NESSA News

Besides honoring the most important women in the world, San Diego Yacht Club observed another Mother’s Day tradition in May by hosting the ISSA High School Doublehanded National Championship. The top twenty teams from around the country assembled to vie for ISSA’s coveted Mallory Trophy, setting the stage for a dramatic weekend. Utilizing SDYC’s regionally unrivaled fleet of 24 CFJ dinghies and the ultra-spectator-friendly Cityfront venue; sailors, coaches, and fans were treated to breezy conditions and a nail-biter finish! Congratulation to the Point Loma High School Pointers, who rallied on Sunday to win by one point, capturing their sixth National title!

Competitors arrived on Friday, and were greeted to typically excellent conditions for practice at the downtown venue, and an evening Competitor’s Meeting to get ahead of the game. For those not familiar with scholastic sailing, teams field two divisions called A and B. Divisions alternate sailing two races at a time, while the division on shore confers with coaches, etc. At each rotation, teams change boats, in an attempt to level that aspect of the competition. Teams also often field heavy and light crews, as conditions dictate. With no throw-outs, every race counts and a team’s score is the sum of their divisional scores. Consistency is key!

Saturday began as planned with a tow downtown, but Mother Nature still had her surprises in store. A normal-enough seeming southwesterly began toggling wildly from south to west, calling for many course changes and a couple abandoned races and starts; especially frustrating since pressure was great at about 10 kts the whole time. PRO Jeff Johnson and his team put up a valiant effort, and we’re able to put six very high quality races on the books for both A and B Divisions. As the sun set on day one, The Branson School from San Francisco held the lead, with Corona del Mar in second, and Point Loma and Shorecrest (FL) tied for third, illustrating the depth of talent from the Pacific Coast conference!

Sunday provided much better racing with breeze veering smoothly from west to northwest and building from 12-17 kts! Getting starts off was easy, but the new challenge was keeping up with various breakdowns as sailors pushed boats and themselves to the edge in the escalating conditions. As the 4pm time limit approached, just one more race would be held for each division. PLHS A Division sailors Scott Sinks and Johannes McElvain posted a 6, drawing their team into a tie for the lead with St. George’s, with Shorecrest just one point back! PLHS B Division, Will La Dow and Jennifer Johnson hit the water. A finish of 5th place may not seem as exciting as the five bullets Will racked up to win his division, but with St. Georges crossing 6th, it was just what the doctor ordered to seal the Mallory Championship for PL!

Hosting the Mallory was no simple feat. Literally a year of preparation went into making this event a success and a wide variety of members were involved. Not insignificantly, SDYC also hosted the Pacific Coast Championship just two weeks before the Mallory, which proved to be a great warm-up! Big thanks to Regatta Chair Danielle Richards for all of her many efforts. John and Lisa Reiter also took on many critical tasks, with John spearheading the complex logistics of staging from the B Street Pier, and Lisa leading registration! Carrie Schluter handled trophies, and Bob Vincent led the daunting effort of getting the floating rotation dock installed after its trip from Shelter Island! S/C Bill Campbell and his team did an amazing job with on the water judging and protests, which is not to be taken lightly in this highly-pressurized championship! A long list of additional volunteers were present daily to turn this vision into reality!

Big thanks to everyone at SDYC who made this impressive regatta a success and congratulations to Coach Steve Hunt and the entire PLHS Sailing Team on a hard-fought victory!

PHOTOS