Olympia Community Sailing is a nonprofit that promotes sailing as recreation and sport for community members of all ages through summer camps, racing teams and classes. Through Olympia Community Sailing’s High School Sailing program, students from multiple Thurston County schools, including Olympia High School, train for a series of regional and out-of-state regattas. After a successful season and strong performance at the regional qualifier competition in October, the Olympia High School keelboat team has sailed their way into the 2025 ISSA Hogan Keelboat Invitational Regatta, taking place December 13-14, 2025, in St. Petersburg, Florida.
Olympia High School Students Learn the Fundamentals of Keelboat Racing Through Olympia Community Sailing
The High School Sailing program at Olympia Community Sailing allows young sailors to learn about competitive racing, waterway navigation, communication and teamwork. And multiple program alumni are now part of the coaching staff, including Erin Pamplin, who is the current head coach and sailing director for Olympia Community Sailing.
According to Pamplin, the Olympia High School keelboat team is a relatively recent development, and this year will mark the third time that the team has appeared at the national competition for this event. The team’s previous appearances in the national keelboat competition were in 2017 and 2023.
Liam Power, a coach for the Olympia High School keelboat team, is looking forward to the national competition, and is hard at work preparing the team for the course ahead. Power is a recent graduate of Olympia High School and was a member of the Olympia High School keelboat team that attended the national keelboat competition in 2023.
“I remember being in that position, and being able to facilitate that for other people and other sailors is, like, such a good feeling,” says Power.
Compared to dinghy races that typically use a two-person crew, high school Keelboat racing takes place on a larger vessel and requires a crew size of four. According to Pamplin, keelboat racing also features increased responsibility from sailors, including additional maneuvering and larger controls.
The primary objective of keelboat racing at the high school level is to complete a race course outlined by a series of buoys, and a team’s finishing position corresponds to a specific point value. A regatta includes a series of races in one weekend, and the team with the lowest total point value at the end of a regatta is the winner.
Photo credit: Steve Reck
The Olympia High School Keelboat Team Saw Success at the 2025 NWISA Keelboat Qualifier in October
The journey to the 2025 ISSA Hogan Keelboat Invitational has required significant dedication from members of the Olympia High School keelboat team. Team practices began in early September and the 2025 NWISA Keelboat Qualifier, the qualifying event for the national competition, took place in Seattle from October 4 to 5. At this event, the Olympia High School keelboat team won first place.
In addition to other forms of sailing offered by the Olympia Community Sailing High School Sailing program, like dingy racing, the Olympia High School keelboat team commits to specific keelboat instruction. Pamplin says that team members may spend additional time studying different sailing maneuvers, as well as the geography of their racing sites. This research has become increasingly important as days grow shorter, and there is less sunlight available for sailing practice in the water.
Preparation for the national competition is multi-faceted and the layout of weekly team practice depends on breeze patterns. Practices typically feature working on different sailing maneuvers in the water, but can also include team workouts and strategy discussions. The young sailors are also learning about healthy lifestyle habits, and how they can improve their skillsets beyond team practice. As a coach, Power is drawing on his previous experience as a student athlete, while also acting as a facilitator to help the young sailors race to the best of their ability.
With the national competition set to take place in St. Petersburg, Florida, the team is also mentally preparing for the drastic changes in temperature, breeze and geography. According to Pamplin, the landscape of the Puget Sound provides protection from large waves, but with a plethora of island passageways, the area experiences more intense currents that sailors must learn to navigate.
In Florida, the breeze tends to be more predictable, but there are more significant ocean swells, which cannot be replicated during practice in the Puget Sound. To help combat this, the team is cultivating a solid team culture and communication skillset, both important factors when sailing in an unfamiliar environment.
“If you have a strong team, and you have strong communication, and you understand everyone’s roles, that will allow you to set up to handle any situation you’re given, regardless of the conditions that you’re seeing,” explains Pamplin.
It is a special opportunity for the Olympia High School keelboat team to compete on a national stage alongside larger and more established school sailing programs. And ahead of the national competition, Power is excited to see such strong enthusiasm from the young athletes, and the considerable work they are putting in to improve their sailing craft. For Pamplin, it is meaningful to see the team’s hard work pay off.
“I’m very proud of all of them,” says Pamplin. “They’ve worked very hard for this and have been looking forward to this event. This was a goal they set really early into their fall season and it’s neat to see a group of young adults and young athletes set their minds to something and work together as a team to accomplish it.”
To learn more about the 2025 ISSA Hogan Keelboat Invitational Regatta or for programming offered by Olympia Community Sailing, visit the Olympia Community Sailing website.
