Cathedral Catholic’s sailing team has been ranked one of the top in the nation for the past three years. In keeping with this tradition of excellence, The SailDons returned from the Sea Otter Regatta in Monterey, California last weekend with an impressive performance by the varsity team which placed third.
The sport of sailing has some unique characteristics that set it apart from most other sports at Cathedral. It is “non-seasonal,” that is, it runs for the entire school year, and it is a varsity coed sport, with two-person teams comprised of both boys and girls. One “skipper” and one “crew” make up the each sailing pair, who race in a 14-foot “double-handed” boat with two sails: a main sail and a jib. The boat, standard for all high school teams, is called a Club Flying Junior. Also, the sailing team operates on a “try-in” basis – for a three-week period at the beginning of the school year, any interested students may “try” the sport to see if they want to pursue it.
Sailing Coach Brian Stanford, in his fourth year at Cathedral, brings a wealth of expertise to the SailDons. Coach Stanford grew up in Point Loma, sailing at the San Diego Yacht Club. He sailed for Point Loma High School and helped the team win a national championship in 1993. He was the team captain in 1994 and 1995. Stanford sailed in college as well, at Boston University, and was the team captain in 1999. He helped the team to a national championship that year, winning B division, and was named an all American. After college, the coach moved to Hanover, NH and coached the Dartmouth College sailing team. While there he served as the assistant and head coach; we won a women’s national championship in 2000 and rarely, if ever, fell out of the top 10 in the national rankings for both coed and women’s sailing.
“Over the course of my eight years there, I coached 28 different sailors ultimately named to the all-America team,” said coach Stanford.
The sailing team, which currently has 29 members, practices on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 3pm to 6pm at the San Diego Yacht Club. A typical day of practice includes various maneuvers, practice starts, and practice races. On Wednesdays, the sailing team holds workouts on campus. Cathedral charters its boats from the San Diego Yacht Club – as do Francis Parker, Point Loma, and Bishops high schools. Other San Diego high school sailing teams, including Coronado, La Jolla, Torrey Pines, along with charter boats from other area yacht clubs.
The sailing team competes in races or “regattas” two or three times a month from October through May. A regatta consists of a series of races, usually over two days, in which the team with the best average finishes places. Most regattas are all-state races with as many as 60 teams competing. Throughout the season, there are five large “points” regattas, wherein points are tracked on a cumulative basis.
The Don’s sailing team is part of the Pacific Coast Inter Athletic Sailing Association (PCSIA), an organization that sponsors five district regattas and four Pacific Coast Championship Regattas with the top schools qualifying to sail in the National Championships. Cathedral is one of more than 80 schools registered in the PCSIA, which is the largest district in the national Inter Scholastic Sailing Association.
There are two types of sailing races: “team” racing, in which all boats race against each other, and “fleet” races where three boats from one school race against three other boats from another school – fleet races are more strategic in nature. Outside of the five larger regattas, the remaining races are “Socal” – smaller events, not quite as formal. For regattas, team members are ranked by their own coaches as Varsity, Junior Varsity 1, Junior Varsity 2.
High school team sailing requires significant parent support, dedication and family involvement, with practices held off site and most regattas out of town. Team Mom Kimberly McKnight runs the sailing team’s webpage, complete with a calendar of events, photography, and news updates.
During the summer there is no formal Dons sailing team activity, but sailors are encouraged to practice and race on their own – many of them belonging to local sailing clubs. Many of the sailors race in the summer for yacht clubs’ individual, local, regional national, and international competitions. Practice through competing as much as possible is important for the development of the team.
In a testament to the hard work the sailing athletes invest in their sport, Senior Cutter O’Connell said, “Sailing is a lot harder than most people think; it requires physical endurance as well as mental aptitude.”
Be sure to check out theSailDons CCHS webpagefor photographs and sailing team current events and news.
