From Clinic to Competition: HYSA Sailors at CISA and Midwinters West Regatta
- hysaboard
- 13 minutes ago
- 4 min read
Intro by HYSA, followed by articles
by Liam Chattergy and Ava Ham
April 23, 2025
Every March, top junior sailors from across the country converge on Long Beach, California for one of the most elite youth training opportunities in the U.S.: the CISA Advanced Racing Clinic, followed by the Midwinters West Regatta. Hosted at the historic Alamitos Bay Yacht Club, these events bring together nearly 160 ILCA sailors, Olympic-level coaches, and some seriously challenging conditions.
Hear from two HYSA sailors who went on to experience these events, Liam Chattergy and Ava Ham share their preparations and lessons learned below. They were joined by Kyoko Tonkin who sailed the ILCA 6, as well.
Following the clinic, sailors transitioned straight into competition mode for the Midwinters West Regatta—a national-level event that drew over 120 ILCA boats. Kyoko and Ava were joined by HYSA sailors, Andy and Michael Kai Hochart (left pic), while the bothers' father, our very own HYSA Commodore, Steve Hochart, coached for both the Hawaii and the ABYC teams.
Ready for the Next Level
By Liam Chattergy
The CISA Advanced Racing Clinic is hosted annually during March in Long Beach, California. This year it was hosted at Alamitos Bay Yacht Club with almost 100 sailors for three boat classes, with Olympic Coaches and Athletes bestowing their knowledge onto us. Sailing in Long Beach was awesome, we had drills with long upwind legs (maybe 20 minutes) and saw wind speeds from 3 knots all the way to puffs of 25 knots. I would recommend this clinic to any Laser sailor who understands good racing strategy, solid hiking form, and is excited to listen to presentations from Olympic coaches for an hour or more.
I think my worst experience on the water was in an upwind tacking drill at about 5 knots, and I was in a big roll tack when my boot tripped over the hiking strap and the boat slowly capsized on me. That was pretty embarrassing but funny. I personally enjoyed all the lectures the coaches presented, with topics from sailing through chop or calculating line bias. I had the most improvement in my roll tack at this clinic, and maybe did over 150 tacks throughout the 3 days.
Thinking towards the future, I have already saved dates on my calendar for clinics and regattas in the next 6 months. I plan on training over the summer and racing in the Laser Junior Olympics, and hopefully Youth Championships in October. I also realize that I can be more fit, stronger, and have better cardio to help take my attention away from hiking, and towards planning racing tactics.
Regatta Ready!
By Ava Ham
During March, I spent a week in Long Beach for the CISA Advanced Racing Clinic and Midwinters West, I had an incredible time training out of Alamitos Bay Yacht Club. The conditions were both challenging and rewarding—perfect for learning and growth.
The CISA Advanced Racing Clinic is an amazing opportunity to work with world-class Olympians and top-tier sailors from across the U.S. and around the world. It focuses on further developing, refining, and advancing racing skills. The clinic supports three classes of boats: the C420, 29er, and ILCA6—which I sailed in. This year, the ILCA6 group had the privilege of working with coaches like Rosie Chapman, Erika Reineke, Luke Elliott ("Swifto"), Sophia Reineke, and others. They pushed us hard and helped us strengthen our knowledge and fine-tune our technique.
Each day began with a “Theory Class” where we discussed racing strategies and tactics as a full group. We learned about wind and water conditions, pre-start routines, boat speed optimization, and more. After theory, we broke into smaller groups to review the day’s lesson plan, then hit the water for training with our assigned coaches. We ended each day with a debrief—analyzing clips of our sailing and reviewing what we experienced on the water. We also heard from several inspiring guest speakers who shared their journeys and careers in the world of sailing.
I would highly recommend this clinic to any sailor looking to take their skills and racing knowledge to the next level, especially those hoping to compete in national regattas. One of the best parts was meeting and sailing with other high-level sailors from across the U.S. and other countries—competing with them, learning from them, growing together and making new lifelong friendships and connections.
The same goes for the Midwinters West Regatta, where I also sailed ILCA6 in a fleet of over 70 boats. To prepare for both events, I dedicated a lot of time to training—sailing after school, on weekends, and participating in many HYSA and HLA regattas. I focused on navigating through chop, increasing boat speed, refining technique and boat handling, and, most importantly, improving my starts.
There were definitely ups and downs throughout the experiences. The shift from smaller local fleets to large, competitive ones, combined with challenging conditions, pushed me out of my comfort zone. But thanks to the support of my parents, coaches, friends, and everything I had learned at the clinic, I was able to make adjustments and stay focused. And in the end, the “ups” far outweighed the “downs.”
One of the biggest takeaways for me was learning to stay positive and appreciate how much progress I’ve made. Since I first started sailing, I’ve grown tremendously. Looking ahead, I’m committed to continuing my development, sharing what I’ve learned through coaching at KYC, and competing in more national events to gain experience in large fleet racing. My long-term goal is to sail in college after graduating from high school!
I want to thank my coaches—Jesse Andrews, for helping me grow and giving me the tools to learn and take on these incredible opportunities, and Steve Hochart, for training me specifically for Long Beach conditions and supporting us as a support boat and coach during Midwinters West. Most of all, I want to thank my family—especially my dad and my brother Dylan—for always supporting me, both on and off the water.
(Thank you to the sailors and their parents, CISA and ABYC for contributing the photos.)
Scan pics for our sailors with these sail numbers:
Ava #224619
Kyoko #173944
Michael Kai #219960
Liam #184590
Andy #184563
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