Turkey Sail: Teenage Brothers Signal the Future

By Rich Roberts 

Saturday's report on Alamitos Bay Yacht Club's 65th Turkey Day Regatta was about veteran sailors still going strong. Sunday's is about others just getting started.

 Brothers Dane, 17, and Quinn Wilson, 15, of Ojai, Calif. and the Santa Barbara Yacht Club have their sights set on Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 2016 when they will be just about old enough for a bid to reclaim some of the USA's lost Olympic sailing glory.

"That's what we want to do," said Quinn, who steered their 29er skiff while big brother Dane did the crew work in a remarkable string of six consecutive first-place finishes following a second place in the first race for the 10-boat fleet.

"Actually," Dane said, smiling diplomatically, "we won that one, too, but there was a scoring mistake."

Oh, well, they figure to win a lot more and soon graduate into the 49er class for an Olympic campaign. As it is, Dane has sailed the similar 29er for only two years, while Quinn jumped aboard just this year.