Michelle Slade

Henry Vare, 14, a freshman at Redwood, and St Francis Sailing Foundation grantee, is coming off a successful month of wing foil competition, starting with the Spring Wing Ding Pacific Coast Championships in mid-April where he finished second in the youth (under-19) division, and sixth overall in a 60-strong fleet.

He then traveled to San Juan, Puerto Rico, to compete in the 2023 Wingfoil Racing North American Championships. During the four-day event, Henry won three races and consistently finished in the top three places. Henry finished first in the junior division, and second overall.

In a span of two weeks, Henry beat every single competitor he raced against at least once – except for Johnny Heineken! In the words of another competitor, “Henry crushed it- an awesome competitor, great sportsman, and so fun to race with!”

It’s not easy for an Olympic hopeful to sit on the bench while her nemeses are hitting the all-important major pre-Olympic European events, like the recent Trofeo Princesa Sofia held in Palma de Mallorca. But Erika Reineke is still rehabilitating an injury, albeit on the home stretch, that she incurred back in February racing with the US SailGP team in Sydney, Australia. She was running across the trampoline on a tack and got her foot stuck in a small little space on the tramp; she was wearing new shoes and the tip of the shoe was just the perfect size to get stuck. She fell and broke her ankle badly.

“It was kind of a freak accident,” Reineke smiled wryly. “Fortunately, I still have plenty of time to get strong again before the Olympic test event this summer for which I qualified. The unfortunate part is that I wasn’t able to participate in Palma, but I’ll only miss that one major Olympic event.”

Reineke’s experience this quad is completely different to her lead up to the 2020 Olympics, held in 2021. In 2017, she had just graduated from college and was finally able to sail full-time for the first time. This time around Reinecke has had a lot less time in her boat of choice, the Laser Radial, because she started out a 2024 campaign in the 49’er FX with best friend Lucy Wilmot.

“I fell back into the Worlds not knowing what to expect and ended up doing super well,” she commented. “The boat felt good beneath me, and even though I had just two years in this current quad to get up to speed, I had the right people behind me this time to build on what I have learned over the past couple of quads and really execute. My confidence last quad versus this quad is way higher even with less time.”

When asked how challenging it is to switch boats at this level, Reineke, a St Francis Sailing Foundation grantee reported, “I had a such a good background in the Radial already, although I have never sailed with a carbon bottom section because in the last quad we had an aluminum bottom section. When I got back in the boat it felt a little weird to me – the sheeting was a little different, the sail settings were a little different but once I got put in the right direction by my coach – this is the layout and this is what should be good – I took off and it was fine.”

As Reineke explained, in a boat like the 49er versus the Radial, the tactics are similar as are the over-arching big picture themes. A difference in a fast boat like the FX or sailing the F50 or any foiling boat is that the speed is greater so there are fewer boat handling maneuvers that you want to do compared to smaller boats.

“Hopping back and forth between boats, I think it would be hard for anyone to go from the Radial into the FX and expect to perform well because that boat is really boat-handling specific – you need many days to actually nail the boat handling and the settings,” Reineke said. “The Radial is different – you can boat handle relatively quickly and if you know how to sail and start – the big picture things – you’re already in the game.”

Going it alone versus having someone to share the journey has been a transition for Reineke but she and Wilmot continue to talk most days.

“I do feel like she is still very much involved in this campaign, she’s very supportive,” Reineke said. “We still bounce ideas off each other and even though I am alone in my boat, I do have Eric Bowers, my coach nearby. He lives in my hometown (Fort Lauderdale) so we catch up regularly – we talk daily about sailing, logistics, strength and conditioning. I’m just so head over heels excited to have Eric nearby. Steve, for example, in the last quad and most of the coaches I have had during Olympic sailing have lived in different countries so the access to them wasn’t as frequent so having access to Eric every single day which is this maximized opportunity for learning.”

Reineke considers that she is well positioned in the top ten internationally in the fleet thanks to her experience in the boat. She notes that she’s really had to pay attention to her weight, having sailed the last quad too light which she believes ultimately hindered her performance especially at really breezy events.

“I’ve really been able to get much stronger which has really upped my skills – once I got the right weight it was clear that I am very competitive with the top girls,” Reineke stated with confidence. “Tactically and strategically, I am positioned well as I have had more experience in different boat classes which helps my tactical and strategical game plan. Sailing the 49er FX, where you are constantly trying to get leverage on the course and sailing faster boats, we’re limited by certain things and we’re always just figuring out what the limitations are. That experience has been really helpful, so despite my current situation I feel very confident against the fleet!”

