Keen strategy, a positive attitude and brute determination led to victory on April 20 for the Santa Barbara Youth Sailing Foundation Dos Pueblos High School team.

They placed fifth in a field of 22 teams competing at the Pacific Coast Interscholastic Sailing Association’s tate championship held off Cabrillo Beach in San Pedro.

The hard-fought win qualified the team for the ISSA High School Double-Handed Championship for the Mallory Trophy, high school sailing’s most coveted prize. The event takes place in Chicago on May 11-12.

The DPHS team will be represented by sophomore Caroline Gay, junior Matthew Long, senior Stephen Long and junior Niles Sterner.

“DPHS sailors pulled off a tremendous accomplishment, upsetting some of Southern California’s best teams,” SBYSF head coach Willie McBride said. “While the team was represented at PCISA by only two skippers and their crew, they overcame obstacles and persevered. They sailed with intelligence and a great deal of heart, representing the goals and values of our sailing organization.

“The last time a Santa Barbara area team went to nationals was in 2002. On behalf of the entire high school race team, I congratulate them for a job well-done.”

The Santa Barbara Youth Foundation is a nonprofit organization founded in 1968 by members of the Santa Barbara Yacht Club to meet the need for a youth sailing program in our community. The purpose of the Santa Barbara Youth Foundation is to develop in young people, through the sport of sailing, attributes of self-reliance, responsibility, teamwork and sportsmanship, together with a constant awareness of the requirements of safety.

— Sarah Ettman-Sterner is a parent volunteer for the Santa Barbara Youth Sailing Foundation Dos Pueblos High School team.