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Among 27 college teams from across the country, St. Mary's skippers Justin LAW and Adrienne PATTERSON, both Southern California natives, won the college A and B divisions, respectively, with Meredith NORDHEM and Melissa PUMPHREY as crew. Their combined scores led host USC by 31 to 55 points, followed by the College of Charleston at 66, one point ahead of defending champion Boston College.

PATTERSON, who grew up sailing with LAW in Newport Beach, arrived with a special purpose: to win it for her mother, Melanie.

'My mother just passed away on December 20,' PATTERSON said. 'She was my biggest supporter. It was wonderful to go out and show her we could beat the boys, like she always said we could.'

Point Loma Reclaims Title

Point Loma topped a fleet of 57 high schools to reclaim the title it lost to Newport Harbour last year, also sweeping the A and B divisions of the gold fleet behind skippers Tyler SINKS and Caleb PAINE, with Shone BOWMAN and Reece BERNET as crew.

For some consolation, Newport Harbour's JV 2 team did win the 27 team silver fleet with half the points of runner up Sage HILL, also of Newport Beach.

The largest combined college and high school regatta in the nation was organized and conducted by the US Sailing Centre of Long Beach and Alamitos Bay Yacht Club. More than 400 sailors sailed two-person CFJ dinghies, dealing with windless delays while rotating boats off the beach every two races.

As many as 14 races were planned for each of the three fleets, but the best the Race Committee could manage was three each day. It was especially frustrating with zephyrs of 3 knots and less on Sunday, then even those gasped their last to force the end of all racing at 15:00.

But apparently it bothered St. Mary's and Point Loma less than some of their rivals.

Looking On The Bright Side

'You can't look at it that way,' St. Mary's coach Adam WERBLOW said. 'You have to look at it as exciting and upbeat, while everybody else is bummed out.'

LAW said, 'It comes down to boat handling with finesse and being aggressive at times and very still at other times.'

Point Loma came in on a roll. Coach Steve HUNT had just won US SAILING's prestigious Champion of Champions title with Alan FIELD in Arkansas, while SINKS was fresh from his victory in the 420 class of the previous week's Orange Bowl Regatta at Miami.

'Our kids sailed conservatively, intelligently and fast,' Hunt said. 'Our main goal was to avoid the letters - OCS and DSQ.'

Translation: no early starts and no disqualifying fouls.

'It was a big team effort,' HUNT said. 'Our kids talked to each other a lot on the beach.'

All of the high school teams are members of the Pacific Coast Interscholastic Sailing Association (PCISA), the largest district in the national Interscholastic Sailing Association (ISSA).