating.
Bainbridge was allotted 3 boats and sailing began with 6 fleet races (no A and B fleet restrictions) in which all the boats participated. Then the racing became divided into team races and fleet races happening concurrently. Bainbridge participated in the team racing section of the later part of the regatta
The sun sparkling on the water was welcome as the temperatures remained chilly. Bainbridge had fairly strong starts in the fleet races, and anticipated shifts well to finish in the upper part of the fleet. Orcas sailors took 4 of the first 6 wins showing their strength in fleet racing. Maddy Jackson / Evan Stewart won one, Glen Stellmacher / Sean Willerford took 3 seconds, and Emma Hartmann / Kyle Grosten and Haley Lane / Max Fleischfresser each took a second in these races.
But the team racing was the focus for the Bainbridge team at this event, and the sailors buckled down to work together. There were 3 team race opponents: Friday Harbor, Orcas, and North Kitsap. The first team race start was a poor one for Bainbridge, and the team had to fight back from a losing combination. By paying attention to the wind shifts and exhibiting better boat handling skills, they were able to execute a 1-2-3 finish, completely dominating Friday Harbor n the race. The second start was better, and although Orcas has very fine sailors, Bainbridge was able to use team tactics to defeat them, finishing 1-2-4. The last team race, vs North Kitsap, was perhaps the most interesting. Bainbridge again started poorly, and had to work hard to emerge, by the run leg of the trapezoid course, in a 1-2. The first place Bainbridge boat, however, lost its concentration, and rounded the second trapezoid mark, heading up toward the finish, and leaving out the prescribed leeward mark. North Kitsap, in third, followed the second Bainbridge boat in the direction of the last mark, resulting in a different Bainbridge boat in the lead but a North Kitsap boat in second, much less stable. With a hail from her teammate, the original Bainbridge leader, now in third, headed down to the proper race mark. In a perfectly executed maneuver, the lead Bainbridge boat, sailed by Glen Stellmacher and Sean Willerford, quickly took control of the North Kitsap boat and luffed her to slow her, allowing his teammate to regain the lead, and following in second, effectively restored the stable 1-2 combination for the Bainbridge win.
Although Bainbridge returned from this regatta undefeated in the team racing, there is a lot of practice needed especially in starting, and the team will be working hard to improve starts as well as boat handling and tactics before the district championships in May.
