The Wildcat Sailing Club qualified for the Gold Fleet Regatta for the first time in team history when it finished sixth in the North Region Regatta Saturday, March 5, in Oak Harbor.

The top nine teams from the North Regatta move on to face the top boats from the South in the Golf Fleet Saturday, March 12, at Seattle’s Sand Point.

Eighteen teams and 80 sailors from 11 schools competed in the North Regatta.

Orcas Island dominated the competition, grabbing the first two spots.

Oak Harbor finished eighth in the A division and fifth in the B division, combining to place sixth overall, one point out of fifth.

The Wildcats’ second team was 11th overall and qualified for the Silver Fleet.

“Overall the regatta was a huge success,” Oak Harbor coach Erik Mann said. “The weather was better than expected, giving us sunny skies and moderate breezes most of the day. The wind all but went away around 3:30, leaving us no choice but to abandon racing for the afternoon after completing 10 races; and since we didn’t have an equal number of races in the A and B divisions, we had to score only the first four in each division.”

Oak Harbor boat No. 1 was sailed by senior co-captain and skipper Max Van Dam and junior crew Matt Dixon in the A division; and by sophomore skipper Jordan Wood-Pina and sophomore crew Dylan Angell in the B division.

Boat No. 2 was manned by a rotating crew, including junior co-captain and skipper Austin Hauter, Coupeville sixth-grader Atlas Iverson and junior crew Nate Mecom in the A division; and senior skipper Jared Hunt, freshman crew Piper Fisher and junior crew James Williams in the B division.