Sailing pretty much consumes Reineke’s life these days, beyond her Olympic campaign, she’s also working with the US SailGP team, and the America’s Cup (AC) Women’s team, balancing three very high-level aspects of the sport. She’s participated in recent AC camps that American Magic/New York Yacht Club have organized which are gaining momentum as the Cup gets closer. She’s also excited about life post Olympics as the time right now for women in sailing is heating up.

“I think they all really complement one another, I’m taking each day at face value and trying to learn as much as I can, these are all huge opportunities, and both SailGP and the AC Women’s sailing translates significantly to my quad training,” she said. “While my personal goal is to go back to school and get my MBA after sailing, the women’s professional circuit is just starting and I think it’s a real opportunity. The women’s America’s Cup team, females on the SailGP boats, I’m getting more excited about the Moth Worlds – I feel so lucky that these opportunities are coming along!” – Michelle Slade

By Kimball Livingston

Paige Railey’s unique sailing career has been an inspiration to many and, to her, at times, a trial. Through seventeen years of StFYC membership, she has never failed to make us proud to know her, proud to claim her. This piece, written by an admirer and reprinted by permission of Sailing World Magazine, explores the frontiers of ambition and what it means to live on thin air at the high end of competition.

Paige Railey has survived failure. She’s even survived success. But she might not accept those words. Defeats? Oh yeah. Wins? Big wins. The latest chapter in her sailing career strikes a different note, a new direction (almost). And she has a message that resonates. To appreciate it, however, take a deeper dive into her life since she joined the US Sailing Team 19 years ago, hitting the highest highs and lowest lows, achieving everything there is to achieve in a Laser Radial except an Olympic medal. Think about it. She was a teenage phenomenon, a world champion, World Sailor of the Year, Rolex Yachtswoman of the year. Twice she went to the Games. Twice she came away empty handed. And then—

Setting her hopes for a third medal shot on the 2020 US Trials, posting a selfie on social media showing herself in a hospital bed, Railey had this to say: “Olympian or sick? Who says you can’t be both? I have an immune system that struggles to fight infection (deficiency). It attacks my vascular system (autoimmune). I’m weak. I can’t do one pullup or even squat my body weight. My lungs have been through hell. I’m up for a CT scan and a bronchoscopy, and I have only months to get it together for the next Olympic Trials Event. To hell with being secretive about my health.”

If that was the only time Railey had been down, this wouldn’t be a story. Refusing to give in has been her story, over and again. She has been an inspiration, especially to the young. Once upon a time, Railey was speaking to a group of teenage sailors when Coach Brent suggested that maybe the kids had questions: “How about you, Zoe? What would you like to ask Paige?”

Silence.

“Surely you have something on your mind.”

Awkward silence.

Asked, later, what that was about, Zoe replied:

“I was too awestruck.”

Growing up in Clearwater, Florida, Railey’s early sailing was overshadowed by big brother Zach. Her first goals were “to have my own name and beat the boys.” That much was settled when she won the Laser Radial Youth Worlds at 16, but Railey doesn’t recall a lightbulb Olympic dream moment. She says, “I just saw the Olympics as the logical extension of a love of sailboat racing.”

As other victories came along—she won the first Grade 1 event she ever sailed, the 2006 Radial Worlds—she says she stayed grounded and, “never allowed myself to get carried away. I believed in a stepping-stone career. I always saw room for improvement, and you have to keep up with changes as new people come in.”

It would be fair to say that in 2006, Railey came in with a bang. It would also be fair to say that in 2008 it was haunting to lose the Olympic Trials, barely, to gold medalist-to-be Anna Tunnicliffe (Tobias). That leads to a phrase that pops up more than once whenever Railey thinks back over her 34 years, “unfinished business.”

Then it was on to the United Kingdom in 2012 as the winner of the US Trials, but 2012 became the first Olympiad since 1936 in which no American sailor won a medal. Railey decided that was, “Like going through a toll booth.”

Her future beckoned. Then came the bike wreck, August 24, 2014:  a fractured spine; teeth knocked out; 50 stitches. For those strong of stomach, I’ll briefly note that Railey had tendons sticking out when the medics arrived. Would anyone have blamed her had she packed it in for a career in backyard badminton? She remembers too well, “I went a long time without being able to hold a coffee cup.” In rehab, Railey scaled her personal mountain, using fingernails for pitons.

