This past weekend the ILS Varsity Sailing Team traveled to St. Petersburg, Florida to compete in the SAISA Sp#4. They faced conditions that could only be described as difficult. The reason the conditions were difficult was due to the area in which the races were being held. The races were run in a small CoastGguard cove. This meant that the wind had to travel over land. The effect the land had on both wind strength and wind direction was significant and crucial to understand. Wind does not behave normally when traveling over land, especially as land heats up throughout the day and creates a thermal updraft. Due to these factors, the wind shifts were enormous and the gusts of wind of wind were crucial to having a strong finish.

A few changes were made to how ILS approached the regatta, Senior Danny Riano sailed A division instead of A, and sophomore Soleil Aurignac sailed in her first varsity regatta.

“The conditions were very puffy and shifty; sailing there was challenging because every race was unique so you had to adapt to the new factors every time,” said senior Danny Riano when asked what he thought of the conditions.

He also described his experience sailing B division as, “A great experience because I got to be more consistent with my starts and I felt really comfortable sailing there overall.”

Sophomore Soleil Aurignac described her first time sailing varsity as, “I was very excited to be invited to sail varsity and I sailed all 13 races. It was an incredible experience and I enjoyed sailing varsity thoroughly.”

All in all, the ILS Sailing team finished 5th overall with Danny Riano securing 3rd in B division. The team is looking forward to SAISA SP#5 at Ransom Everglades High school which should be an interesting regatta as it is in a local venue where the team will be confronted with familiar conditions as they hope to improve from their last regatta.