Life on the water has never been as smooth for Nansemond-Suffolk Academy’s sailing team as it was during its fall 2015 campaign.

“It was easily the best season we’ve had, the most successful season we’ve had competitively,” Saints coach Pat Hillard said. “We made some pretty big strides. We have been making progress each season. This was kind of a breakout season for us.”

NSA’s sailing program placed fourth out of 16 teams in the Virginia Interscholastic Sailing Association for 2015. The group of teams includes both public and private schools.

In their five season prior to 2015, the highest the Saints placed was 10th, so “we made quite a jump,” Hillard said.

“I have to give credit to a few of the leaders on our team,” the coach said. Including five junior varsity participants, “this fall we had 11 sailors on our team, and the captain on our team and our first mate or co-captain, they are extremely dedicated to the sport.”

The captain is junior Kaila Pfrang, and the co-captain is sophomore Harrison Parker. Both are varsity skippers; Pfrang sails in Nansemond-Suffolk’s A Fleet, while Parker sails in its B Fleet.

“They sail not just during the fall season but they sail in what’s called spring season,” Hillard said. As for the spring sailing, “it’s not an official varsity sport.”

NSA has a club team that competes during the spring season, and the squad includes Pfrang, Parker and often other members of the official fall team.

The captain and co-captain also sail for the Hampton Yacht Club during the summer.

“They sail all year,” Hillard said, noting both of them have done so for at least three years.

He said it is amazing to see how well-developed their skills are now compared to a year or two ago, as they are making better tactical decisions during races and have a better feel for what to do in traffic.

Of course, the more dedicated sailors a team has, the better it will be. NSA’s team entered the 2015 season with a lot of new members, and Pfrang said she remembered wondering how things would go.

“We had a lot of new people, yes, but they were all very motivated,” Pfrang said, adding that she and the other more experienced sailors helped the newcomers along. “We had some new kids that really showed some natural talent.”

NSA competed in nine regular-season regattas, including the Tidewater Conference of Independent Schools championships, and it also participated in the 2015 Great Oaks Silver Regatta in New Orleans.

Pfrang, Parker, freshman Alex Wilkerson and sophomore T.J. Argust represented the Saints in New Orleans in a 37-team field featuring squads from either coast that were divided into a gold fleet and a silver fleet.

“We were placed in the silver fleet, and we ended up taking second place,” Hillard said. “So we were very excited about that.”

NSA also registered a win in the VISA 2×2 Team Race Championship.

The final highlight of the season came in the form of individual accolades, as Pfrang and junior Hailey Gilman, often Pfrang’s crewperson, became the first NSA sailors to receive All-VISA recognition. They were named to the VISA All-Women’s Team for their accomplishments in 2015.

After hearing the announcement, “the two of us were looking at each other really smiling,” Pfrang said, adding that they were thinking, “We finally did it!”