Photo by Allison Chenard / US Sailing Team

Back in the boat, much later, relearning how to use her body, she missed winning the 2016 Worlds by one point but again won the Trials and arrived in Rio, she believed, “at a peak.”

Then, out of nowhere, “The day before measurement I was laid up in bed in the fetal position, running a fever, coughing up ugly stuff. I went into my second Olympics dog-sick. I tried my hardest, but it didn’t work.”

A virus was blamed. Brother Zach had come away from the 2008 Games with a silver medal. Paige came away in 2016 with a need to curl up on her parents’ sofa and let time go by. (Time went by.)

Glossing over details lest this read like the Book of Job, Railey spent a hellish 2017 in and out of hospitals: “We just didn’t know what was going on.”

But, jumping ahead to 2018, and feeling good again, she says, “My unfinished business bothered me, so I committed to another campaign. A month later I could not get out of bed.”

Speaking of bother. But Railey at last connected with the small network of specialists who could diagnose her condition and begin treating her with heavy drugs that “felt like death every morning.” More time went by, and when she ventured out again for the first time, “It was blowing 30 knots. I was a liability. I sailed in.”

Moving to 2018, strong enough now to pull “I think eleventh” at World Cup Miami, she was “slowly rebuilding my body. I was getting podium finishes. I thought things were looking up. Then my lungs started hurting. I pushed through and placed second in 2019 at World Cup Miami, with more podium events after that. I was thinking, this is where I need to be.”

Then good regattas began to fall apart. Her body would give out in the late races. “I had trouble breathing, going upwind,” she says. “I’d go delirious.”

She attempted to race the test event in Japan but, losing weight, struggling to breathe and weakening, Railey left Japan early and went to a specialist in New York. “We found out how far the disease had progressed. This is where things got really difficult.”

She says that last with no show of irony. And this is where we came in, with our sailor flat down in a hospital bed looking at a five-month runway to a showdown. Yes, she eventually made it out of the hospital, still weak. Yes, she sailed the Trials knowing it would take “mind over body.” Yes, she “redlined,” mind over body. And she won. “I had no idea how I’d cope with the Games,” she says. “Then Covid hit. That bought time, but I kept running into walls [insert paragraphs from the Book of Job] and I settled for daily, small goals.”

Railey returned to Japan in 2021, healthy enough, she says, and ready enough for the delayed Olympics but not ready for the downdraft-cascade-disaster that was barrel rolling her way. Once again, “I felt great, excited to perform. Then, every decision I made was wrong. Just wrong. Everyone knows that in any sailing career you’re going to have that event, but please, not at the Olympics, please not at my third Olympics. I wish I could say it was because I was stressed out, nervous, but it was none of that.”

In three Olympiads, one of the greatest sailors of her generation had finishes of 8, 10 and 37.  It happened. She will never forget that last “horrific result. But look at what I did to be there at all.”

This writing was sparked by a social media post, here edited and condensed: “I packed my boat and turned my back. I was so numb and crushed from Tokyo 2020 that I didn’t have the heart to do anything sport related. This past weekend, I sailed again, and it wasn’t about results. It was about reconnecting to the love I have always felt for sailing. The second day of racing hit me like a ton of bricks and, finally, I began processing what happened over the last Olympic Cycle. Let me tell you, it hurts so incredibly much.

“I’ve seen unachieved dreams break people to the point that they never return to the thing they once loved most and, honestly, I’ve been on the brink. Sailing again was my rescue. To all those athletes who are in this place, who might walk away, I say don’t. We each loved our sport long before we set out to take over the world. If we come home broken, it’s important to remember why we started. We fought for our dreams. Today I’m fighting for a love I’ve had since I was eight years old. Sailing is not just a sport. It’s part of me.”

As 2022 ran its course, she declared she is “not retired” from Olympic sailing.

In 2023 she showed up racing sail #214458, apologizing for her hiking form.

Zoe, do you have any questions for Paige?

###

“This coming season is going to be super busy; I’ll be sailing my first Palma event in May and I’m super excited about it. This year will be my first-year full-time campaigning and I think a lot of this year is about really honing in on racing. Last year was about getting to know the fleet and especially the international fleet. 2023 is about putting the hammer down and breaking into the top ten, so a race-oriented focus and on speed-work as well.”

Charlotte Rose grew up in Houston, TX, where she is based. Now twenty-two, she started sailing when she was nine and got into the Laser when I was 13. She’s competed at a high level in the ICLA at international events since she was 16: she went to the Youth Worlds twice in 2017 and 2018 taking the championship title both times in the Girl’s Laser Radial fleet. She won the 2021 NAs, and won silver at the Pan Am Games. Rose graduated last year from Jacksonville University, a small school where she sailed on the college team and has been into Olympic sailing since she was 18.

