CNU Sailing

Saturday was a beautiful day of sailing on the East River!  Winds started as a light 5-7 knots westerly and shifted left before eventually coming in around 15 knots from the North for the final 2 races in each division.  Currents maxed out at about 2.5 knots before subsiding in the afternoon.  Eight races were competed in both divisions and no protests were filed.

Unsettled conditions dominated the Sunday, with a light northerly starting the day that eventually clocked to the East and died.  As the current built and the breeze died conditions became marginal, resulting in some very long downwind legs.  Racing was postponed after 14 races in A division in order to wait for the wind to return.  A very light northerly allowed for the completion of race 13B, so race 14A did not stand.  No protests were filed.

Tthis was difficult event for both the organizers and the participants. The East River is known for its tides and they made sailing difficult for all. Even the very best teams in MAISA had a tough time. Check out how St. Mary’s (#4 in the nation) A Division, All-American skipper fared! Both Ben and Jessica had their good times and bad. We had hoped that our early season experience at Charleston, where the tidal flows are similar, would help. And they probably did. Jessica was one of only two freshmen skippers at the event and she beat the other from Cornell by seven points to take 13th in her division. We can only speculate on how well she will do in her later years. She and Lynn will finish out their season at Webb Institute on May 16th, one of the real “fun” events of the year. While we would have liked to have done better, our 12th place was as good as we posted at the War Memorial in the fall, but we did so just two points behind Colgate, the 11th place team. Because an A Division race may not be counted without a corresponding B Division race, Ben lost a final A Division 2nd place finish that could have moved us up into 11th. But those are the breaks of the game!

A special thanks to the NY Maritime Sailing Team who ran an excellent regatta in difficult conditions!

This entry was posted on Sunday, April 19th, 2009 at 8:17 PM and is filed under 2008-2009 Season. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.