Junior Sailing Report

The 2008 Festival of Whales Jr. Charity Regatta was held on Saturday, March 8^th, under blue skies and extremely light south winds. Jeremy Quinton worked magic with the 14 junior sailors who came to race their Naples Sabots on a beautiful spring like day in the West Basin. Crowds gathered in Dana Point for the Festival cheered our young sailors as Jeremy set up a North-South course from off the stern of the Pilgrim to the sand bar alongside the sea wall. Volunteer Michelle Kraus came down from UCLA to lend her assistance to the regatta and Ken Rightmire (Dana West parent) stood by in his family dinghy as a safety boat.

Rick Sams also assisted . . . although he was a bit preoccupied toward the end of the day as his daughter, Danielle Sams, staged a come from behind victory in A Class to win her spot on the perpetual crystal trophy which will soon bear her name! Congratulations Danielle!

Brian Bolton was in great shape to win coming into the last windward mark in the final race (#5), but he hit the mark and was passed by half the fleet as he did his mandatory penalty turn and had to settle for 3^rd place. DWYC’s Michael Shaw sailed well all day and edged out Brian for the 2^nd place trophy, also in race 5.

Cameron Baxter was stellar in a competitive B Fleet, capturing five straight bullets and the first place trophy! Great sailing, Cameron! Welcome to A Fleet! Dana West’s Scott Wilson was nipping at Cameron’s heels all day and he captured the 2^nd place hardware, while our own Kyle Kuether battled several more Dana Westies and took home the bronze!

Nick Sams was stellar, sailing to victory in C fleet with five straight wins!

Congratulations to all the participants and parents! You helped us raise much needed funds for our program and all you got was a great day on the water and some really cool long sleeved Festival of Whales T-shirts. 

Thanks to all of you at DPYC for your terrific support of our junior sailors! This is what it’s all about!

David A Bolton

Regatta Chair