HIGH SCHOOL SAILING

CYC HOSTS SUCCESSFUL SPRING HIGH SCHOOL SAILING

BY LAURA LUTTON

After missing the spring 2020 season due to the lakefront’s COVID-19 closure, Chicago Yacht Club’s high-school sailing program returned to full force in March, days after the ice exited Belmont Harbor, and ran through the warm spring days of May.

At 85 sailors strong, the program featured varsity and junior varsity athletes from six area high schools, including newcomer DePaul College Prep, which turned out four sailors for its inaugural CYC season. The returning schools were Latin School of Chicago, Lycee Francais de Chicago, New Trier High School, St. Ignatius College Prep, and Walter Payton High School.

Under head high-school coach Hector Guzman, CYC kicked off the season quickly, hosting daily practices, a Spring Break camp, and the regional Central Baker Qualifier, a team-racing event. Among CYC’s teams, Latin, St. Ignatius and Walter Payton all qualified for the MISSA Baker finals in Minnesota, but did not advance. In fleet racing, the same teams—plus New Trier—qualified for the MISSA Mallory Qualifier in Ohio in mid-May, with Latin advancing to the finals in early June. St. Ignatius’ finish at the Mallory Qualifier earned the team a berth at the Phebe Corckran King Regatta in Annapolis, where the Wolfpack finished third.

Singlehanded sailors from CYC’s high school program also fared well this spring, sweeping all divisions at the MISSA Singlehanded Championship in April. Peter Barnard (St. Ignatius) won the radial division, while Jack Baldwin (St. Ignatius) won in the full rig. Christian Prendergast (Latin) finished first in the 4.7 group.

In addition to supporting CYC sailors at regional and national qualifiers, the club also hosted a series of regattas aimed at the high schools’ junior-varsity sailors. The four Tier 3 events were many JV sailors’ first turns at a regatta.

CYC finished the high-school season in J/88s rather than their usual 420e boats. John Leahey, chair of CYC’s Junior Activities Committee, coordinated a Memorial Day J/88 regatta to give the high-school sailors a big-boat racing experience. Each high school was assigned one or two J/88s and worked with the boats’ owners to learn how to rig, fly and jibe an a-symmetrical spinnaker and adjust their tactics for a larger craft. The race was a muchappreciated capstone to a successful season.