Portland, OR Youth Sailing Team Fundraising for the 2025 racing season!

Saltine (our boat/team name) has been a part of the local community for almost 40 years. Our team has grown up sailing together on the Willamette River in small boats at the Willamette Sailing Club (WSC). We are now in our early twenties and sail keel boats together. We are proud to say that Saltine lives at Portland Yacht Club (PYC) on the Columbia River, where we practice as often as we can. Our team is dedicated not only to excelling in our sport but also to contributing positively to our community through various outreach programs and events. Our skipper, Sam Hopper, allowed the WSC High school team to practice sailing on Saltine before the kids went to a qualifying regatta.

This past September, we competed at the World Championship Regatta and won the youth division. We are the J/24 Youth Champions of 2024! We are still in shock. The boat we sail is called a J/24, and our boat is almost all original to 1977. With Saltine's ripe age of 48, the maintenance costs can be high. This season alone we have already accomplished a lot, but there is still more to do. We've repainted the bottom, repainted the deck, the interior, replaced all hardware, we purchased a new mast, and there is still more to do. 4/5 of us are college students so any amount of support is greatly appreciated.

In the coming weeks, we are traveling to Miami, FL. That is almost as far away as we could get from Portland! We are driving, trailering Miss Saltine (the boat) all the way there. Its over 3,000 miles and over two days of driving. We are as prepared as we can be, but you never know what might happen in that long of a drive.

Upcoming Event Location & Dates:

MidWinters Miami, FL: March 20th - 23rd

North Americans Houston, TX: May 26th - 31st

Regular Thursday Night Racing in Portland, OR: April - September

Western Regionals: TBD

World Competition Plymouth, UK: September 6th - 14th

Funds Would Go Towards:

Travel Costs - $1,000.00

New Mainsail - $2,4000.00

New Genoa - $3,000.00