Kenmore West senior Sophia Vinson always wanted one thing: to sail as part of a Ken-Ton team.
"I've been racing for five years," Sophia said. "But I've never been able to qualify for any big race because I've never had a team of my own."
That dream came to fruition this September when three other Ken-Ton students showed an interest in sailing and combined to make the required four-person team. One of those students was Gage Johnson, a fellow senior at Kenmore West who was brand new to the sport.
"The Buffalo Yacht Club had a free sailing week that allowed anyone to give the sport a try," Gage said. "I didn't have anything else going on sports-wise, so I thought why not try something new?"
Gage ended up enjoying it and joined the newly formed Ken-Ton sailing team at the start of the school year. After just a few weeks of practice, the four student-athletes competed in a league championship regatta: the NYISA-NW Fleet Race Qualifier on Lake Erie in early October. Eleven teams hit the water, all vying to make the top four in order to advance to the Gold & Silver Fleet Championships in Maryland at the end of the month. For the four Ken-Ton student-athletes, who were competing together for the first time, expectations were low.
"We were competing against teams who had been together for a long time and had been sailing individually for a long time," Sophia and Gage said. "We wanted to try our hardest, but didn't expect to qualify or do well at all."
But they exceeded their expectations. By A LOT. The Ken-Ton team finished fourth overall, beating out seven other teams and earning a spot in the Silver Fleet Championships.
"It was crazy," Sophia said. "Never did I think we'd do well, let alone qualify.
On October 26th, Sophia, Gage and their teammates, Mason Ham-Deveans (Kenmore East) and Sacha Vinson (Kenmore West) competed alongside other sailing teams from around the country. They fought unfavorable water conditions but still managed to finish and place 15th overall. They may not have done as well as in the qualifying round, but the experience of hitting the water as a team and accomplishing something in such a short period of time was unforgettable.
"This is my last year competing at the high school level," Sophia said. "It felt like a reward because we worked so hard to get there, and we made it. It was a hard day, but I was just proud that we made it and had fun."
The season is over for the Ken-Ton sailing team, but they're already looking forward to next spring and having the chance to qualify again.
