Winter 2011 Squeegee - Sausalito Yacht Club

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YOUTH SAILING
The 2011to 2012 high school sailing season is currently underway
after the completion of a successful and notable summer program.
For the second summer in a row, SYC hosted one of the best line-ups
of instructors in Northern California including five post or current
collegiate sailors. For the first time in the club’s history, SYC was
represented in the Optimist, C420, FJ, and Laser classes at the summer
BAYS (Bay Area Youth Sailing) regatta series. A few notable finishes
include Tyler Daniels/Noah Barrengos’ 1 st place finish at BAYS #3 in FJ’s; Sam Gates/
Hayley Murphy’s third-place finish at BAYS #4 in C420’s; and nine-year-old Weston
Paluska’s fifth-place finish in the Opti green fleet at BAYS #4. The creation of new racing
programs reflecting the sailors’ desire to compete, along with the addition of boats such
as Little Zaca for a cruising/keel boat class, helped make student enrollment higher than
ever. It is because of these improvements that the summer program at SYC has grown into a
premier and well-rounded location for youth sailing instruction on the bay.
This year’s high school season is also showing promise. For the third straight year there
are over 25 members on the SYC team, mostly consisting of Tamalpais HS students.
Well-organized team structure has made the Tam team grow to be one of the biggest high
school sailing teams in the country. The combination of three captains, two coaches, and
a very helpful parental body has allowed the Tam team to recruit new freshman each year.
Also, many young members who participated in the summer program then joined the team
after enrolling at Tam. An impressive fact is that no one on the team grew up sailing in
any type of competitive youth sailing circuit and the team’s most skilled sailors have only
been competing for one to three years. Tam has become a dominant force in the Northern
California League as demonstrated by Mark Etem/Quinn Vangelos’s second-place finish at
NorCal #2 in September. The SYC team regularly arrives with more competitors than any
other club at Norcal regattas and hard work throughout the year accounts for their success.
Tam’s regatta schedule consists of five district-wide regattas, or PCISA regattas, (Pacific
Coast Interscholastic Sailing Association) plus ten local NorCal regattas. The PCISA
regattas are held in Monterrey, Newport Harbor, Long Beach, Treasure Island, and Santa
Barbara. At the season’s end the team will also compete at the Pacific Coast Championships
that serve as the National Championship qualifier. California tends to produce some of
the best youth sailing talent in the country and the young Tam team has been consistently
improving against some very tough competition. Many California high school sailors go
on to be collegiate All-Americans, Olympians, and/or World Champions. Three Tam
graduates have moved on to college sailing including last year’s graduate, Ian Spilman, who
is currently sailing for UC Santa Cruz. The team is certainly earning respect and recognition
at increasingly higher levels within the sailing community. SYC and Sausalito Youth Sailing
Foundation have been instrumental in enabling the future sailors of the Bay Area to achieve
these levels. A majority of the students introduced to sailing through SYC’s programs will be
life-long participants and contributors in an amazing sport.
Check in on the team’s season by visiting the Club website.
Rob Dubuc III, Sail Training Manager
Students from Edgewood School in
San Francisco get summer sailing
instruction.
The students have fun sailing in the
summer sun on Little Zaca.
Nine-year-old, Weston Paluska getting
ready to start a race at BAYS #4.
Sam Gates and Tyler Daniels recovering
from a capsize!