Fall 2025 Newsletter

‘25 Fall Season Recap: A Bustling Start to the 2025-2026 School Year

By Tilliejane LeRoy ‘26




Husky Sailors Return to the Water!

The Husky Sailing team is off to a strong start for the 2025-2026 school year, with a large freshman class consisting of a mix of seasoned high school sailors and curious walk-ons who have proven to be quick learners. With a strong base of thirty returning team members, we have been able to accommodate the freshman class, getting them up to speed not only as crews, but also as skippers. The foundation of ensuring that every member is a 360 sailor early in the season opens the doors for large, competitive practices later on in the school year. We are so proud of our freshman, and excited for the spring season.




Team Status

This fall, the team has had lively practices despite lack of wind and cold weather. Averaging with seven boats per practice three times a week, the team has been able to establish competitive permanent pairs early on in the season. With six permanent pairs determined, leaps and bounds have been made by the whole team. Our practices have become more streamlined, with boats quickly on the water warming up before the coach boat is even on the lake. We are looking forward to a hopefully windier winter, where we can hone in our skills in breeze and chop.


Coaching

The fall season has proved very fruitful on the front of coaching, with three new part-time coaches joining us. Marcus Huttenen, a Tulane Alumni and former Point Loma sailor and coach has proved a valuable addition to the team. Marcus’s extensive experience and knowledge has allowed every member of our team to progress, particularly in boat handling skills. Michael, a UCSB alumni, and Max Miller, a recent UW grad have also joined in running practices. Evan Robinson, a Tufts alumni has also continued to coach for UW. We are extremely grateful for everyone who has joined us for practices, regattas, and clinics. On the increasingly rare occasion that no one is available to coach, a team member with a level one certification has run practice for the team. 

Regattas Recaps

  • PCCSC Women’s Singlehand Championships (09/20) and Jane Lutz Trophy (11/08-11/09)

Sammy Farkas, one of this year’s co captains, proudly represented UW at women’s singlehand west coast championships where she earned a second place. Her stellar performance at PCCSCs earned her a spot at nationals, where she received sixteenth place. 

  • Cascadia Cup (10/11-10/12):

Hosted in partnership with Sail Sand Point and local high school teams, a shifty yet puffy weekend provided the team with great early season practice in testing conditions. With 26 boats in  the varsity fleet and 20 in JV, this event is by far the most boats on the line at a local fall regatta. Huge thanks to the team at Sail Sand point in their organization and preparation for this event. Overall, the Huskies took third in varsity, and first, fourth, and fifth in JV.

  • Outlaw (10/18-10/19):

We sent a quaint group of four sailors down to Eugene, Oregon to compete against WWU, UO, and OSU. The weekend provided a range of conditions, from on-shore postponement Saturday with only three races completed, to stronger winds on Sunday. Overall, the team took third out of nine.

  • Top Nine and Women’s PCCSCS (10/25-10/26):

A troop of our most competitive pairs flew down to Stanford to compete in the most competitive fleet on the west coast. On Saturday, the wind started light at 6 knots, and built to 10 as the wind direction slowly made a 180 around the course. On Sunday, the breeze started slow again at six knots, and progressively built to 15-20. The racing was tough, and our co-ed team earned an eighth place. The Women’s team ended in fourth, climbing two places higher than their performance the year prior.

  • North/North (11/1-11/2)

Hosted by the huskies, North North provided the first taste of West Coast fall sailing for the northwest teams. Despite the first chilly temperature and extremely shifty winds, the race committee managed to get off sixteen races! The Huskies sent five teams, placing first, sixth, eleventh, thirteenth and fifteenth. 

  • Frosh Soph (11/8-11/9)

This regatta is the northwest tradition of requiring all sailors to sail in their nondominant positions. Unfortunately due to light winds, no races got off throughout the two days spent in Bellingham.

  • Fall PCCSCS (11/15-11/16)

This November, the team sent not only a varsity team (consisting of A, B, and C fleets), but also a junior varsity team. The ten attending competing sailors faced difficult conditions with light winds but large waves. Surprisingly, this event turned out to be the rainiest regatta of the year, with five inches falling throughout the two days of racing. Overall, the varsity team took ninth, and JV fifth.




Fundraising

The team has continued our efforts at climate pledge, attending 18 events this fall alone. The team has also begun our efforts in planning the annual auction, led by auction coordinator Ayana Owens. The auction will be January 31st, at the Mountaineers. On Saturday November 22nd, the team held the second annual auction procurement day, with six groups heading to six different neighborhoods in Seattle to gather donations from local businesses. The team raised over $750 in donations in one day! We look forward to seeing everyone at the annual auction.

Extracurriculars

Apart from sailing, the team has been busy with a wide range of sailing-related events. Current sailors from the UW team participated in many keel boat regattas, including the 2025 Round the County, and summer racing in Seattle’s J70 fleet. We hope to increase the team’s involvement in the broader sailing community in Seattle, and welcome any opportunities from the community to do so. We also have had many team members coaching the younger generation of sailors over the summer and into the school year, including Climate pledge coordinator Jaden Unruh, and former co-captain Kirin Dhaka demonstrating excellent leadership to Sail Sand Point’s middle school athletes.


Officer Introductions

This year the team is honored to have an enthusiastic and hardworking team of officers. Leading the team are co-captains, Sammy Farkas and Jeffery Kreigh. Both Sammy and Jeffery and longtime sailors and coaches. Their strong leadership throughout the fall quarter has led to a productive season with many new sailors joining us, as well as strong practice attendance and regatta results. Our treasurer is Stephanie Seto. Stephanie is a part of the women’s team and is originally from Hawaii. We also have Alexandra Foley serving as social media and recruitment officer, Jaden Unruh as Climate Pledge Coordinator, Lhotse Rowell as Travel Officer, Ben Stone as practice coordinator, Ayana Owen as our auction coordinator, and Ava Butterfield and Liam Boettcher as culture officers.

Auction

Our annual auction will be held on January 31st at the Mountaineers. Our keynote speaker is America’s Cup Sailor, Mark Newbrook. 

Please consider supporting the University of Washington Husky Sailing Team as we continue to sail towards success! Your donation helps provide the team with essential resources such as travel funds, equipment maintenance, and coaching, allowing our sailors to compete at the highest level and represent the University with pride.

Whether it's helping us compete in regattas, upgrade our fleet, or invest in training, your support makes all the difference. Together, we can help the Husky Sailing Team navigate new opportunities and reach new heights on the water.

  Link to donate: https://huskysailingfoundation.org/support-us/