Three of Bermuda’s promising sailors Jono Dill (Senior), Blake (Junior) and Kyle Burgess (Freshman) had a Fantastic Spring Season on the Christchurch School (Virginia) Varsity Sailing Team, Burgess received Most Valuable Skipper Award and Mid Atlantic Sailing Association Top Sailor of the Year Award, while Kyle Burgess received the Coaches Award for the Leukemia Cup Regatta.
Christchurch School won the 11th annual Leukemia Cup Junior Challenge recently, this is the only high school event associated with the Leukemia Cup Regatta Series. The regatta included eleven competing schools from around Virginia, all of which raised funds for the Leukemia Lymphoma Society.
The Christchurch School sailing team dominated the event despite line-up changes due to SAT exams. Sailing in the A division for Christchurch were Dill & Archer Ruffin and Kyle Burgess & Sam Keesee. The two boats dominated the competition throughout the day beating the second place team by 29 points. Representing Christchurch in the B division were Eric Siegel & Zach Erwin and Matthew Wallin & Parker Ward. They had a truly impressive day beating the other teams in the division by 54 points.
At the end of the day the Christchurch School sailing team handily won the event. The Christchurch team was also honored for raising over $1800 for the Leukemia Lymphoma Society. All of the competing teams put together raised over $7000 at this event. It was a great day on the water with good competition and high school sailors racing to win as well as racing to seek a cure for the leading cancer in children.
In the State Championship the Virginia Interscholastic Sailing Association held its Spring Fleet
Racing Championships at Christchurch School for the first time recently. The Christchurch School sailing team benefited from the home water advantage as they were able to adjust to the changing wind conditions throughout the day and were able to make adjustments to their racing tactics that kept them at the top of the fleet throughout the event.
Christchurch handled the conditions skillfully and improved their results throughout the day.
Sailing for Christchurch in A division were Blake Burgess & Emily Bowman and Dill & Ruffin. After a few mid-fleet finishes in the first two races of the day, the two boats turned up the heat and didn't finish below the top five for the remainder of the event.
Burgess continued to anchor the team setting the bar high and forcing the competition to play catch up throughout the day. Dill had an excellent showing in his last event as a seahorse improving his scores throughout the day and helping to pave the way for a Christchurch victory.
Sailing in the B division were Bob Lippincott & Robbie Hu and Kyle Burgess & Sam Keesee, Lippincott and Kyle Burgess were the boats to beat in the B Division. Lippincott finished his high school career with four straight wins in the final races and freshman Kyle Burgess was not far behind him.
At the end of racing Christchurch sailed easily to it's second state title of the year defeating second place Norfolk Collegiate School by 25 points. It was a fantastic conclusion to a great year of sailing led by very talented sailors.
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