By Alyce Flanagan, High School Sailing Team Coach, and Ace Spragg, Adult Programs Manager
The Port Townsend High School Sailing Team is in full swing this fall, despite the blustery weather! We have 23 students on the team—a record number! They are split into two groups and each group practices two days a week after school with Coach Alyce Flanagan and Assistant Coach Mary d’Arcy. This is the first time in 18 months that the team has been able to attend varsity regattas against schools off the Peninsula, due to COVID restrictions. They’ve competed at five regattas so far this fall, with Fall Championships at Willamette Sailing Club still to come. A highlight of the season so far was attending Cascadia Cup, hosted by Sail Sand Point in Seattle. There, the team competed in a fleet of over 20 boats against high school and college sailors. The Port Townsend team had a strong showing, with many single-digit finishes, and overall finished 8th in Gold Fleet and 7th in Silver.
But don’t just take our word for it—here’s team member Noah Holly’s report:
“The sailing team is the best sport I have been a part of. I think partially because of how unique it is to other sports. I had done a little sailing before joining the sailing team and spent a lot of time around boats, but the sailing team was something completely different and new from any other organized sport I had played, and I feel that both the community of it and the actual competition of it make it special. Going to the regattas, I really found what interested me about the sailing team (other than just sailing). The two regattas I have been to have been an amazing amount of fun, and I look forward to more in the future. They are incredible for my learning and are also some of the most fun I have had doing anything in recent times. All in all, the sailing team is an incredible program that I am glad I found and wish I had known about sooner. It has reunited me with people I hadn’t seen in years while being a good sport to be competitive in—giving me a better community of people than I have had on any other sports team.”
Everyone has been sailing fast and having fun, our team motto. It’s great to see the students improving their sailing skills and working together as a team. The Fall season ends November 7th, but the Spring season is around the corner—starting in February. Great job everyone!