Spartans shine at Olympia South regatta

Published 10:30 am Sunday, April 30, 2017

OLYMPIA – The day included fronts with gusty winds that temporarily halted the racing, rain showers, sporadic sun breaks, fabulous clouds and gorgeous rainbows as well as great team racing in a beautiful venue as the Bainbridge High School sailing team traveled to Olympia for their latest regatta Saturday, April 22.

The sudden, unpredictable draining of Capital Lake created a wave of initiation and serious current, turning Budd Inlet temporarily into a river. It all made for a very fun day of team racing, BHS officials said, and there were lots of smiles.

Showing strong team racing skills despite all these changes in conditions, the BHS Team Blue squad succeeded in securing the second best record in the regatta, with an official seven wins and one loss, as compared to first place 7-0 Charles Wright School.

Sailing for BHS in Blue Squad were skippers Elizabeth Rolfes, Olivia Mitchell and Sophia Kaspar, with crews Harry Saliba, Banning Jones and Hunter Johnston.

The Charles Wright entry included good sailors from several schools. Due to the number of able sailors on the Bainbridge team, they were able to field three boat squads. Having earned four wins, Bainbridge Gold squad finished sixth in the 14-team round robin, represented by skippers Sophie Crandell, Lindsay Campbell and Quinn Ring with crews Parker Hutchinson, Camden Lee and Laine Picklell.

The Bainbridge Stripes squad consisted of two boats of BHS sailors and representatives of Port Angeles and North Kitsap High Schools sailing the third Stripes boat.

The Stripes were 11th, having secured two wins. Sailors from BHS included: Max Diane, Zach Cooper, Clayton Marsh, Tristan Knoll, and Daniel Rentz. Also sailing for Stripes at various times were Charlotte and Makena Merideth of Port Angeles High School, and Cole Fox and Anna Schroeder of North Kitsap High School.

Wasting no time on reflection, the team was already looking ahead to their next challenge, BHS Head Coach Susan Kaseler said.

“Our big championship in fleet, or double handed racing, will be this coming weekend at Orcas [Island],” she said. “Then the next weekend the NWISA district will square off in Team Racing.

“Both of these regattas are qualifiers for the ISSA National Championships in these disciplines, known as, respectively, Mallory and Baker trophies,” she added. “We hope to be successful in our quest for a national representation.”