Sailing
Pensacola Yacht Club’s women’s sailing team won the 89th annual Gulf Yachting Association Knost Ladies Championship this past weekend at Pass Christian Yacht Club—the club’s first Knost win since 1973, a gap of 53 years.
The regatta, hosted every year by the Gulf Yachting Association and named for the Bernard Knost family, is one of the most coveted trophies in Gulf Coast women’s sailing. PYC Vice Commodore Suzie Domagala and team captain Katy Morgan joined Rick’s Blog Live to talk about the win.
“We’re thrilled,” Domagala said. “It has been fifty-three years since we won the Knost from Pensacola Yacht Club… it’s something that it’s a highly coveted trophy that requires years of training and preparation for the regatta.”
A Team Years in the Making
Domagala was clear the win wasn’t a one-season effort. “This isn’t something that we just decided over six months or a year ago to complete,” she said. “We’ve got a strong group of women who’ve been working very hard at it.”
The roster, as team captain Katy Morgan described it:
- Katy Morgan—team captain
- Mallory Edwards—co-captain; she and Morgan first sailed against each other in 2015 at Southern Yacht Club’s Light Air Clinic in New Orleans
- Celia Houston—grew up sailing with Morgan on the Texas youth sailing circuit starting in 2010
- Aubin Hattendorf—another Texas sailing friend, from Rush Creek Yacht Club
- Linnea Forsberg—the one teammate Morgan didn’t grow up sailing with, but calls a “great addition” to the team
Three of the five are Naval Academy or Coast Guard Academy graduates. Morgan said blending disciplined academy sailors with the club’s looser, fun-first culture wasn’t a problem at all. “The biggest goal we have at Pensacola Yacht Club is we are trying to make sailing fun again,” she said. “All of us have sailed at such a high caliber that you kind of lose your love for sailing.”
The Friends of Navy Sailing Connection
Much of the team’s depth traces back to Friends of Navy Sailing, a program tied to Naval Air Station Pensacola that gives active-duty flight students who are also academy sailing alumni a special, temporary membership category at PYC while they train in Pensacola.
“They come very experienced and very excited to join Pensacola Yacht Club and continue with their ability to race while they’re receiving their flight training.”—Suzie Domagala, PYC Vice Commodore
Morgan herself is one of those Navy transplants. Her husband is in the Navy, and the family moved to Pensacola just over a year ago. Friends who’d already relocated—another Navy family—introduced her to the club. “That’s all it took,” Morgan said. “We joined, I think, the next day and haven’t looked back ever since.”
How the Win Came Together
The team trained most Thursday nights, when the most boats and sailors could get on the water around the Navy fliers’ unpredictable schedules, with occasional Saturday practices added in. At the regatta itself, sailed in the 15-foot class, the team never had a bad race.
“We started strong and we stayed really strong,” Morgan said. “I think our lowest score the entire regatta was a three”—third place—across nine races.
Sailing’s “Renaissance” in Pensacola
Both Domagala and Morgan pointed to a broader resurgence in local sailing—from PYC’s role helping bring American Magic and SailGP-related activity to the area, to the growing interest in foiling, which Domagala said suits Pensacola Bay’s flat, protected water especially well.
Domagala described the club as home to several sailing “microcosms”—racers, traditionalists, foilers and families—all sharing the water. “We’re really enjoying that time,” she said.
For anyone wanting to get a daughter—or themselves—into the sport:
- PYC runs junior sailing after-school programs, summer camps and clinics for kids
- Adults new to sailing can join The Women’s Collective, run by Lauren Chapman, which teaches everything from basic sailing to buying a boat
- PYC’s classes range from complete beginner to advanced racing—no prior experience required
Thanks Rick !???