Newport Harbor sailing team wins another national championship

The Newport Harbor High sailing team won the Baker Trophy Team Race National Championships May 23-24 in Redwood City.

This completes a rare double high school national championship since the Sailors were also crowned the Fleet Racing champions earlier in May in Tampa, Fla. Newport only once before achieved this feat in 2000.

For the Team Racing event, 12 high school teams from around the country qualified for the national championship.

The members of the Newport Harbor team sailing in this regatta included: seniors Jeff Aschieris, Chris Barnard, Brooks Clark, Wade Hatton, Kayla McComb and Alexis Scott, junior Chris Segerblom, sophomore Nicole Grice and freshman Ryan Davidson.

Team racing consists of six boats - three from each high school team - that race for the best overall score, which is calculated by adding up the teams’ finishes, and the team with a score of 10 or less wins. On Saturday, each high school raced each other once, and Newport ended up 10-1 to qualify first in the Gold Flight.

On Sunday, the Gold Flight members including Point Loma, St. George’s of Rhode Island and Antilles of the US Virgin Islands sailed against each of the other schools two times. Newport won their first five races to clinch the win before the final race of the day.

Corona del Mar High placed seventh. Races were sailed in FJ’s, a two-person dinghy, in 12-22 knots of wind in southern San Francisco Bay.