“I’ve wanted to go to the Olympics since I was nine,” Rose said. Now I’m done with school I can focus on sailing more intensively rather than worrying about school. 2024 is a goal so I’ll see how this quad goes, then hopefully I’ll be going for 2028 in Los Angeles as well.”

Rose’s schedule these days is all about training, getting better, getting fit, and getting on the international circuit, she explained.

“Getting experience racing in a big fleet against previous Olympians and those like me who are campaigning for the first time – that’s what campaigning is all about,” she said.

Last November Rose started working with coach Alex Saldanha from Brazil. Saldanha grew up with – and coaches – Robert Scheidt, an international Laser legend. She believes her strengths going into the 2023 international summer events are her speed and overall natural racing instincts.

“Alex has been great, and the coaching is making a difference,” she noted. “I feel like I have a really good understanding of my compass numbers, and putting up consistent results, and I’m pretty confident in my speed and fitness against the international fleet for sure,” she smiled.

She’d liked to think with work on starts and her mind set that she has potential to make her way into the top ten this year.

“I’m becoming more confident starting at ends, and more confident with my mind set which I think is my biggest thing, keeping a cool head and focusing on what I need to focus on,” she acknowledged. “I think if I really focus on those things going into these events, I can break into the top ten. At the World Championship last year in Houston, I went into the last day in 6^th although unfortunately I had two bad races and fell out and finished 14^th overall. I feel like if I have really good starts, really good races and can keep my head on straight I can do it.”

Rose has been in the Laser for a long time, and she still just simply loves the boat.

“It’s not particularly a very fast boat I have to say, but just the amount of physical effort and the mental effort that goes into the sport resonates with me a lot,” Rose commented. “Every decision you make is super important. I’m also a super physical person so I like working hard- the Laser is one of the most physical boats out there and I like the reward you get from working so hard, it’s what drives me the most. I just love sailing in general!”

Catching up with Daniela Moroz on Monday morning as she was driving to return Finn sailor Luke Muller’s van which she borrowed from him for her winter season in Florida, the 22-year-old shared her thoughts after a long albeit hugely successful week. She took home her fourth Rolex Yachtswoman of the Year award, presented at the Rolex Yachtsman and Yachtswoman of the Year Awards dinner during the US Sailing Leadership Forum held in St Petersburg, FL, and took first at the West Marine US Open Series/Clearwater, winning the three-series Florida event.

What does a fourth Rolex award mean to you?
DM: I guess it’s just a reflection of how I have been working over the past few years and how I’ve created a sustainable campaign and a sustainable system of just working hard. I am re-reading “Chasing Excellence” (it’s really good!) which talks about how passion will outperform drive every time so I think it’s also a reflection of my passion for the sport and for just trying to improve and work hard.

Looking back on your first award, what has been the biggest lesson you’ve learned in the six years since that first award?
DM: The biggest thing I’ve learned is honestly just come to me pretty recently is that time is your most valuable asset. Doing an Olympic campaign especially is a game of how well you spend that time and how you choose to spend your time and how you can optimize the time that you are given to maximize all your minutes. The nice thing about an Olympic campaign is that you know exactly how much time is left, so 536 days until the Games now, It’s a great equalizer and everybody is on that same deadline. Whoever makes the most of that time is probably going to be the most successful.

Does winning a fourth award feel different to receiving the first three?
DM: (Big grin) Yeah, a little bit. The first one was a bit of a surprise, but it was also like it’s just one. Once the second and third came around, I was like, whoa, are you guys sure I’m qualified for this (laughs hard) but it’s really special and I’m so happy to be able to share it with my family also.

If you had to name three things that helped you succeed in 2022 which culminated in you winning this award, what would they be?
DM: First, definitely my team who I have been working with – coach Chris and my technical advisor Nate. Second, not winning regattas over the summer – I think that forced me to change my approach a little bit and change my campaign and come back at the end. Third, just staying positive through the whole thing, it wasn’t always going the way I wanted it to go.

Emotionally, do you think that was the first time in your racing career that you’ve felt that?
DM: I felt it a little bit when I had first got into racing – 2014 and 2015, and even a little at the beginning of 2016 because I knew I was really capable of winning but I still had so much to learn and when it didn’t go my way I was pretty upset because I just wanted to win so badly. That feeling resurfaced last summer I was better able to handle it because I now have so much experience and I have really good people behind me so I know that this environment is very capable of producing good results so now its just about figuring out what we need to change going into the end of the year and into the World Championships in order to do that.

