CNU Sailing

The visiting teams included Christopher Newport University, the University of Delaware, and Princeton University. The regatta consisted of two days of racing in the Arrigan format in which both A and B fleets sailed together in the same race. On Saturday, sailors and spectators alike who watched the races from the two spectator boats braved the 55 degree temperatures, overcast conditions, and the E-SE 5-15 knots of breeze out on the water for eight races. Sunday we had beautiful sunny weather in the low 60s that allowed four races before the wind died out. After twelve races Christopher Newport won the regatta with 57points, second was Princeton with 108, narrowly third was Salisbury with 116, and in fourth, Delaware with 172 points. All the teams sailed competitive, clean races with no protests being filed.

Sailing for CNU were M.C. Buhl and Grace Bluefeld as our A Division pair and Annie Eckmann and Amy Craven as our B pair. Faith Swan was along as a backup and as something of a reward for her constant improvement through her first year of college sailing. Apart from simply winning the event, the weekend gave us a clear indication of how these young ladies have progressed. Their tacks were smoother and well-coordinated. Their starts were better. And, their boat speed was excellent. As their coach, I couldn’t have been more pleased.

As the final score indicates, CNU was clearly dominant in this event, often finishing first and second in a race. We have sailed this event in all of the three years it has been held and we have used an all-women crew every time. Indeed, only two men sailed in this year’s event.

The Jeremy Pinkerton Regatta in Annapolis, MD next weekend will be our final event of the year. Tyler Million and Kira Munger, the two seniors on the team will be our skippers. As a great display of team support and dedication Annie will be crewing for Tyler and M.C. will crew for Kira. Max Plarr will be the team’s coach for the event, which he helped win for CNU last year, his senior year. We are confident that Tyler and Kira can do it again this year.

A final comment is a most sincere thanks to all the CNU parents. The Eckmanns, the Bluefelds, and M.C.’s mother, Mary, made the trip to Ocean City and their presence was a real motivator for the team. We have had more parents attending our regattas this year than ever before and they are always welcome.

Our favorite restaurant in Ocean City, the Green Turtle, gave us front door billing along with the bikers who made the town their destination for the weekend as well.

What a contrast – dozens of Viet Nam era bikers and our team of attractive young ladies! Sorry, no pictures of the bikers but here are our girls.

Like most events there were things with which to be pleased and others that were not so good. We were comfortable with MC and Grace in A Division but we had no idea who would be our best selection for B Division. Indeed, we were hoping that the MAISA/SAISA on the preceding weekend would give us the answer. It didn’t. So, Max and I elected to go with the two sailors we felt had the clearest understanding of what was going on. This meant we would be going with Annie and Amy, a pairing that gave us a 226 pound pair that might be fine for light air, but a potential problem if it blew.

We practiced at William & Mary on Friday and the winds were high enough that we were concerned. Thus, we asked Maggie Gore and Faith Swan to be on hand “just in case.” At this practice MC and Grace looked great and we went into the weekend cautiously optimistic that we might qualify for the America Regatta at Hobart. We expected the fight for the third spot would be between Hampton, W&M, and us. We fully expected UVA and George Washington to take the top two spots.

With the exception of Virginia taking the top spot, we missed on most of our predictions. W&M sailed extremely well and took second, George Washington sailed poorly and collected a premature start that hurt, taking them out of contention. Hampton got chucked out of a race for illegal kinetics, and MC and Grace simply were not their usual selves, finishing above sixth place just once.

The big surprise was the performance of Annie and Amy. With just a week working together, they posted finishes of 5-1-2-4-6-4 and placed fourth in B Division. And, their best finishes were in the strongest winds of the weekend. We ultimately finished just behind Hampton who earned the final spot at the America. However, we qualified for the Grant Regatta which will be held at CNU in two weeks. That event required qualification for the first time this spring and this should mean it will have one of the most completive fields ever. We are genuinely looking forward to hosting this event.

IMAGE: Grace, MC, Annie, and Amy

Thanks to all our sailors, Grace Blufeld, MC Buhl, Amy Craven, and Annie Eckmann. Special thanks as well to Faith Swan and Maggie Gore for being on hand, “just in case.” Max Plarr deserves to be complimented for serving as the Committee Chairman on the water for William & Mary. You can be sure we will be pulling for our friends at W&M to do well at the America.

Again, It was great having so many of our parents on hand. Our team has never before had “groupies” following us from event to event as we have this year. We’ll be back at William & Mary next weekend for the William & Mary 2-on-2 Team Race.

The full results for the regatta can be found at: http://scores.collegesailing.org/s12/maisa-south-spring-qualifier-2012/

The 2on2 format makes for exciting racing as it puts two boats from one team directly against two from another. The competition requires that every team meet every other team the same number of times. This works particularly well when it is possible to sail three complete rounds. In this way every team meets every other three times and there can be no ties.

This year we hosted William & Mary, Webb Institute, Old Dominion, Virginia and Salisbury University. ODU came out the top team followed by William & Mary and Webb, whose tie was broken by their head to head meetings in which W&M had the edge. Fourth place was the best the CNU team could do. While we were potential winners in several meetings we lost, we let the wins slip away with some lapses in concentration. But the winds were good, the competition fun and sailing in the 2on2 format makes sailors better aware of the rules. Since the aim in 2on2 racing, where the team with the last place boat loses, is to make the other team sail more slowly, confrontations are the rule and a good working knowledge of the rules is a must.

IMAGE: Tyler and Annie

MC Buhl, Grace Bluefeld, Tyler Million and Annie Eckmann made up our two crews. While we didn’t do as well as we would have liked, you can be sure we learned a lot.

One interesting feature of this year’s event was the fact that some many of the participants had sailed against each other in high school. So, the event had a markedly local flavor.

IMAGE: MC and Grace

* Tie broken with head-to-head finishes