Orcas Vikings Win Island Cup

NWISA District Champ Qualifier Regatta

The 20 best Northwest high school sailing teams from as far away as Hood River, Oregon converged on Orcas Island April 13 and 14 for Northwest District Interscholastic Sailing Association’s annual Islands Cup Regatta.

The regatta rotates location each year between high school teams from Island, Skagit and San Juan counties. The teams arrived Saturday morning ready to take on strong winds and a 100 percent chance of rain in the forecast.

Mother Nature did not disappoint. For the next six hours, teams battled each other out on the choppy waters of West Sound in the wind-driven rain. At the end of Saturday’s racing, Orcas held a slim 4-point lead over Gig Harbor with a pack of other teams all within striking distance of the cup.

On Sunday, sailors arrived to no rain, and a brisk west wind, racing started promptly at 9:30 a.m. and for the next five hours the lead changed back and forth between Gig Harbor and Orcas, but in the end, Orcas held on for the regatta win.

"Today was some of the best racing I have seen on West Sound," said coach Burke Thomas. "This was a big win for the Vikings, and I am very proud how we battled all weekend."

Thomas extended a big thank you to the Orcas Island Yacht Club and volunteers for providing the venue.

Complete scores are at: Results

New Dingy Float Construction

Sail Orcas is excited to announce that our priority mission for facilities in 2019 is to replace our aging floats at the base of the OIYC pier. This has been a multi-year undertaking that began design and permitting in 2015. The new, fully permitted floats will feature a nonskid, environmentally friendly grating that will protect our local eel grass and provide a safe, clean platform for our students and programs for years to come. The new floats are a major undertaking for us, and this season we are asking for your financial help. Please consider joining us in making a contribution to the floats.

Your donation is tax deductible; check should be made payable to Sail Orcas and mailed to PO Box 1226, Eastsound WA, 98245. Alternatively you could use the online donation form and your credit card: Fund the Floats

NWISA SAIL SANDPOINT COMBINED DIVISION REGATTA

March 9th and 10th

Ten Sailors from the Orcas High School Sailing Team travelled to the SSP combined division regatta march 9&10 in Seattle. The regatta features a schools A & B divisions boats competing in the same fleet and racing against each other at the same time, pitting 32 boats against each other on a very crowded start line. Orcas had qualified teams at the regionals March 2nd into both the gold and silver divisions for the combined division regatta, giving all sailors an opportunity to race every race.

Saturday saw a 5 knot northerly breeze fill the race course on Lake Washington by 11:30 am,the breeze continued to build through out the after noon, 6 races were completed in gold and 4 races in silver. The racing started at 11:30am and continued until 6:30 pm, when darkness and freezing temps forced the competitors off the water. Sunday brought warmer temperatures but little wind, with just 3 races completed in a very light and shifty North East Wind. Getting off the starting line in a 32 boat fleet is no easy task and teams that could do that had a huge advantage on the first beat by being up the ladder from the big wind shadow created by the 32 boats.

The orcas team improved on their starting tactics throughout the weekend and were able to grab a very respectable 4th overall in the gold fleet and 3rd in the silver fleet. Complete results can be found here:

NWISA NORTH REGIONAL ICE BREAKER REGATTA

MARCH 2 at ANACORTES WA

Eight Sailors from the Orcas High School Sailing Team, traveled to Anacortes on March 2nd to kickoff the NWISA spring sailing season. The eighteen teams competing at the north regional, were greeted at the 10am competitors meeting, with sunny skies and a very cold NE 12 wind. The Windward-Leeward race course was set outside the jetty at Seafarer’s park in Fidalgo Bay, with the pier providing excellent viewing for spectators.

The wind on the race course was streaky, making it hard for teams to get off the start line,the Orcas team had to shake off a little winters rust in their first race but as the wind built through out the day, the Vikings team just got stronger, completing 10 races by the 5 pm stop time and clinching a solid regatta win.

News and Views

Where's Waldo

Eighty youth sailors from around the region came to Westsound in late October to race in the annual two day team racing “Trick or Treat Regatta”. Many thanks to the many volunteers from Sail Orcas who help make this a fun annual tradition. Pictured here is Team Where’s Waldo and a Team of Pirates from the Caribbean.