Junior Sailing’s busy summer came to a peak last week with JSA regattas, our annual fundraiser and a first annual Junior Sailing Champagne race. July 15th marked the start of Larchmont Junior Race Week with 6 HHC program participants venturing across the Sound to participate in three days of competitive sailing. Aisling Sullivan, Peter Budraitus, Caroline Lucas, Alex Rebuffi, Katerina Gaun and Olivia Occhi made a solid mid-fleet showing in the Laser and Pixel classes. Competition was tight in very light winds and scorching heat. On Friday of that same week, Junior Sailors were partnered with Champagne racers to compete in the first annual Junior Sailing Champagne Race. The event brought record participation for a Champagne Race with 12 boats on the line. The weather responded in kind with 18 knots out of the SW, providing a special night to remember for 12 Juniors and several parents who participated as crew and/or passengers on a warm but breezy night.

Saturday’s Annual Junior Sailing Cocktail Party & Raffle event was a tremendous success. Raffle items included everything from US Open tickets to gourmet food baskets, HHC fashions, and more. The event additionally featured several special silent auctions, including original artwork, custom marine canvas and private race coaching from Junior Sailing’s Head Instructor Shanna Rae Savignano. Bidding was very competitive with several attendees waiting until the final minutes so as not to be out-bid. A special presentation was made to Margaret Garay for her generous donation of Brigadoon to the Junior Sailing program. Brigadoon, a Pearson 26, is providing additional ‘big-boat’ sailing experience to our class of 2013.

Finally, on the morning of Sunday, July 21st, 7 junior sailors headed over to Port Washington Yacht Club to participate in the annual Make-a-Wish regatta. The event featured a total of 82 boats in classes which included Optimists, Pixels, C420s, Lasers and Blue Jays. HHC had a tremendous showing at the event with Greg Zito and Sophia Duff competing in the Opti ‘Green fleet’ (reserved for first-time racers) and Caroline Lucas, Samantha Zito, Emily Budraitus, Roselle Caccio and Joe Traina racing in the Pixel division. In his first-ever regatta, Greg Zito secured 2nd overall in the Green fleet over the course of 4 races. HHC Pixels scored a solid 2nd and 3rd place in their division under skippers Roselle Caccio and Caroline Lucas. Later that afternoon, Head Instructor Shanna Rae was off to Cedar Point YC in Westport, CT for the C420 and Laser week with sailors Aisling Sullivan, Peter Budraitus, Alex Snow and Vidar Minkovsky. Alex and Vidar secured 5th place overall and, in doing so, qualified for the JSA C420 Championships. Aisling and Peter finished mid-fleet in the very competitive Laser division.

Congratulations to all our Junior Sailors and a special thank you to Jim Kowchefski for his hard work in keeping our coach boat fleet in working condition.