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The Orcas High School Sailing Team was one of the original 5 teams that started the Northwest Interscholastic Sailing Association. The team was started by Bob Harris, Chris White, Burke Thomas and Andy Saxe in 2001. Longtime coach and current Sail Orcas Board President, Burke Thomas, led the team to qualify for ISSA national championships in 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2010 and 2011.
Orcas high school sailing alumni, Hannah Tuscon-Turner, after running a successful sailing program in San Francisco took over the coaching of the team from 2015 to 2018. Hannah led the team to qualify for ISSA national championships in 2017 and 2018.
The program largely stopped operations during the COVID-19 pandemic and was rebuilt thanks to coach Julia Soes dedication. Julie led the team to the PCISA Girl’s Invitational in 2024.
Our racing team competes against all high schools, regardless of size, so we are very proud of the accomplishments of our sailors. We are very thankful for the many teen sailors from years past that have continued to give back to the program as instructors and assistant coaches during our summer programs.
The current group of sailors, led by a capable group of volunteer coaches, are determined to have their generation live up to those of past eras on the team and are working hard to get there. Thank you Stephanie Arnold, Christina Wolfe, Justin Wolfe, Burke Thomas, Justin Blevins and Ronan Rankin.
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