What advice do you have for other sailors shooting for the top?
DM: It’s good to have big ambitions and big goals but the biggest piece of advice is to really fall in love with the process and the daily grind. If you have a good definition of success then that success will come but you really have to fall in love with working hard and doing everything you can every single day in order to get better.

Moving on to your West Marine US Open Series/Florida success, tell us about the challenges, highlights, and competition?
DM: These events were pretty significant for qualification and I think the most challenging part of the selection process were the conditions. In Miami we had unreliable conditions so you didn’t know how many races you were going to get so you had to be a little bit conservative at the beginning because you wanted to put good scores up at the beginning of the regatta because you weren’t sure how many days of racing you were going to get in – that was one thing. It was kind of the same thing in Clearwater because the forecast wasn’t looking that good so we weren’t sure how many days of racing we’d get.

After the first day in Clearwater, I had one good race and one UFD and we only had two races that day so I had to sit with that for a couple of days. We couldn’t race on the second day due to conditions so I was definitely a bit antsy going into the third day thinking I really needed to get some good results and scores up but then it happened to be a tricky day conditions-wise. But, it was nice to see – also in Miami – a lot of things that Chris and I had really worked on in December come through. That was super rewarding. I’ve never been really good at pin end starts but all of those pin end starts we did every single day for three weeks in December (laughs) are finally paying off. I’m now super comfortable at the pin end!

That’s funny – what do you think your issue with the pin end has been?
DM: I don’t know (laughs) – I’ve always been pretty good starting at the boat or like in the first third of the line closest to the boat but any further to that I would always feel uncomfortable. I always liked having the option to tack out and that gave me so much comfort. Now I am finally comfortable maybe being a little bit pinned and then having to mode myself out of there, so go super high mode and maybe cut someone off then eventually be able to tack across. I used to be very uncomfortable with that but now, to be really confident in that position has transformed my racing and you could see that at this last event. I was really happy about that.

How was the competition?
DM: It was good. Lauriane Nolot (France) was in Miami, she was second at the Worlds last year, and in Clearwater we had the British girls and they’re all in the top ten and strong riders. It was nice to get some of the Europeans over and it was a nice way for me to check in with where I am at after the first bit of winter training – it was really the only opportunity to race between the Worlds last October and the Princesa Sofia regatta which will be in Spain in April. I’m pretty happy with where I’m at (big smile).

Who do you have shoreside during regattas to help you out and give you the between-races-support that is crucial?
DM: At the Worlds and in my training block before the Worlds, I brought Nate Housberg (Jamestown, RI) into my team and he was a huge help in the equipment optimization process. He also helped a lot on the beach when I was racing. Nate is moving onto to normal real life with a real job (!) so unfortunately I can’t work with him anymore so I trialed someone new at the Clearwater regatta – Tucker Atterbury (Santa Barbara, CA). He’s super excited to help out and be part of the team and see where I can make some gains. I think he’ll be a good addition to my team this year.

What’s your day to day looking like these days?
DM: When I’m training, I usually do a gym session in the morning then I’ll check in with Chris to see how the conditions are looking for the day. I’ll go home, have breakfast, and check the forecast and see what we’re looking at for the next few days. I’ll either head to the beach soon after that or if we have to wait then I’ll have lunch then head to the beach and usually do a two hour session, then come in, debrief and review any video that Chris took, do all my notes from the session, then cook dinner, do my recover routine in the evening – I usually wear compression boots for my legs, things like that, and go to sleep.

Are you pretty tired by the end of the day?
DM: Yeah, especially if we’ve been doing a routine like that for a week or so, I’m definitely feeling it by the end.

What are you going to do with your fourth Rolex watch?
DM: (Laughs) That’s a good question! I think I’m going to give it to my grandma – she came to the last two World Championships – she’s a big supporter!

30 Sep 2000: JJ Isler and Pease Glasez of the USA celebrate silver in the Womens 470 Class Sailing at Rushcutters Bay on Day 15 of the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia. Mandatory Credit: Mike Hewitt /Allsport

St Francis Sailing Foundation Board Member JJ Fetter, also holds the distinction of being honored four-times as Rolex Yachtswoman of the Year (’97, ’91, ’86, 2000). Here she shares HER memories of winning her fourth Rolex award 23 years ago.

