By LOMI KRIEL
STAFF WRITER
BOURNE - White sails billowing out, 14 determined sailboats tried to ride the wind like surfers ride waves, as they skimmed over the rippling, blue water of Great Herring Pond.

The Schultz/Shaw team catches a stiff breeze during a race in the William I. Koch Sea Scout Cup at Great Herring Pond. (Staff photo by STEVE HEASLIP)

Sailing's a tricky business, said Al Beal, one of the volunteers at the Sea Scout regatta.

"It's tough to race in heavy wind and it's tough to race in light wind," he said. "Part of the skill is figuring out the wind and then, what's the best course."

What's more, he added, "sometimes a boat can get up behind another boat and it can steal their wind."

So the 28 young skippers competing Thursday for the Kiwi Cup had a lot to think about. The Kiwi Cup is one division of the Sea Scout races, typically for lesser experienced sailors said Garth Wells, a race committee chairman. An international organization, Sea Scouts promotes leadership skills among men and women, from ages 14-21.

The competitors for the Koch Cup sailed Wednesday and Kiwi Cup sailors competed Thursday, with both fleets racing Friday. A team from California walked away with the prestigious Koch Cup, and a Norway team won the Kiwi Cup, donated by New Zealand. Youth around the country participated in the week-long event, which included seminars on sailing and trips to Martha's Vineyard. Scouts from New Zealand, Australia, the United Kingdom and Norway also participated.

The Sea Scouts Regatta happens once every two years, and this year, millionaire and renowned yachtsman William Koch footed half the bill. Scouts stayed at the Massachusetts Maritime Academy and only had to pay $290 each for a week of sailing- a trip that would normally cost more than $1,000.

Koch helped to start the event to attract more kids to sailing, he said. He said sailing teaches kids good life lessons, comparing it to the battle between the two basketball teams of the Detroit Pistons and the Los Angeles Lakers.

"You don't have to be a superstar, you just have to be a team player," he said.

Late Thursday, as a good wind swept up, a voice on the transistor instructed that it was time for lunch, Wells' frustration was palpable.

"I hate this, I hate that we have this wind now," he said. Earlier the pond had been "as flat as glass."

"Ah, the joys of pond sailing," he said, explaining that the wind varies considerably when sailing on a lake, as opposed to the sea.

As the sailors headed back to shore for their lunch break, a volunteer went to rescue one unlucky scout who's boat had capsized, spilling her partner and leaving her alone with the wind.

On shore, Kiwi Cup winners Siri Neslein, 16, and Erling Guldurd, 18, launched into their roast beef sandwiches- supplied by the Massachusetts Maritime Academy where the sailors were also staying.

Her white-blonde hair framing a pretty sunburned face, Neslein explained what she liked about sailing:

"Managing to get through the water without a motor and the feeling of the wind in my hair," she said.

Other kids jostled for a clue to their sailing success.

"There must be some Norwegian secret," one joked.

Eighteen-year-old Megan Hohlemann, from Stockton, Calif., zipped her life jacket over her striped bikini.

She and her partner Heather Chandler, 16, also of Stockton, only started sailing a month ago and were competing in the regatta "by accident," when both their friends had to pull out.

And in 2006, when the next race will be, the new sailing fan said she'll be ready.

"We're going to be practicing for it," she said. "We're going to make the Koch Cup."

(Published: June 26, 2004)