Chautauqua Lake Community Sailing Foundation hosted the Junior Varsity Regatta as well as the All-Girls Qualifying Regatta last Saturday at Lakewood Beach.

Winds were high, starting at 20 knots, with cloudy skies and rain to start the day. The sun eventually came out and teams on both courses managed to complete two races for the JV and three races for the girls qualifier. Winds continued increasing throughout the day, reaching up to 30 knots, and with other weather conditions and safety in mind, races were cut short. Despite this, sailors showed great skill and resilience out on the water to give a truly competitive performance throughout the day.

Sailing for Southwestern High School and Chautauqua Lake High School in the JV Regatta were Jack Colburn and Gabe Logan. Typically a JV regatta allows for the newer sailors to try their hand at skippering, with the more experienced sailor supporting as their crew. Due to the ever-increasing winds and safety concerns, this was not the case for many of the sailors on this day. This was probably the windiest that Logan has skippered in, however he did really well and took third place in his fleet. Colburn, the more experienced skipper, has probably been in winds similar to Saturday’s conditions before and continued his skillful boat handling on the course to place second. The SW/CL team ended in a three-way tie and, due to the tie-breaking rules, ended up with second-place overall.

Sailing for Southwestern High School in the All-Girls Regatta were Siri DuBois as skipper with Emma Malmstrom-Jouannet, Annika Hedin and Caroline Churchill as crew. DuBois is a very strong and competitive sailor who excels in wind — the windier the better — so this was definitely her day. On top of that, she was first off the line every time and solidly held second place in every race. The team placed second overall and was the top qualifying team which will be heading to Toms River, New Jersey for the All-Girls’ Championships.