Taking a trip down memory lane, what emotions do you recall about winning your fourth Rolex?
JJ: I remember it was such a special occasion at NYYC especially because I got to share the award with my Olympic teammate Pease Glaser!  And we celebrated with my junior sailing instructor Mark Reynolds and his Olympic teammate Magnus Liljedahl. But it was also bittersweet because I knew it would likely be my last since I was stepping back from competing to focus on raising my two daughters (who were almost two and seven and hadn’t seen much of their mom in the final year of my Olympic campaign).

How old were you & what events had you succeeded in to get you the nomination that year?
JJ: I just did that math and I was 36 when I won the fourth award (yikes since it was quite a while ago!). Pease and I had won the silver medal in the Sydney games, so it was an amazing year, but you never take it for granted that you’ll get the award.

What did the fourth award mean to you?
JJ: It meant so much because my four Rolex awards span fourteen years.  Being nominated is such a big honor, especially since, as we all know, it’s very subjective to try to compare sailing achievements across different sailing disciplines. There were certain years (such as when Pam Healy and I won the 470 Worlds in 1991) where we were nominated but didn’t win — so getting the watch is always special!

What advice do you have for Daniela as she works toward her first Olympics?
JJ: I’m so impressed with Daniela and the way she continues to set such a high bar for herself, especially when the rest of the world and all those well-funded Olympic programs are gunning for her.   I’m not sure she has any weaknesses, but my advice would be to make sure she continues to be creative with her training plans to turn any weaknesses into strengths. Too often sailors practice their strengths (tactical teams always want to race, speedy teams always want to do line-ups).

What did you do with your four watches?
JJ: I gave my fourth watch to my dad, my third watch to my mom, my second watch to my Olympic teammate Pam Healy (who had deserved to win the award with me) and I kept the first one!  But Rolex let me have a behind-the-scenes tour where they engraved my watch with all four years.

How do you view the work of the Foundation, not just grants but the high level mentoring, plays into successes like Daniela?
JJ: What I love about the St. Francis Sailing Foundation is that its support is transformative not only for top sailors like Daniela but also for the thousands of San Francisco public school kids who have had the opportunity to learn about sailing at Treasure Island. I was so honored the last few years to be an advisor to the Foundation and see the dedication of the Board. Pam Healy has recently finished her term as the President, and not only did she lead an amazing fundraising team, but she has been a wonderful mentor to so many of these Olympic and Olympic Development sailors.

###

US Sailing returned to Florida in January for the third annual 2023 West Marine US Open Sailing Series with events in three locations: Fort Lauderdale (Lauderdale Yacht Club), Miami (US Sailing Center) and Clearwater (Clearwater Community Sailing Center).

The series concluded on Sunday in Clearwater after four days of racing in hugely variable conditions. St FYC member and St FSF grantee Daniela Moroz took first in the Formula Kite class (she won the series overall in class). St FYC club member and St FSF grantee Markus Edegran took second in the men’s Formula Kite class. St FSF grantees Erika Reineke and Charlotte Rose took first and second respectively in the ICLA 6, while Foundation grantees Ian Barrows/Hans Henken and Nevin Snow/Dane Wilson took first and second respectively in the 49’er.

Congratulations to all!

The Clearwater US Open served as a country qualification event for the 2023 Pan American Games in Santiago, Chile. Ft. Lauderdale, Miami, and Clearwater will all play a role in US athlete selection for the 2023 Pan American Games, the 2023 Sailing World Championships, and the 2023 Olympic Test Event.

• • 2023 Olympic Test Event | July 9-16, 2023 | Marseille, France
  • 2023 Sailing World Championships | August 10-20, 2023 | The Hague, The Netherlands
  • 2023 Pan American Games | October 20 – November 5, 2023 | Santiago, Chile

“With the help of our host clubs and sponsors, we’re now beginning year three of our domestic circuit for Olympic class racing,” said Paul Cayard, Executive Director of US Olympic Sailing. “Providing these regatta opportunities is critical for our country’s journey to Olympic excellence, and this year the stakes are even higher with qualification for global events on the line.”

West Marine US Open Sailing Series

Supporting community sailing is a priority for the St Francis Sailing Foundation: ensuring that opportunities are available for those who would like to learn to sail, improve skills or simply experience getting out on the water for the first time. The Foundation is proud to support outstanding Bay Area community sailing organizations including Alameda Community Sailing Center, Blue Water Foundation, Call of the Sea, and Treasure Island Sailing Center. 2022 proved a banner year for these organizations.

