Scholastic sailing is not for the faint-hearted. A “sailing browser” arrived at team practice, clambered (with difficulty with his 6-feet 5-inches tall frame) into the front of a coach’s “whaler”-type boat, and was immediately cast into the crosshairs of teen skippers tacking, going downwind, reversing and going upwind.
All the while, the young boatsmiths were being captured on Go-Pro cameras mounted on the sterns of their respective boats. Much to chew on in later film sessions — it reminds one of football or basketball teams retiring to view film at the end of practice.
All of this, with the competitive angle thrown in, fascinates Celeste Oder, a ninth-grader at The Bishop’s School, who is scooping up sailing knowledge like a scoop picking up all that water under her Club Flying Junior (CFJ) boat is maneuvering on.
“As a girl, I like the fact you can beat guys tactically,” Oder said afterward on land. “You don’t have to be big and strong. A lot of sports require physical strength.”
Says Bishop’s coach Tony Pelletier, who has been at the helm (to use a pun) for four years, “Celeste is one of my best skippers.” Other team members present this day included Braden Ozarski, an eighth-grader; junior Dylan Buchanon; and Cameron Rosso, another eighth-grader.
Repeatedly the young sailors, in two boats cavorting about Mission Bay at practice on this Monday, “hiked” their crafts by making a sudden about-face, causing the vessel to dip precipitously but quickly make a turn without a long, drawn-out tack, which would cost precious time when racing. The skippers leaned way back — even getting their behinds wet — on the upper side to balance the boat and avoid a capsize.
In the other DFJ from Oder’s, with “MYBC 1” prominently displayed on the mainsail, Ozarski processed his coach’s feedback as he and Oder both negotiated a busy bay populated with similar boats of sailors from Mission Bay High, Parker, Point Loma, and La Jolla Country Day.
“I really like the community (aspect) here,” said Braden. “Everyone is super-nice. Another thing is being on the water and the competition. It’s very competitive out there, while also being tactical.”
Buchanon, the junior, was very forthright about his thought process. “(Sailing right now) is stressful,” he shared. “But it feels good when you (hike and) don’t capsize. In the moment, it’s pretty stressful, but after practice, I get a nice feeling of accomplishment.”
He has a similar experience in another sport he participates in, tennis. “In tennis, I’m a lot better,” Dylan said. He says similarly that he works at a skill or technique in practice, which can be demanding, but then later he feels he has succeeded at learning something.
Bishop’s and the other local schools make up a kind of CIF of sailing called the Pacific Coast Interscholastic Association (PCISA), which feeds into groupings in larger areas and finally the International SSA. The sailing Knights and the others compete as far north as San Francisco.
