OLYMPIA – Members of the Bainbridge High sailing team participated in a team racing regatta in Olympia at the end of Spring Break Saturday, April 7 and Sunday, April 8.

Weather was very wet and pretty exciting, team officials said, with continuous rain over the two-day event and squalls running through the sailing area, at one point wreaking total havoc on the racing area and capsizing or otherwise disabling many boats.

The start boat dragged anchor and wound up far down the inlet and one sailboat became caught in the pilings of the commercial docks downwind of the course and had to be disentangled. Several other sailboats required rescue from the safety boat crews.

Bainbridge was fortunate to be rotated off the water at that point, officials said, and so avoided the swimming and trauma caused by the blast.

Despite the challenges provided by the weather, a full rotation among the nine teams entered Saturday was completed the first day, after which Bainbridge stood proudly in third place.

Sunday was a bit less windy, but just as rainy and one of the teams opted to not participate, so the remaining eight teams sailed another complete rotation and then, after being divided into a gold and a silver bracket of four teams each, a final four in each were sailed.

Although Bainbridge qualified for the top four round, they fell to fourth in the final scores.

Finishing above Bainbridge were Orcas, Sehome (in Bellingham) and Olympia.

Sailors who represented Bainbridge on Saturday were Zach Cooper, Lindsay Campbell, Parker Hutchinson, Sophie Crandell, Camden Lee, and Trevor Royset and Banning Jones (captain).

On Sunday, two additional sailors competed: Max Doane and Dane Petrakis, to bring the team complement to the full nine sailors allowed.

The younger helmspersons exhibited great sportsmanship in the racing, officials said, taking earned and unearned penalties in stride, and acquitted themselves in a manner to earn the respect of their school and their coach.