Alameda Community Sailing Center continues to be very proud of its partnerships with at-risk youth community organizations and facilitating more kids into sail boats from these organizations. ACSC had a very successful year with nearly 350 kids spending two weeks on the water learning to sail, with a high returning rate of regulars each year. Nearly all ACSC’s 25 -30 instructors have come through its programs, and the organization is hopeful that in the next year or two some of the kids from the at-risk organization will be joining their ranks and be earning a wage teaching sailing.

“We are not making Olympic sailors at ACSC, but we are fulfilling our vision of “Inspiring Lives Across Generations”, Mike Bishop, President of the ACSC Board, commented. “We’ve enjoyed a great quote from one of the girls from Acta Non Verba, an East Oakland Community organization – her mother later told us that her daughter said, “I now want to be a marine biologist rather than be a WNBA player”, after she had finished her sailing camp!”

2023 is starting off well for ACSC, with 30% of its summer camp places filled. The organization recently received a grant from the Olympic Club Foundation to buy its seventh RS Feva, and expects to take delivery of an eighth support boat – a 17ft RIB – thanks to a CA Department of Boating and Waterways grant.

ACSC hopes to expand its weekend classes and program more adult introduction-to-sailing classes. Five race-ready Lasers will be available to charter and join the Thursday evening and Sunday Laser practice racing. The 505 Pacific Coast Championship (PCC) will be hosted at ACSC in August, and ACSC is partnering with the Hobie 16 fleet to hold that fleet’s North Americans, so ACSC is not leaving the adults or experienced sailors behind! – Mike Bishop

Blue Water Foundation – Since 1992, Blue Water Foundation has brought the magic of the Bay to thousands of at-risk and under-represented youth through school districts, juvenile probation departments, and community groups. An all-volunteer organization, BWF programs operate out of the San Francisco Municipal Marina on Golden Bear, a 46’ ocean racer, and the Berkeley Marina on Benjamin Walters, a 43-foot Han Christian and Aleta, also a 46’ ocean racer.

A volunteer base of over two hundred sailors come from all over the Bay area and participate in regular training sails, safety protocols and First Aid/CPR/AED certification.  The last couple of years have been rebuilding our connections and encouraging our partners to return to the water after the pandemic interruption.  In 2022, BWF reached over 350 youth, and held 51 sails for 12 partner organizations. Each student sail requires a minimum of five certified volunteer crew: a first captain, a second captain and 3 crew members. Blue Water Foundation’s newest program in development is outreach and providing opportunities for visually impaired sailors and non-sailors. – Shannon Kastner

Call of the Sea – Call of the Sea (COS) continued to make big strides in 2022, as reported by the Sausalito-based not-for-profit:

208 sailing trips / 3,237 students / 6,654 passengers / 571 hours of education

Call of the Sea’s Sylvia Stompe, reported, “Schools have returned to planning field trips after the two-year Covid pause on outdoor education and bussing for many schools; 2022 had a major increase in schools booked. We are optimistic that 2023 will see the trend continue and grow. We also have a goal to greatly increase our scholarship support for schools, organizations, and individuals this year.”

In 2023, Call of the Sea will see an expansion of youth programs, with an Aloft date (ages 12+) once per month, and Spring and Fall Saturday morning educational programs (ages 8-18) at the dock, followed by a two-hour sail (open registration for youth organizations and individuals).  – Sylvia Stompe

Treasure Island Sailing Center (TISC) – 2022 was a summer filled with the sights and sounds of hundreds of children of all ages, abilities, and backgrounds leaning on land, rigging, sailing, and enjoying the challenges and friendships the sailing environment offers. TISC’s Spring, Summer, and Fall Progression program was well attended and delivered at a high level of instruction. It’s popular STEM and Adaptive Sailing programs were equally successful. Attendance is rebounding to pre-COVID levels. 2022 was also a year of unusual challenges including the redevelopment of Treasure Island which has required that TISC relocate its facility to fit into a roughly twenty-foot-wide strip of land along the waterfront thus reducing its footprint (i.e., structures and equipment) before resuming Spring programs.

TISC has an almost entirely new team with four of the five leadership team members new to their positions this year, including Doug Paine, the Executive Director. Gresha Wallace is Youth Outreach Program Coordinator, running our Community Partner, Leadership, STEM, and Volunteer Outreach programs. She also handles the organization’s required bureaucratic and personal interactions with the community, participants, and their families.  As the Waterfront Director, David Elias manages the tenants’ yard, oversees the transition plan and interim projects related to modular buildings, manages events, and fills in, fixes, or draws attention to a continuously changing set of challenges. Hunter “Cazzie” Cutting is our Head Coach for our Youth Progression Program after many years as a TISC Instructor. He also leads our new parent advisory committee for the race teams.

