Illinois State Championships

Saint Ignatius Sailing is a competitive, exciting, co-ed sport. While many of our varsity sailors have been competing at a high level for years, no previous sailing experience is required to join, and a developmental program is in place for inexperienced sailors.

Most sailing is in a two-person boat called a 420. The 420 is the most popular boat for both high school and collegiate sailing and is a slightly smaller version of the 470 used in the Olympics by both men and women. In addition, there are some opportunities to sail the single-handed Laser class and the larger four-person Sonar keelboat.

The Pack sail in both the fall and spring seasons. The fall season starts just after Labor Day and continues until just before Thanksgiving. The spring season begins as soon as the ice leaves the harbor in March and continues until Memorial Day.

Ignatius Sailing uses Chicago Yacht Club’s coaches and facilities. Detailed information on the program is available here. We practice at Belmont Harbor together with students from several other area high schools. Practices are 2-3 nights a week and on Saturdays. Regatta competitions are always held on weekends.

Regattas are most often held in the Chicago metro area, but can be as far away as Minneapolis or Detroit. Parent chaperones will always travel with the team.

Ignatius competes as a member of the Interscholastic Sailing Association (ISSA) which includes over 300 schools nationwide. Our Midwest region includes over 30 schools from Minnesota, Wisconsin, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio and Illinois. At regattas, we typically compete with 10-20 other schools from Minneapolis, Detroit, southern Wisconsin, northern Indiana and Chicago-area schools that include New Trier, Loyola, Evanston, and Lake Forest.

Saint Ignatius Sailing has a tradition of consistently being one of the top schools in the Midwest region. Also, as part of our regular regatta schedule, we compete in three qualifying events that allow the winners to attend national level high school sailing championships.