It continues to be smooth sailing for ILS.
The SAISA South Point #1, the first of the seven regattas on the Varsity team schedule, took place this past Saturday.
It was an early start as some team members reported at 6.15 am to the US Sailing Center to rig the boats and be towed to Virginia Key.
The race started promptly around 9.30 am. For the 2023-2024 season, there are three freshmen skippers who joined the team, making for a grand total of 14 sailors. For the first time, ILS Sailing was able to feature a second Junior Varsity team in the competition. This is a testament to the growth and continuity of the program.
Sailing conditions were challenging as the wind was light at about eight knots while the current was strong. Nevertheless, the Varsity team had a solid regatta finishing 7th overall out of 21 boats. Skippering for division A, was senior Umi Noritake with junior Soleil Aurignac as crew. Division B had juniors Keith Grupenhoff as skipper with Nathalie Caudron as crew.
Both JV teams had a fantastic first regatta finishing in 2nd and 3rd place, respectively out of 8 boats. For JV1 division A, there were freshman Beck Brill and junior Marco Andres as crew. For Division B, there was freshman David Coates as skipper alongside junior Lucia Martinez Moure as crew. Notably, JV1 division B finished first in 3 out of 6 races. Skippering JV2 Division A was sophomore Isabella Henrich with freshman Alejandro Escudero. Skippering for Division B were freshmen Marina Wardlaw and Leonardo Tarzani. Coach Downey was proud of the effort put forth by all sailors during a long hot day. Junior Jadin Gonzalez (heavy crew for Varsity) and freshman reserve crew Kristian Gutierrez were there to help as well as to support their teammates.
