Riordan’s sailing team glided into history, winning the St. Francis Yacht Club’s San Francisco High School Sailing Championship last month. Team Captain Antonio Priskich ’23 said, “We knew this was the year we had to win the SF High School Championship.”

The team was victorious over 10 other high schools: St. Ignatius, Sacred Heart, Convent, Stuart Hall, SOTA, International, Urban, Bay, University, and Lowell.

The club first started in the 2019-2020 school year, being accepted to be coached by the Golden Gate Yacht Club. Then, in the 2021-2022 school year, they were coached by the St. Francis Yacht Club and were welcomed into their High School Race Program.

The team currently practices two times a week at the St. Francis Yacht Club and still has a couple more competitions, known as regattas, to compete in. Regattas are usually two full-days of multiple races, the winners being the leaders overall.

The sailing takes place in a two-person boat called the Flying Junior, each person having a different job in maneuvering the ship. The skipper drives the boat and decides the course, while the crew is in charge of moving a specific sail, the jib sail, and being movable weight.

Additionally, high school sailing is regarded to be entry-level, and participants do not have to be experienced to join the club.

Anyone interested in joining this crew is advised to contact them through their instagram, @riordansailing, or anyone on the team: Priskich, Declan Donovan ’22, and Eva Bennett ’25.