Two Nanaimo teens made sailing look like a breeze last weekend.
Josh Jeffers and Julia Morris of the Nanaimo Yacht Club junior race team won all seven of their races at the Whistler Sailing Regatta Aug. 26-27 and now lead the B.C. Sailing Circuit’s 420 class standings.
On the first day, the lake was looking calm as Jeffers and Morris were rigging and launching their boat, but the winds picked up to about 15-18 knots for the afternoon’s racing. The second day’s racing was delayed as the winds didn’t pick up until later, but Jeffers and Morris again fared well under very different racing conditions.
Ben Daniel, who coaches the duo at the Nanaimo Yacht Club, said that Jeffers, 13, and Morris, 15, are a lot of fun to be around and joked that they goof around so much that they get on everyone else’s nerves.
“They’re pretty funny together,” the coach said. “They definitely get along super well.”
He said Jeffers and Morris have had a successful summer because they’ve been so dedicated to their sport.
“The level of commitment they have is pretty off the charts right now,” he said.
The 420 class is made up of sailing dinghies exactly 4.2 metres long equipped with a mainsail, jib, spinnaker and a trapeze. The junior division includes youths ages 12-18 and doesn’t separate boys and girls.
“They have a long time where they can keep staying in the same boat,” said Daniel. “I know they’re already getting their noses dirty with the next level of boats up.”
Jeffers, skipper, and Morris, crew, have had a busy schedule of summer racing, also participating in the Waves Regatta in Vancouver and the Comox 420 Championships. Three more regattas are planned over the next two months before the season winds down.