CNU Sailing

With none of the “big teams” stepping up to run this event, John Griffin of William & Mary volunteered. Knowing that the facilities there were not the best for the time of the year, CNU offered to run the event with William Mary’s help and the combination worked well. Saturday was very windy but well handled by most sailors. Winds were from 10 and up to unsailable from the south southwest. We had ten capsizes, five on the way in from the course in the afternoon when the wind went off the scale and the Race Chairman threw in the towel. Six races were completed in A Division and five in B. The course used was the CNU Box (windward, broad reach, windward, beam reach and run). Sunday gave us light winds that didn’t stabilize until after 10 AM. But 11 races were completed, five in A Division and six in B Division, using a heavily modified triangle. Winds settled in from the south southwest and some very close racing resulted. Congratulations to Monmouth University for winning the 2008 Leroy Grant, the first regatta win for one of the newest teams in MAISA.

Special thanks go to all those who helped make the regatta a success. From William & Mary: Coach, John Griffin, Adam Rosen, Beau Blumberg, Bri Paxton, Priscilla Pinckney, Nicholas Kantor, and Jim Donecker. From CNU: Ben France, Taylor Gray, Lynn Ball and Johanna Faroe.

Our most sincere thanks go to Eddie Hornick of Virginia Road and Bridge Supply who funded T shirts for the participants and through William & Mary, the Southern Cross Adaptive Maritime Program and Gary Bodie of U.S. Sailing for providing Saturday’s lunch.

IMAGE: There is nothing wilder than a capsize on the finish line in a blow, but Ben doesn’t seem excited about it at all as he calls the finishes.

On Saturday 8 races in both divisions were completed.  Racing started in an 8kts southerly, which during the day clocked to the north and reached 20kts. Sunday had 6 races completed in both divisions, for a total of 14.  The racing took place in a North Breeze at 6 to 12 kts.

Lots of thanks go out to our guest PRO, Jeff Sullivan, our three judges and all the HWS sailors who helped with the event.

IMAGES: Amy, Matt, and Scott

While we would certainly have liked to post a better finish, to have placed 16th and just 5 points behind our local rival, Hampton University, was a very respectable accomplishment for a team that was quite thin as compared to last year when we also placed 16th. The good news is that all the sailors we lost to class schedule conflicts will be back and we expect to add at least six good prospects. But the season isn’t over yet. We will be sailing at Ohio State next weekend and we still have the 2-on-2 regatta at Army and the Engineers Cup at Webb Institute remaining.

IMAGES: Kate, Max, and Becca

From the Hosts: Saturday 8A races and 6B races sailed in Washington Sailing Marina Lagoon. Wind was NW 10-15 before dying at the end of the day. Sunday 8B and 6A races completed. Congrats to Navy for winning and to Maryland and CNU for qualifying for the America Trophy.

This was a pretty interesting regatta for our team. Kate McClintock, our B skipper, was probably in no condition to sail, but without her, we would have had no chance at all of qualifying for the America Trophy Regatta. Indeed, our team has been so depleted this spring that we barely have enough sailors to fulfill our commitments. When one other member of the team who was to be our backup dropped off the team on Friday morning within hours of our departure for Alexandria, we left with just four people, the minimum we could have. Matt Lythgoe and Amy Polhemus sailed very well for us in A Division and placed eighth (tied in points with Maryland in 7th). But Kate struggled with a bronchial infection that got progressively worse and in each of her last three sets of two races, her first race was a strong top five, but as she weakened, her second race was a double digit. Finally, by the last set on Sunday, she simply couldn’t continue and, without our backup, we had to sit out the final two B Division races and picked up 36 points we shouldn’t have earned. Going into the last two races we were well ahead of both Maryland and Hampton. Hampton had already qualified, and we would still qualify if we finished behind Maryland, but we didn’t want to be the last team to qualify. Still, even with the extras points, our 104 point lead over the next potential qualifier kept us in eighth place and we qualified.

IMAGE: Matt, Kate, Amy & Max

It was especially nice having Matt’s and Amy’s parents join us on Saturday. Kate’s mother, Ruth, was with us the entire weekend and we enjoyed her company at dinner on Saturday night. It has been quite nice having team member’s parents attend events this spring. Maxwell’s parents met us in Annapolis last week.

Matt, Amy, Kate and Maxwell Plarr, who crewed for Kate and did a great job in a position he never expected to fill, gave their all and represented CNU well. Sometimes when we are faced with long odds and real adversity our team members do their best, as they did at Georgetown.