Young Sailors Get Their Feet Wet, Regatta-Wise, in the Dutch Shoe

It was the kind of feat of skill and daring that might have made Dennis Conner proud.

But, more likely, he would have been envious of 14-year-old Bill Hardesty, who on Friday afternoon confidently skippered a red, white and blue dinghy into Coronado Bay to capture first place in the Dutch Shoe Regatta.

The Dutch Shoe is a 20-year-old competition for sabots--small, single-sail boats that resemble wooden shoes, but often act like bathtubs, once on the water. The boats, which can easily fill with water or capsize, are standard training equipment for beginning sailors on the West Coast. Conner, winner of the America’s Cup, reportedly began his career in such a craft.

“I sailed smart,” explained Hardesty, with Conner-esque self-confidence.

Seasoned Sailor

A surfer and soon-to-be freshman at Point Loma High School, Hardesty is a fairly seasoned junior skipper. With four years of experience, he was an advanced sailor among the 140 participants--some as young as 10 years old--in the annual event, sponsored by the San Diego Yacht Club.

But sabots, as many of the regatta’s participants discovered, are not a force easily reckoned with.

“Consider getting onto a warm, plastic Tupperware trash can cover on ice, and try to stand up and move around. When you’re first learning to sail a sabot, that’s what it feels like,” said Dave Folsom, a spokesman for the event.

Combine that with a 6-mile course, threading its way from Shelter Island to Coronado Bay through tanker and barge traffic, insensitive wakes and impish winds, and you’ve got yourself one heck of a . . .

“Cinch,” Hardesty said, a few minutes after his craft passed a cheering crowd at the finish line. “I didn’t really have any problems.”

Actually, Hardesty, an A-class competitor from the Mission Bay Yacht Club, did have one problem: Lizzie Collins, a competitor in the lower B class from the Newport Harbor Yacht Club in Newport Beach. She led the race most of the way.

A Changing Lead

But neither Collins nor Hardesty was ahead of the fleet in the beginning. When the gun was fired at noon Friday near Shelter Island, it was Chris Wright of the San Diego Yacht Club, a C-class skipper, who first sailed smoothly out of the jumble of dinghies.

The first 45 minutes of the three-hour marathon, however, were nullified after a huge Navy tanker divided the fleet of sabots near North Island, prompting officials to restart the event.

This time Collins, capitalizing on a clean, plucky downwind, jumped out in front and led the pack for the next two hours as the fleet wound its way down the San Diego Bay channel.

“The start is everything,” said Melinda Carroll, 19, a former B-class winner who watched the race from one of 23 rescue boats accompanying the sabot fleet. “After that, it’s a matter of staying as close as possible to the wind and always keeping your head in the game.”

Hardesty, who placed second behind Carroll in her 1985 victory, eventually overtook Collins under the Coronado Bridge, where the sailors tacked their boats, trying to catch the best wind.

Collins was not to be disappointed, however. The sailor captured first place in the B class. Mandy McDonnell of the Lido Isle Yacht Club of Newport Beach led the C class. About 10 skippers failed to finish, event organizers said.

“The big bay is like an ocean to some of these kids,” said Joni Palmer, director of the junior program at the San Diego Yacht Club. “I think for those who made it--there are some who have never raced this before--it’s a big accomplishment.”