Submitted by Audrey Bordvick of the Lopez Island Yacht Club

On April 5 and April 6 look for excitement on Fisherman Bay as a bunch of sailboats crewed by kids from all over the Northwest race and compete for the coveted “Island Cup.” This annual race is sanctioned by the North West Interscholastic Sailing Association, which is the organizing body for high school sailing in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Alaska and B.C. High school sailing is open to all high school students in ninth to12th grade or homeschooled.

For the first time ever, the Island Cup will come to Lopez Island thanks to sponsorship and hosting by the Lopez Island Youth Sailing Program, Lopez Lobos Sailing Club and The Lopez Island Yacht Club.

The event gets started on Friday April 4 with team practices beginning at 3 p.m. Racing events start on Saturday beginning at 12:30 p.m. and on Sunday at 10 a.m. There will be a number of races over the two days with as many as 30 boats in the queue at the start line. Races will be held in Vanguard sailboats a 15 foot sloop that offers challenging and fun racing. The Lopez Island Yacht Club hopes to build a small fleet of these boats to continue its recent efforts to promote and encourage youth sailing on Lopez.

An awards ceremony will be held at 3 p.m. on Sunday.

The Lopez Island Youth Sailing Program and the Lopez Lobos Sailing Club will be one of approximately 16 teams slated to compete on Fisherman Bay.  As many as 150 sailors from high schools across the region will put knowledge and skills to test during the two-day sailing regatta.This Fleet Race is a backup qualifier for nationals and is open to multiple teams, 2 person teams, and mixing is allowed, however teams must be registered as official teams in order to qualify to nationals.  We expect with up to 26 Vanguard 15 sailboats. More information including the Notice of Race, rules and application for membership, for this and other youth sailing events can be found at http://nwisa.hssailing.org.