Lake Forest Sailing Celebrates a Successful Spring Competition Season

Lake Forest, IL – Lake Forest Sailing’s high school teams are celebrating a successful competition season and continue to produce some of the country’s top sailors. This spring season the Lake Forest High School team won both Fleet Race and Team Race Midwest championships, which earned them a spot at each National Championship. William Curtiss, Team Captain/LFHS 2016, said “the team seemed to really come together at the qualifiers. We had very productive practices that tended to cater towards some of the common goals that every race team sailor has. Overall this season was a success and a phenomenal learning experience for everybody involved.”

The Fleet Racing team won the National race qualifier April 30/May 1. Fleet racing is the more conventional type of sailboat racing where each team has 2 divisions each trying to sail their fastest to achieve the lowest scores. Fleet racing has a two-tier qualifying system in the Midwest. The pre-qualifiers were held at Sheridan Shores Sailing School in Wilmette, Illinois on April 16-17. The sailing Scouts placed 6th to move on to final qualifiers. The final qualifiers were held in Grosse Pointe, Michigan April 30-May 1. In Grosse Pointe the team saw all kinds of conditions and got in many races. After the first day the scouts were in 3rd place. Only the top 2 teams qualify for nationals. The second day the sailors had consistent finishes in the top 4 to put them ahead of all of the other teams. Will Curtiss(Sr) and Su Yardimci (Soph) won the A division, Nick Elsasser (Soph) and Connor Sheridan (Soph) placed 3rd in the B division, only a couple of points away from winning it. Will Porter (Soph) and Sarah Tompsidis (Jr) also competed with the team. These combined scores placed the LFHS team in first place overall by 20 points. The Fleet Racing National Championship for the Mallory Trophy was held in Charleston, South Carolina on May 14-15. The team sailed in an FJ Dinghy, a new boat to them, and got to experience sailing in river current. Will Curtiss, Su Yardimci and Will Porter placed 19th in the A division. Nick Elsasser and Connor Sheridan tied for 19th in the B division.

The team finished the season strong as they competed for the Baker Trophy at the Team Race National Championship in Anacortes, Washington on May 28-29. They earned the Midwest berth by winning the Midwest team race qualifier on their home waters of Lake Forest beach. This was the second National Championship competition in 3 weeks for the Lake Forest Sailors and the team took 12th place. Sailors included Will Curtiss, Nick Elsasser, Connor Sheridan, Su Yardimci, Chris Guido, Skye Shepherd and Sarah Tompsidis. Team racing is a relatively new format of sailing competition. Unlike fleet racing, only two schools, with three boats each, compete at a time. The sum of the three boats' finishes for each school determines which school wins that race. Over the course of the regatta, each school will compete against every other team at least once. The winner of the regatta is the school with the best record. This type of competition allows sailors to use unique tactics, strategies and teamwork, which results in close finishes and suspenseful racing.

Coach Will Howard may have been the only person in the Midwest not surprised by the team’s success. “We ran practices at a college level while focusing on mastering the basics of boat handling and boat speed. The sailors’ teamwork and motivation was inspiring to watch and set them up for success. Assistant coaches Ian Schappe and Nate Jermain were crucial in getting our sailors prepared for competition.”

Lake Forest Sailing runs three high school sailing teams in the fall and spring out of Woodlands Academy, Lake Forest Academy and Lake Forest High School. In the fall the focus is on building the team and single handed (laser dinghy) championships. The spring season is oriented toward the 2 major national championships, fleet racing and team racing. There are currently over 95 high school sailing teams in the Midwest District.

Lake Forest Sailing is part of the Lake Forest Parks & Recreation Department. The Lake Forest Parks & Recreation Department is committed to providing residents of all ages positive experiences through a variety of high-quality programs, activities, and services under the direction of professional and dedicated staff who are responsive to the changing needs of the community.

Website: http://www.cityoflakeforest.com/parks-and-recreation/sailing/

Inquiries:

William Howard

Head Coach & Assistant Program Director

Lake Forest Sailing

Lake Forest Parks & Recreation

Lake Forest, IL 60045

(847) 810-3666

HowardW@cityoflakeforest.com

Kristin Elliott

Marketing Specialist

Lake Forest Parks & Recreation

Lake Forest, IL 60045

elliottk@cityoflakeforest.com

(847) 810-3949

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