Young Sailor Inspired by Nautical Family

Born into a family of sailors, junior Katy Zarembinski took her first sailing lesson at the age of 8, and has since continued to train every weekend on the water.

Zarembinski was first introduced to the sport by her father, who was a sailor when she was born.  “He sailed in the Pacific Cup and he sailed from San Fransisco to Hawaii,” she said.

She learned to sail at a San Francisco yacht club. “I learned how to sail out there,” Zarembinski said. “There’s coaches there and we have certain boats dedicated to us, so we go to their yacht club every Sunday and we practice there. There’s several other high schools that practice there but we’re just 1 of them.”

“I personally try and sail twice a week, but it’s kind of hard with school so I usually sail once a week on Sundays,” she added.

Zarembinski is also the president of Campolindo’s sailing club. “I actually did not create the club; the club was created last year by a senior named Santiago Calderon. I kind of joined the team late last year and I kind of took on the position as president,” she said.

Zarembinski’s dad isn’t her only influence; her sister also inspires her to sail. “My sister went to Germany for our yacht club. She was the junior Foreign Ambassador for the Norddeutscher yacht club in Hamberg, Germany, and she sailed Kiel Week, which is this huge regatta, this huge race,” she said.

“There’s people from all over the countries: people from New Zealand, Japan, America, all over. I would love to [do that;] I think that’d be so cool,” Zarembinski said.

Zarembinski is looking at colleges with sailing programs. “If I could sail in college that would be awesome, and then I’m also looking at doing an internship with one of the Americas, which is like one of the original boats that were in the America’s Cup,” she said. “I was going to do an internship with them and then they travel all along the west coast. Next summer, which I think I’m going to do with them, they’re going to travel all along the east coast.”

Zarembinski believes she’s been taught teamwork skills by bonding with other sailors at her club. “It’s a whole different dynamic out there, so you’re working closely with 1 person and you learn a lot of skills that you’re going to need in the future; mainly, really good teamwork,” she said. “I am so close with everyone on the team. I consider us kind of like a little family because we spend a lot of time together.”