2024 PCISA #1- Sea Otter Regatta

Over the weekend of 10/12-10/13, our five high school sailing teams traveled to Monterey Peninsula Yacht Club for the PCISA Sea Otter regatta. Wind speeds generally between 6-10 knots from the northwest, with slight oscillations around that direction. The courses were short, which made it a priority to start well and at the favored end, otherwise, it was very difficult to catch up. Congrats to San Marcos High School's varsity team—Taylor Escola, Brynn Behrens, Carly Keiding, and Teo Lee—who placed 4th overall. Santa Barbara High School finished in 9th place, Dos Pueblos came in 14th, and Laguna Blanca took 3rd place in the silver fleet. A huge thanks to Coach Ryan Eastwood for his positive support and excellent coaching throughout the weekend. We’re looking forward to the next regatta at Newport Harbor, the Anteater Regatta.  

USODA West Coast Champs

September 14-15, 2024, Optimist sailors from the West Coast gathered at the California Yacht Club to mark the 2024 West Coast Championships. The conditions were moderate at 8-10 knots with a medium swell. The course was a trapezoid, and the race committee aimed to sail four races per day, a total of 8 races and one dropped race. The SBYSF sent sailors Scofield McLean, Dylan McLean, and Aiden Mcnellis in hopes of qualifying for this year's USODA Team Trials. All the sailors did well, qualifying for the top half. Scofield McLean placed 6th, Dylan McLean placed 28th, and Aiden McNellis placed 31st. In order to qualify for USODA Team Trials, sailors needed to place in the top 25% out of 106 participants. Scofield McLean was the only sailor to qualify for Team Trials (Congrats Scofield McLean!).

2024 PCISA Singlehanded Championship

Our High School ILCA (Laser) team headed to Mission Bay Yacht Club on 9/21-22 with hopes of qualifying for the 2024 ISSA (High School Sailing) Singlehanded National Championship (the Cressy Trophy). The sailors raced 13 races in shifty conditions putting a lot of pressure on the team to keep their heads on a swivel.

A huge congratulations is in store for Taylor Escola for winning the 2024 PCISA Singlehanded Championship Girls division and qualifying for the 2024 Cressy Trophy! Taylor will head to St. Petersburg YC, FL to represent SBYSF at the Singlehanded National Championships in late-October. Taylor is one of only twelve female sailors nationwide to earn a berth to the Nationals. Good luck Taylor!

In the ILCA Boys Fleet, Teo Lee and Dylan Seawards battled hard in a tough fleet to place 4th and 5th overall, narrowly missing the top-2 qualifying berths.

Congratulations to all our sailors and the best of luck to Taylor at Nationals!

C420 Pacific Coast Championship

Over the weekend of 9/14-15, our C420 Race Team headed to Cabrillo Beach YC for the C420 Class Pacific Coast Championship and Perry Series #1. The C420 is the most popular youth doublehanded dinghy in the United States. Sailors from all over the United States race the C420 with a trapeze and spinnaker in regional and national level regattas.

We are very proud to announce that Team SB Sailors, Carly Kieding and Julia Getter were crowned the 2024 C420 Pacific Coast Champions! After a phenomenal Summer, the girls battled hard at the PCCs, placing top-3 in 3/8 races to win the event by 8 points! 

In the U16 (Junior-division), Taylor Escola/Emerson Wadell, took home top honors and were named 2024 U16 Pacific Coast Champs!

Harold Adams Team Race

The Harold Adams Team Race is an annual favorite among junior sailors in Southern California. It brings together the top yacht club and high school team racing teams from around our region. Many of the winners of the HA have gone on to win the High School Team Race Nationals and other prestigious events. Team Racing is a fun and fast-paced discipline of sailing that pits a team of three boats against another. Unlike traditional fleet racing where all boats are trying to get to the finish line as soon as possible, team racing has various elements of boats slowing others to put their teammates in more advantaged positions. Tools such as marktraps, passbacks, and slowing are utilized to improve your teams finishing position. San Diego Yacht Club hosted this event and provides 24 CFJ dinghies with matching color-coded sails.

This year SBYSF was able to field two team for this event. The regatta format was a randomized first round robin, followed by a gold/silver split, and finished with a final-four. Having three total meetings between teams helps to eliminate ties.

Saturday started with a short postponement before a light southerly breezed filled the course. With coaches acting as umpires, racing got underway. Our two teams began in the same flight of teams. We were able to race all day long, completing the first-round robin and venturing into the gold/silver split. At the end of RR1 we had one team qualify for Gold Fleet and on qualifying for Silver.

