Point Loma wins High School Nationals

Twenty teams competed in the 2019 High School Doublehanded Nationals on May 11-12 in Seattle, WA. With racing out of Sail Sand Point on Lake Washington, defending champs Point Loma HS (San Diego, CA) dominated to win the title, led by A Division winners Jack Egan ’20 and Jonah Hatt ’19 and B Division winners Diego Escobar ’20 and Katie Olsen ’21. The Mid-Atlantic conference completed the podium with Severn HS (Annapolis, MD) in second and Christchurch School (Christchurch, VA) in third.

Event details – Scoring – Facebook

Report from event:

Saturday, May 11:
The day began with clear, sunny skies, warm temperatures, and a shifty ESE breeze 5 knot that averaged around 5 knots. Around 3pm the wind lightened considerably, causing a postponement of race 4B until a 8 knot SW wind filled in.

The course was moved to account for new wind, then moved again for race 5B as the wind moved further south. Wind died around 5:45pm, at the end of race 5B, and the decision was made to postpone further races and then eventually call racing for the day. Ten races total were completed on Saturday, 5 in each division.

Sunday, May 12:
The beginning of a new weather pattern rolled in, with overcast skies and cooler temperature. The wind was decidedly southerly, and at 8:30am the decision was made to have the course south, around Sand Point, and into better breeze.

Races were sailed in an 8-10 knot S breeze until around 1pm when the clouds began to lift and the wind died down. The course was moved back to the location of the previous day to take advantage of a shifting 5-7 knot ESE breeze.

Around 3:40pm the wind lightened considerably and moved south, causing an abandonment of race 15A and the postponement of 15B. As per the SIs, no races were started after 4pm, so Sunday ended with a total of 18 completed races, 9 in each division.

After a total of 28 races, 14 in A division and 14 in B division, Point Loma High School took home first place, followed by Severn High School in second place, and Christchurch High School in third.

Event details – Scoring – Facebook

ISSA holds annual National championships in singlehanded during the fall season with double handed and team racing (May 25-26) in the spring season. For more information: www.hssailing.org