LONG BEACH, Calif.---Their bodies weary, their ears ringing from coaches' loud hailers and their brains buzzing to absorb new and complex sailing techniques, the 130 boys and girls from the California International Sailing Association's 29th Advanced Racing Clinic have gone home to contemplate their sailing futures in new light and tell exceptional tales about how they spent spring break.

Ages 13 to 18 came to Alamitos Bay Yacht Club from 17 states, including Hawaii, for four days of onshore lectures and offshore drills in a program designed to fire their ambitions as world class sailors. They were selected from twice as many applicants to participate on the basis of their competitive resumes, and the curriculum was geared to the top level of talent.

A typical day ran from 8 a.m. to about 8:30 p.m. Evening speakers were three-time Olympic medalist (two gold, one silver) Mark Reynolds of San Diego and U.S. Sailing Olympic Committee chairman Dean Brenner. There wasn't much time for cell phones or video games.

Brenner laid out his five-point program for pursuing an Olympic campaign:
1-Sail against the best;
2- Focus on skills and tasks first and results second;
3-Find a mentor;
4-Get in shape;
5-Never settle for mediocrity.

"It forces you to go a hundred per cent the whole time," said Myles Gutenkunst, 18, of Mill Valley, Calif., attending for the fifth year. "You're forced to do a lot of things you don't do in local regattas."

Although the last day was devoted to organized racing, even the drills the first three days were competitive in nature as the instructors prodded and encouraged their students on the fine points.

Rolex Yachtsman of the Year Nick Scandone, four members of the 2004 U.S. Olympic team---Meg Gaillard, Pete Spaulding, Peter Wells and Isabelle Kinsolving---and 2000 Olympic silver medalist Pease Glaser were among the all-star faculty assembled by 2006 clinic director Robbie Dean.

Gutenkunst sailed with Danny Cayard, son of Paul, who this month is sailing as skipper of the Pirates of the Caribbean entry on Leg 5 of the Volvo Ocean Race from Rio De Janeiro to Baltimore. Danny's sister Allie, 15, sailed a CFJ with Megan Runyon. The only member of the Cayard family not sailing somewhere was mom Icka, at home in Kentfield near San Francisco. Someone might ask why Paul Cayard's kids need sailing lessons.

Besides Paul's heavy travel schedule, Danny said, "It's hard to learn from a dad, as any kid will say. It's good to hear his stories, though."

It was Danny's second CISA Clinic. He hopes to advance to the similar but more complex 49er, an Olympic class boat.

Allie popped her left kneecap last year and re-injured it in the 15 to 20-knot winds that flipped several boats on the first day. But it didn't ruin her day.

"It was great," she said. "The wind, the waves, I loved it!"

She sat out the afternoon session but was sailing the next day.

About a third of the group was girls. Scandone, 40, said he didn't recall so much female talent when he was an all-American at UC Irvine a couple of decades ago.

"No, not at all," he said, "and they really know how to sail."

Jackson Benvenutti, 18, a survivor of Hurricane Katrina, sailed an I-420 with Graham Todd of Royersford, Pa. His family's house at Bay St. Louis, Miss. was blown off the beach on Aug. 29, leaving only a hole. He and his parents evacuated to Florida two days earlier and are now living in a New Orleans apartment. Before bailing out, Benvenutti tied his Laser to a trailer and lashed the trailer to a tree.

"When we went back in November we found the trailer in the water but nothing else," he said.

But he was determined to continue sailing and plans to enroll at the College of Charleston (S.C.).

Last fall CISA expanded operations with an Advanced Multihull Racing Clinic, which it plans to continue with a similar format. More information is available is at www.cisasailing.org

CISA, founded in 1971, supports amateur sailors by providing travel grants for regional, national and international competition and funds local sailing programs and racing clinics.

Unlike other nations, the U.S. has no federally supported assistance programs for its amateur sportsmen or for the development of young talent. CISA, a 501(c)3 organization, relies on contributions of corporations and individuals to provide support of amateur sailors. Because it is non-profit and tax-exempt, all contributions are tax deductible.

CALIFORNIA INTERNATIONAL SAILING ASSOCIATION
P.O. Box 17992
Irvine, CA 92713-7992

www.cisasailing.org

CISA ADMINISTRATION
Marylee Goyan
[email protected]

PUBLICITY
Rich Roberts
(310) 835-2526
[email protected]