PORT ANGELES — The Port Angeles Yacht Club, with the support of the Port of Port Angeles, will host a Northwest Interscholastic Sailing Association High School Regatta on Saturday and Sunday.
Seventy-five high school sailors from Washington and Oregon will compete on the class standard, 13-foot, 210 pound, Flying Junior sailboat.
The first race is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. Saturday, weather permitting.
The community is invited to watch the races from the Port Angeles Yacht Club, located at 1305 Marine Drive, or the adjacent park. The event is free and child-friendly.
High School Coaches Mace Gratz and Keith Dahlin will lead their team from Port Angeles High School. The team is a club sport.
“I’m really excited to see such a robust group of young sailors this year,” Gratz said. “We have a lot of promising new racers and this will be a great opportunity to get out and compete on home waters.”
Erika Hansen-Dahlin, Port Angeles Yacht Club sailing program director, is glad to see the club host the region’s youth sailing event.
“It has been one of our goals for the past three years to host an event back in Port Angeles where the venue is perfect and the community has been so supportive,” Hansen-Dahlin said.
”We are grateful for amazing partners in the Port of Port Angeles, Platypus Marine, Westport Yachts and Masco who have continued to support us and help see our vision of having a strong youth sailing program come to fruition.”
The Northwest Interscholastic Sailing Association is the organizing body for high school sailing in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Alaska and British Columbia.
The Port Angeles Yacht Club Youth Sailing Program teaches students 12 and older the basics of sailing and seamanship and sails weekly from March to November, with sailing camps conducted in the summer.
High school aged sailors compete on The Port Angeles High School Sailing Team, a club sport, sponsored by the Port Angeles Yacht Club Sailing Program. High school sailors have the opportunity to earn a varsity letter and compete in a broad array of regional regattas.
For more information contact the Port Angeles Yacht Club at sailing@payc.org.
