The sailing team – almost certainly the most-traveled Bainbridge athletic group – opens its 2009 season tomorrow with a relatively short jaunt, across Puget Sound to Sandpoint.

In the upcoming weeks, the team is slated to make two trips to the San Juans, two to Portland and – if all goes well – a final one in late May to Redwood City, Calif., for the Toby Baker Team Race National Championship.

Last year the team journeyed to Lake Minnetonka in Minnesota for the Baker event, sailing in waters that had been frozen less than a month earlier and in winds that allowed some of the boats to plane and attain speeds of more than 10 knots.

Three sailors – one this year’s co-captains, sophomore Abby Hartmann, junior Ethan Stahl and sophomore Chase Webber – return from the group of eight who raced in Minnesota.

All three are beginning their second year of racing for Bainbridge.

Coach Susan Kaseler emphasizes equality.

“The fact that some sailors were selected as representatives of the team to a national championship last year does not elevate those sailors above anyone else, nor does the number of years with the sailing team reflect any superiority,” she said. “Some kids have done a lot of sailing before they come to the team and some have done very little, but every one of our sailors is a vital contributor to the success of the team.

“We run the team more like a family. The goal is to be the best we can be, and it’s entirely up to the kids and how hard they work.”

With that in mind, she emphasizes that the other 13 members of the team deserve equal recognition and are just as highly regarded.

They include the lone senior, Amanda D’Amore, in her second year with the team.

Junior Sean Willeford, the team’s “elder statesman” who is now in his third year on the team, is the other co-captain.

Another junior is Katie Bonneau, making her sailing debut.

Four sophomores are in their second year on the team. They include Jake Fetterman, Katherine Linrothe, Kendall Sanson and Chris Walker. A pair of sophomores, Sarah Redmond and Alex Shimmin, are in their first year.

Four freshmen – Charlie Beckett, Maude Gibson, Peter Kirk and Kris Thompson – round out the team.

Tentative plans call for one home regatta on Saturday, May 9.