NKHS sailing team heads to nationals in Charleston

NKHS sailing team heads to nationals in Charleston — After two years down, underdogs rise to the top.

POULSBO — Ask North Kitsap High School’s sailing team members, and they will tell you racing sailboats is not an easy task.

For the district fleet racing champions, they say the freedom they feel flying over the water, combined with the intellectual and physical challenges of intense sailing, will prepare them to win the national fleet racing championships, competing against the top 20 fleet racing teams in the nation, to take home the Mallory Trophy in Charleston, South Carolina, on May 15.

“I tell my team, racing sailboats is like flying an airplane, while playing chess with a firehouse sprayed in your face,” sailing coach Hayley Siegenthaler said. She sailed for NKHS 15 years prior, and heard those same words from her coach.

“It takes quite a bit of strength to do all of this stuff,” she said. “Racing takes physical and mental strength. Being athletic and intellectual will get you far in sailing.”

Siegenthaler volunteered to coach the sailing team two years ago. Established nearly 20 years ago, the NKHS team, previously one of the most successful teams in the district, was disbanded in 2014.

“Liberty Bay is just too good of a place not to have a sailing team,” Siegenthaler said. “I couldn’t imagine not having [former coach Matt Mikkelborg’s] legacy continue.”

In 2015, after a year gap, the team got underway with 10 sailors.

“That year, a rebuilding process began under the leadership of team alumni,” co-coach Stasi Burzycki said.

A former sailor for Bainbridge High School, Burzycki combined his knowledge with Siegenthaler’s to help build the team up again.

Now, the team of 16 members (composed of members from North Kitsap and Kingston high schools) recently won the fleet district championships. The coaches say this is a great story about underdogs that made it.

“Last year was like our pre-adolescent growth year for us,” Siegenthaler said. “It’s been a work in progress but we picked it back up, and they’re all very committed.

The team, comprised of mostly seniors and freshman, spend evenings practicing on Liberty Bay from Monday to Thursday and traveling to regattas on most weekends. They say sailing isn’t just a sport, it’s a way of life.

“I love the sport,” said Maddie Ekin, varsity gold fleet senior sailor.

“To be outside and on the water — especially fleet racing — it’s you and the boat, it’s freeing and calming for me.”

Ekin said her experience with the high school sailing team is only the beginning of a career on the water.

“I’m going into the Coast Guard,” she said. “Their women’s academy is the best in the nation right now.”

Julia Sherry, a freshman gold fleet member, said her third-grade teacher “got her into it.”

“I’ve lived on the water my whole life,” she said. “I love to watch people sail.”

Siegenthaler agreed.

“My high school sailing coach taught me so much about not just sailing, but life,” Siegenthaler said. “I am eternally grateful for everything he did for both myself and all of my sailing friends.

“Kids make life connections with this sport. I’m 30 years old and some of my best friends are from high school sailing camp.”

The varsity gold fleet — seniors Liam Sherry and Maddie Ekin, and freshmen Anna Sherry, Julia Sherry, Morgan Chapman and Alaina Marcotte — will join their coaches in traveling to Charleston, South Carolina to compete in the national fleet championships on May 14-15.

The sailors agree they aren’t nervous but they have a lot of work to do to compete with the robust East Coast sailing culture.

“We have a lot of practice between now and then,” Burzycki said.