MSA Win High School Sailing Invitational
The Bermuda Sailing Association first ever High School Fleet Racing Invitational was greeted with a beautiful evening on Friday with a steady 7-10 knot breeze from the West.
Over 30 sailors participated from Berkeley, BHS, Mount St. Agnes, Somersfield, Saltus and Warwick Academy. Each school was to field a two boat team of two sailors each and each team was divided into an ‘A’ and ‘B’ fleet division.
Seven races, approximately 12-15 minutes in length were completed and all the boats were close together on the race course with no one school dominating the regatta. In the end, Mount Saint Agnes squeaked past Saltus to become the overall winners.
Participating for MSA was Brian Bulhoes,who has been a stranger to the race course lately but showed his natural talent once more. Representing MSA alongside him was Antonio Bailey, Makai Joell and James Amaral.
Sailing for Saltus was Chris Sposato, Brandon Morris, Alex Davis, Daniel Oatley, Ellie Wollmann and Sam Stan. In the ‘A’ division MSA won with Brian and Antonio, and in 2nd place was Warwick Academy with the Owen Siese, Bermuda’s Youth Olympic Games sailor, and alternating with him was Jeremy Taylor and Gabby Arnold both newcomers to the sport.
The ‘B’ division was clearly won by Saltus with consistent sailing by Ellie and Sam. Following Saltus in a tight race for second was MSA.
This strategic initiative was started a few years ago by the BSA with a generous grant from the Bank of Bermuda Foundation to encourage more High School sailing in Bermuda.
Current Bermudians sailing overseas have already made their mark, both the 2011 US High School and College National Champions had Bermudian team members participate so here at the BSA we are acutely aware of the untapped potential at home and are keen to broaden the sport for those students that remain in Bermuda.
With the success of Friday’s event, the BSA is hopeful that sailing can become a regular sport with the Bermuda School Sports Federation and that our district can be competitive within the Interscholastic Sailing Association in the US.
In September the BSA is hoping to hold a clinic to educate sailors, coaches and teachers on how to team race and to begin a sailing team within the school. The next High School regatta is in the planning stages for September.
