CNU Sailing

Our Alumni Regatta has become one of the most popular events on the CNU Sailing Team’s calendar. Two years ago we added an Oyster Roast on the evening of the regatta. More than just an alumni regatta, this is now “Alumni Day” with two great events. This year the Oyster Roast will be hosted by the Sailing Team in cooperation with Marty Moliken and the James River Marina and it will be better than ever.

This year’s Alumni Regatta and Oyster Roast will be on Saturday, November 7th, 2009. The Report Time for the Regatta is 9:00am (just like all the college events you sailed). The Oyster Roast will be at sunset, shortly after sailing. The roast will have oysters, several varieties of beer from the St. George Brewery (Hampton’s own), and all sorts of other culinary features typical of a traditional Chesapeake Bay Oyster Roast.

This year’s event is even more important to the team. School funding for the team has been cut back (along with all other sports) and the usual sources of income by way of the CNU Sailing Foundation are drying up. The floats at CNU are going to need upgrading this spring and we’ll shortly need to replace one of our support boats. In short, we will be needing financial help from parents and alumni. Indeed, most other college sailing teams have these same needs and seek help from the same sources – the people who care.

The Oyster Roast will become one of our prime sources of support for the team. So, plan to attend. You will certainly get a great return for the entry fee and you will be helping your team make it through the tough times.

The entry fee for the Regatta will be $25.00 and that will include the Oyster Roast for regatta participants.

The Fee for the Oyster Roast will be $25.00 for all others, but don’t hesitate to make a further donation if you have more fun and plan to eat more oysters than you think the fee will cover. The Christopher Newport Sailing Team, after all, belongs to all present and past team members and all parents and supporters.

Alumni Day is not just a fund raiser, it is also a thank you to all who have contributed to the team through the years. Plan to attend and expect to enjoy one of the great events of the year visiting with old and new friends, skippers and crews – some of the best people you have known and will ever know.

Frankly, this has been a poor season for us in terms of how we have placed in many of our regattas. We had expected it to be a very good one since virtually the entire team was expected to return. But the loss of our best skipper, the result of multiple suspensions relating to an unwillingness to comply with Athletic Department academic requirements, was a major blow and one we couldn’t totally overcome. In a smaller team like ours, the depth of talent isn’t so great and the loss of one player can have a major impact.

IMAGE: Taylor Gray, Jessica Thall, Maghan Magee, Taylor Morgan, Maxwell Plarr, Lynn Ball, and Amy Craven

But sometimes these setbacks can yield positive results, and in this case, it did. The remaining team members were quite close in ability and our practices became more productive for each individual. We were forced to try some new and different combinations that have worked out well. In a season when most of our new people were women, we put an all women’s team on the water for the first time in many years. While nearly everyone on the team made significant advances, Jessica Thal and Taylor Morgan made the greatest gains and this was clear at the Luce Regatta.

The Luce is what we often call “the Runner-up Bowl.” The teams that fail to qualify for the War Memorial may sail in the Luce where their scores for the season rank just below the last place team at the War.

Columbia had the strongest team at Hampton, and they took first place over the hosts, Hampton University. For most of the regatta CNU was in fourth place behind Villanova. Races 1 through 6 in both divisions were sailed on Saturday with good weather and good winds. A front came through on Saturday night and Sunday was far colder and the winds more shifty as they came off the land. Taylor Morgan and Amy Craven sailed the two remaining A division races and posted an excellent 3rd and 4th. Jessica and her crew, Maghan Magee, sailed all of the B Division races for the weekend, never placing below 4th. But their final two races, both second place finishes, were just what we needed to move ahead of Villanova by a single point.

Only our annual Alumni Regatta and our season ending trip to Charleston for the SAISA/MAISA Regatta remain for the season. But this will be a real “fun” event as many of our favorite competitors will also be there. William & Mary, Virginia Tech, Virginia, Hampton, Ocean County and Old Dominion will also be making the trip south on the weekend before Thanksgiving.

This was a regatta with wind, lots of wind – often above 26 knots. Saturday gave us southerly winds, warm temperatures, and steep waves with a long fetch. There were capsizes, a lot of wild planning and a lot of fun.

IMAGE: Lots and lots of waves on Saturday.

Sunday was quite different with the passing of a cold front during the night, We got gusty, shifty winds off the northern shore with rather flat water and slightly less wind velocity. With our two fleets of FJs and 420s, everyone was on the water and sailing all of both days. We sailed a full double rotation of 32 races with lengths of from 13 to 18 minutes and had everyone on their way home by 1:00pm on Sunday. Many of the finishes featured multiple overlaps at the line that only the Race Committee could accurately call.

Many thanks are due Wells Fargo – Advisors for sponsoring the event. Their most appreciated support allowed us to provide pizza from Sopranos on Saturday and T shirts for all on Sunday.

Thanks for regatta management to Lynn Ball, Taylor Gray, Brennann Russell, Katlin Kitchen, Forrest Swan, Maxwell Plarr, Taylor Morgan, Tyler Million, and our Assistant Coach, Kate McClintock. Thanks also to Doc Griffin from W&M and Alex Ambrossi of Hampton for help with protests and the support boat.

Congratulations to Hampton University for winning the event. The members of the winning team were Shane Horsford, Athner George, Andrew Shoemaker, and Ian Guagliardo.

IMAGE: Salisbury leads Hampton around a mark.