Sunday brought lighter winds and a moderate postponement. Race Committee was eager to begin racing once the breeze filled La Playa Basin. We finished up the top six Gold Round Robin with SBYSF1 qualifying for the final four in third place. SBYSF2 won some hard fought races, finishing the event eighth. In the final four, SBYSF1 took a loss to PLHS and Mater Dei. Our final race against PLHS2 was the deciding race for third place overall. Our sailors fought hard beating their team and finishing third overall! The best team racing result a SBYSF team has accomplished.

Congratulations to SBYSF1 for placing third overall: Ryan Satterberg/Crue Ziskind, Oliver Stokke/Catalina Matlock-Klein, and Blake Behrens/Teo Lee. A shoutout to SBYSF2 on their 8th place finish: Carly Kieding/Hope Campbell, Jon Seawards/Sam Long, and Liam Andresen/Magne Henriques.

SCYYRA Perry #3

The SCYYRA Perry Series is a four event regatta series raced in the Club 420. Top sailors from up and down California test their skills at the Perry Series in hopes to achieving great results at the national level. Many sailors from the Perry go onto top finishes at the Orange Bowl, C420 National Championship, and C420 Midwinters.

The Club 420 sailboat is a youth high-performance dinghy that is raced at the regional, national, and college levels. In opposition to the CFJ which is sailed in High School racing, the C420 adds a spinnaker and trapeze wire to the sailing equation. (A trapeze wire allows the crew to hook in with a harness, stand on the rail of the boat, and maintain heel angle in heavier breeze). These added elements, plus a wider hull shape, allow the boat to plane upwind and off the breeze. Sailors benefit from learning important boatspeed and tactical lessons in the massive fleets. Some Summer C420 regattas draw close to two-hundred boats from around the country.

Team SBYSF sailors have been working in the C420 for the past year and beginning to see some great results. Zoey Ziskind finished second at the Perry Series #2 in Coronado. A few weeks later, Blake Behrens and Hope Campbell placed an impressive 5th overall at the Orange Bowl Regatta in Miami, FL. The Orange Bowl is one of the largest youth sailing events in the United States.

For the Perry 3, we had four sailors in attendance: Blake Behrens with crew Hope Campbell, Zoey Ziskind, and Ryan Satterberg. On day one of the event, sailors saw an incredibly unstable gradient breeze with small “teaser” puffs from almost every direction on the compass. After nearly four hours of postponement, one race was started in a light and shifty northerly breeze. Day two brought much better conditions. Although the breeze was shift and variable in direction, race committee squeezed in five more races, bringing the race count to six.

Congrats to Blake/Hope (5th/43), Ryan (6th/43), and Zoey (14th/43)! We will be wishing all of them the best of luck at the C420 Midwinters in Jensen Beach, FL at the end of February.

Club 420 Midwinters

After a few months of training, our C420 Team headed to Jensen Beach, FL for the C420 Midwinters. The Midwinters is one of the top youth sailing events in the United States. Our sailors worked alongside the Newport Beach 420 Team.

All three of our boats placed in the top-10 of 118 competitors/

Congrats to Blake/Hope (3rd), Ryan/Ashley (4th), and Zoey/Damien (8th)

COVID-19 Update (4/3)

Sailors and Parents,

We thank everyone for your patience and understanding during this time.

With the mandated closing of non-essential businesses and closures of SB Unified School District through the end of April, we will be suspending practices/classes until further notice.  This action seems to be on par with all SB Youth Sports organizations.

The future of the COVID19 outbreak is hard to judge.  We will continue to monitor state and county government recommendations.We still hope that class can come back into session eventually this Spring and that missed classes can be tacked on at the end of the semester.

All the best,Nick

COVID-19 Update (3/16)

Sailors and Parents,

We are constantly monitoring the situation regarding the COVID-19 outbreak and it's affect on schools and youth sports in Santa Barbara.

Given the announcement of the closing of SB Unified Schools from 3/16- 4/3, we feel it is prudent to cancel practices this week (3/16 - 3/20). We will also have our planned time off next week during SB Unified's Spring Break (3/23 - 3/27). Spring Break is a normal time for SBYSF activities to be off.

The situation regarding the COVID-19 is actively evolving and we will be making decisions as new information becomes available.

We will do our best to make up lost days at the end of the semester.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

All the best,

Nick

SBYSF Wins 2019-20 Shadden Series

Congrats to Team SB sailors: Blake Behrens and Richard Rychlik Jr. for winning the 2019-20 SCYYRA Shadden Series! This marks the first time in history that a Santa Barbara Team has won the Shadden overall! 23 races made up the four regatta Shadden Series. This team has been racing well the past year, they are also the current CFJ Class National Champions.

Also a big shout out to Team SB sailors, Zoey Ziskind and Claire Whicker, for finishing 3rd overall in this year's Shadden!