High school interscholastic sailing has three major national championships: the Mallory, the Baker, and the Cressy. In addition, teams may compete in a variety of other invitational or regional championship regattas.
Mallory Double-Handed Championship
The Mallory Trophy is awarded to high schools for double-handed “fleet” racing. It is the oldest trophy in high school sailing and is generally regarded to be the pinnacle regatta in high school sailing’s most popular format.
Each team sails in two divisions (A and B), which rotate throughout the regatta. The lowest overall score across all A and B races wins the regatta and the trophy.
The Mallory is held in the spring. To compete, teams must first win qualifiers in their respective ISSA divisions.
Baker Team Racing Championship
The Baker Trophy is awarded to high schools for “team” racing. Although all high school sailing is team racing in a general sense, here it refers to a specific format in which three double-handed boats (six sailors) from a single team attempt to finish races with the lowest overall number of points.
Although the most obvious way to win such a race is to finish in 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place (for a total of six points), in truth team racing becomes much more complicated, strategic, and fun when the boats of a team work (within the rules of course) to prevent other teams’ boats from finishing in high places.
The Baker is also held in the spring and teams must first win regional qualifiers to participate.
Cressy Single-Handed Championship
The Cressy and its qualifiers are unique in that they are high school / interscholastic events sailed under the auspices of ISSA, but they are sailed single-handed in Lasers. The vast majority of other ISSA events are sailed in sailed in double-handed 420s or FJs.
Other Invitationals and Regional Championships
In recent years New Trier Sailing has competed in a variety of other invitational or regional regattas. Examples include
- MISSA Great Lakes Championship
- Larry White ISSA Invitational
- ISSA Atlantic Coast Championship
- PCSIA Girl’s Invitational