The St. Pete High sailing team started as a student-run organization with the goal of competing at the national championship in Annapolis. They recruited and trained sailors who were able to compete at a very high level and win the national championships four years in a row from 1988 to 1991. They did not have coaching and had minimal support from their parents. They were just local youth sailors who had dreams of competing and winning the national championships.

In contrast to then, the team now has Ian Lineberger and Todd Fedyszyn as the coaches who support and coach them at practices and regattas. The team practices two days a week after school where the sailors sail small boats called FJs and 420s. In these boats, two sailors sail together where one is the skipper, who drives the boat, and one is the crew. The team sails in up to twelve regattas all across Florida where they race against other teams from Florida. Getting better than seventh place in seven of these regattas will qualify the team to go to the district championships where if the team gets top three, they will go to the national championships.

Lately, the St. Pete High team has been doing well in the regattas. The first regatta was supposed to be in Virginia Key, but due to Hurricane Ian, was postponed to a later date. The second regatta of the season was in Jensen Beach, where it was very windy. Our varsity team got 9th place with Sidney Moyer, Sophia Fuller, and Gloria Privis sailing A-Division, as well as Dorothy Mendelblatt and Zach O’Connor sailing B-Division. This year, the team reintroduced junior varsity and in Jensen Beach, the JV team got 4th place. Adam Mendelblatt, Reid Mendelblatt, Jad Abedrabbo, Ava Shakespeare, and Luke Dluzneski competed for JV in the second regatta. In the third and latest regatta, the team went to Sarasota where there was a light wind. They got 6th place in Sarasota with Sidney Moyer and Dorothy Mendelblatt sailing in A-Division and Bella Shakespeare and Zach O’Connor sailing B-Division. The JV team did exceedingly well at this regatta by getting first place overall with Adam Mendelblatt, Reid Mendelblatt, Jad Abedrabbo, and Alex Syzmanksi sailing.