Ten Sailors from the Orcas High School Sailing Team traveled to the Sail Sand Point combined division regatta March 9 and 10 in Seattle. The regatta features A and B divisions boats competing in the same fleet and racing against each other at the same time, pitting 32 boats against each other on a very crowded start line. Orcas had qualified teams at the regionals March 2nd into both the gold and silver divisions for the combined division regatta, giving all sailors an opportunity to race every race.

Saturday saw a 5-knot Northerly breeze fill the race course on Lake Washington by 11:30 a.m. The breeze continued to build through out the afternoon. Orcas completed six races in gold and four races in silver. Racing continued until 6:30 p.m. when darkness and freezing temps forced the competitors off the water. Sunday brought warmer temperatures but little wind, with just three races completed in a very light and shifty Northeast wind. Getting off the starting line in a 32-boat fleet is no easy task, and teams that could do that had a huge advantage on the first beat by being up the ladder from the big wind shadow created by the 32 boats.

The Orcas team improved on their starting tactics throughout the weekend and were able to grab a very respectable fourth overall in the gold fleet and third in the silver fleet. Complete results can be found here: https://scores.hssailing.org/s19/ssp-combined-division-gold/.

Next up for the team is 3-on-3 team race regionals on Saturday, March 16 on Orcas. This is the team’s only home regatta this spring, so come on out and cheer them on. Racing will start at 10:30 a.m. and continue throughout the day, with rotations taking place at the Orcas Island Yacht Club dock.