CNU Sailing

IMAGES: Kate & Ben

Saturday started with breeze from the South at 12-14 knots. This breeze and the moderate swell allowed for some great Windward/Leeward twice around courses.  With the threat of scattered thunder storms, the Race Committee called a delay of game between races to let one meekly pass to the North leaving behind a light breeze from the NW which allowed us to finish out the set and call it a day.

Sunday started off with a light 5-7 knot breeze hailing from the North. Around 2:30, a shifty North to Northwest to West breeze challenged the completion of sailing Windward/Leeward twice around courses and Windward/Leeward finish upwind courses until 3:00 when the Lake glassed over and was called a regatta.

IMAGES: Jerrica & Johanna

The Hobart Wm/Smith Fall event has grown from a simple MAISA regatta into a major MAISA Intersectional. CNU has been a regular at these events since their inception and we have seen the competitive level rise with every year. This year the event featured some of the best teams from New England and the mid-west as well as MAISA. I felt we should have done better than we did and we were in 11th after racing on Saturday. But, while Ben and Johanna’s finishes improved on Sunday, Kate and Jerrica’s fell off. But, this was some pretty tough competition and we beat some decent teams from Old Dominion, Miami of Ohio, Columbia, and Iowa.

Saturday started with cloudy skies and light, variable breeze from the East. Then sunny skies and steady Easterly for the remainder of the day. Eight races in A and six seven races in B were completed before the wind completely died.  Three protests and one redress were filed resulting in two DSQ.

On Sunday wind delay was in effect until about 10:30 when the wind finally filled in from the West at 7-10 knots for the rest of the day. We finished a complete rotation by 1:00 pm with 10 races in each division. Thanks to all the parents and friends who came out to support the sailors and enjoy a beautiful weekend on the shores of Strawberry Banks.

IMAGE: Maxwell Plarr & Amy Polhemus

Thanks to all the parents and friends who came out to support the sailors and enjoy a beautiful weekend on the shores of Strawberry Banks. Our team sailed quite well in this event. The score doesn’t indicate how well since this was the first event Maxwell Plarr sailed as a collegian. Nervousness and less familiarity with the rules than we would have liked gave Max finishes of 7 and 4 when he could easily have been 3 and 3. But we use this event to give our new people sailing time and our developing people more experience. Max and Amy showed that they are a pairing who will be doing a lot of sailing for CNU in the future.

IMAGE: Taylor Gray, Lynn Ball, Tyler Million, and Matt Lythgoe

This was Maxwell’s second regatta and third & fourth races in college. Max was still making the switch from catamarans to small college dinghies. However, his sense of honesty needs no work. After finishing one race, he realized that he hadn’t taken the correct number of penalty turns for a rules infraction and withdrew from the last B race. As our assistant coach, Jim White, has said many times, “We may not have the best sailors, but we do have the most honest.” We now know Max belongs on our team!