The Wildcat sailing club finished in the middle of the pack in a regional team race Saturday, March 24, in Oak Harbor.
The Oak Harbor team won four of eight head-to-head races to finish fourth in the nine-team regatta. Orcas Island, the 2017 district champions, finished first; Sehome, the 2016 district champions, took second, and Bellingham placed third. The Wildcats finished ahead of Sehome No. 2, Anacortes, Nathan Hale, Squalicum and Roosevelt.
The event was the fourth in the past five weeks for the Wildcats.
Oak Harbor is led by three “strong returning sailors,” according to coach Erik Mann. The three, senior captain Jordan Wood-Pina and sophomores Jenny Danielson and Willa Weinsheimer, are joined by newcomers senior Virginia Blatto (an Italian exchange student), sophomore Catherine Wicker and freshman Aiden Wright. The team also includes eighth-graders Ben Servatius, Cooper Billiter, Tommy Buys and Liam Chapman.
Wood-Pina, Danielson and Weinsheimer competed at the Pacific Coast Interscholastic Girls Invitational in San Diego last fall.
The first three events of the 2018 season were in Anacortes, Seattle and Vashon Island.
The latter regatta was a district qualifying event, and Oak Harbor missed qualifying by one place “after two tough days of racing,” according to Mann.
Last weekend’s meet in Oak Harbor was the first team racing regatta of the season. In team racing, three boats (six sailors) from one team go head-to-head against three boats from an opponent.
“Sailors have to use their boat handling skills and their knowledge of the racing rules of sailing to slow their opponents down, let their teammates get to the front, then continue racing and stay in a winning combination,” Mann said. “It is an extremely tactical race that tests their mental and physical abilities.”
The Wildcats travel to Hood River, Oregon, April 7 and 8 for their next regatta and a final chance to qualify for the district championship meet at Sand Point in Seattle April 28 and 29.
The team racing district championship regatta is May 5 and 6 in Silverdale.
Before the district meets, the Oak Harbor high schoolers will compete in the Island Cup at Roche Harbor and the eighth-graders will compete in the Silver Fleet Regatta at Sand Point April 14 and 15.
Jenny Danielson, left, and Virginia Blatto. (Photo by John Fisken)
Jordan Wood-Pina, left, and Cooper Billiter. (Photo by John Fisken)
Willa Weinsheimer, left, and Aiden Wright. (Photo by John Fisken)