In 2023, TISC anticipates changes in the way instructional programs are delivered. It has redesigned its offerings to emphasize more varied types of boating experiences and a greater orientation toward non-competitive skills development, which means different equipment for programs.

Meeting financial goals will be challenging but more importantly, TISC is about something other than the facilities or the finances. It is about the people involved: the parents, sailors, and staff, board members, college sailors, V15 sailors, Olympic trainees, veterans, and administrators who make TISC unique and special. – Gresha Wallace

Many thanks to the hard work and dedication of all of those involved in these community sailing programs that StFSF is proud to support!

A St Francis Sailing Foundation grantee, Call of the Sea (COS) continued to make big strides in 2022, as reported by the Sausalito-based not-for-profit:

208 sailing trips / 3,237 students / 6,654 passengers / 571 hours of education

Call of the Sea’s Sylvia Stompe, reported, “Schools have returned to planning field trips after the two-year Covid pause on outdoor education and bussing for many schools; 2022 had a major increase in schools booked. We are optimistic that 2023 will see the trend continue and grow. We also have a goal to greatly increase our scholarship support for schools, organizations, and individuals this year.”

In 2023, Call of the Sea will see an expansion of youth programs, with an Aloft date (ages 12+) once per month, and Spring and Fall Saturday morning educational programs (ages 8-18) at the dock, followed by a two-hour sail (open registration for youth organizations and individuals).

Call of the Sea offers a scholarship program for kids who otherwise wouldn’t be able to attend its programs. Return summer camper, Dylan Lovato, is a great example of a youth that has been inspired by the sailing program and has attended on a scholarship each year. Read his story:

Sailing in Marin: Camps sparking a love for the sport in young sailor

When Dilan Lovato was four years old, holding his stepmom’s hand he walked from El Salvador across the US-Mexican border. His dad, who he did remember clearly, was already in the US waiting for them.

The memories of that journey are on quick-recall for Lovato, now 12-years old.

“It was scary when the border patrol grabbed us and it was cold in the detention center, they just gave us aluminum foil for blankets,” the youngster said. “We stayed there for two days. I didn’t recognize my dad at first until he said my name. It had been a long time – he left before I was two.”

A handsome young man with a great smile and sense of humor, Lovato these days is well-adjusted to life in Marin: he’s a sixth grader at Davidson Middle School in San Rafael, his favorite activity at school is volleyball, he loves camps, and anything to do with being on the water. His dad, Adrian, has a steady job working for Luiz Martinez, co-founder/owner with his wife Alison Healy of Bay Area Marine Services in Sausalito.

One day, Martinez took the young Lovato sailing for the first time.

“I got to steer,” Lovato grinned. “It was a bit challenging as the wind wants to take you a different direction!”

That one experience plotted a course for Lovato that set sailing firmly on his agenda. He couldn’t go sailing, however, without Healy who has known the Lovato family for three years. She helps by ferrying the young Lovato, a typical latch-key kid, to and from after-school activities.

Healy couldn’t help but notice the big smile on Lovato’s face when they returned to the dock after that first sailing experience: he was captivated by seeing so many boats on the water. She asked Lovato if he’d like to go sailing again, and he replied that he’d first like to learn to kayak to be sure he wasn’t afraid of the water. Read on

About Call of the Sea

Sailing in Marin: Camps sparking a love for the sport in young sailor

John Arndt, publisher/Latitude 38, introduces the ever-buoyant Commodore Paul Heineken in his recent podcast:

Paul has been a lifelong sailor starting on the East Coast in New Jersey and sailing on the Princeton sailing team, but he found his sailing home in San Francisco Bay when he moved west after medical school. He’s sailed dinghies, windsurfers, foiling windsurfers, and today would like to see succeed at wing foiling. He’s raised to two world class kiteboarders: Johnny and Erica Heineken.

For 10 years he was a volunteer at the Cal Sailing Club, which introduced him to the Treasure Island Sailing Center (TISC), where he is now on the Board of Directors. He’s been a member of the St. Francis Yacht Club for many years, where he helped develop its leadership role in racing on windsurfers and kiteboards. He became Commodore in 2019. There aren’t many Commodores of yacht clubs, especially at the status of the St. Francis Yacht Club whose specialty is board sailing…Full podcast here.