Sailing: Double crown for Newport Sailors

NORFOLK, Va - Newport Harbor High’s sailing team clinched the

double crown of high school sailing last weekend in Norfolk, Va, by

winning the Baker Trophy for the national championship in team racing. It

became the first team in the 30-year history of high school sailing to

capture both the fleet racing and team racing national championships in

the same year. During the previous weekend in Long Beach, Newport won the

Mallory Trophy, the national championship for double-handed fleet racing.

Harbor’s championship team racing team was made up of three skippers:

seniors Tyler Haskell and Scott Hogan, and sophomore Cary Grimes; three

crews: senior Paige Thompson, junior Amy Halvorsen and sophomore Meredith

Potter; along with two crew alternates: sophomore Kelsey Cochran and

freshman Ryan Marshall. They were coached by Billy Uniack, former Boston

University sailing team standout.

Similar to the America’s Cup, which involves a match race of one boat

against another, team racing features three boats from one team racing

against three boats from another. The three team members collaborate to

achieve a final winning combination (first, second, sixth or better;

first, third, sixth or better; or second, third, fifth or better). To

win, competitors must effectively employ speed, tactics and boat handling

skills. Frequently a skipper must compromise his or her position in order

to assist other team members to improve their position in order to gain a

winning combination of finishes. This makes the racing unpredictable,

exciting and very challenging.

The Newport Harbor team swept the first day of sailing on Saturday

without a loss, besting all 11 other teams from around the country. On

Sunday, the championship field was narrowed down to four top teams:

Newport Harbor, Coronado, Tabor Academy (Ma.) and Jesuit (La.). Each team

then sailed against the other twice.

Thunderstorms that had rocked the Midwest last week rolled into Norfolk

to create unstable weather conditions. The rain, thunder and lightning

held off until racing was over each night. But the daytime conditions

ranged from light to very breezy winds on Saturday to very light wind

conditions on Sunday, so light that the wind was shifty and appeared on

the water in patches. While positions in the race changed hands many

times, Newport’s only loss came once to Jesuit on Sunday. Newport was

able to prevail twice over second-place Coronado. In the last race on

Sunday between rivals Newport and Coronado, Newport gained the lead at

the start. The race was hard fought and close, but Newport never gave up

the winning combination, finishing second, third and fourth for a total

of nine points, to Coronado’s first, fifth and sixth places for a total

of 12 points. This race sealed Newport’s victory.

At conclusion of the championship regatta, Newport Harbor was victorious

with only one loss throughout the two-day regatta. Coronado was second

with three losses, and Jesuit was third with fives losses. The top two

teams have been invited to represent the United States in the

International High School Team Racing Championships in England in July.

This is the third year in a row the Sailors have captured the Baker

Trophy for team racing. Newport Harbor has dominated high school team

racing nationally since 1993, winning five times and placing second

twice. Seniors Hogan, Haskell and Thompson have participated in a

national victory en each of their four years at Newport Harbor (1997:

Mallory first, Baker second; 1998: Mallory second, Baker first; 1999:

Mallory third, Baker first; 2000: Mallory first, Baker first). No other

team in the history of the sport has captured both titles in the same

year.

The seniors will move on to sail for some of the country’s most

prestigious colleges. All were recruited by and have committed to attend

Dartmouth (Hogan), Georgetown (Haskell) and UC Santa Barbara (Thompson).

Fellow senior Jennifer Porter, who contributed to the team’s success over

the past four years but did not attend this year’s championship regattas,

will sail next year at Stanford.