CNU Sailing

Saturday’s morning wind was predominantly West 18-25 with oscillating shifts eventually settling in to the WNW with higher gusts.  We endured a brief postponement in the afternoon between races 6A and 5B.  This allowed some 25 knot + gusts to roll through before sending B division back out.  Completed 8 races in each division. The double round robin rotation continued on Sunday and a total of 14 races were completed in each division. Throughout the day the wind shifted to the southeast varying in velocity from 3-12.

6 races were completed in each division for a 14 race regatta.  Dan Winters and John Griffin heard protests.  There were 3 DSQ’s. Courses sailed were Gold Cups and Windward Leewards twice around.  Boats used for this event are FJ’s.  Top 3 teams from this event qualify for the America Trophy. The Maryland, Christopher Newport and Virginia teams qualified for the America Trophy.

We would have liked to win this event, but we fell just short after going into the Sunday racing with a one point lead. Maryland, an old and favorite rival of ours, sailed very well. We beat them at the War last year and we’ll be giving it our best effort to do so at the America Regatta this spring. Ben’s regular crew was down with food poisoning and Maxwell Plarr and Meghan Magee filled in well to help win A Division for us. Jessica Thal and Tyler Million placed second in B Division, but their five firsts gave a good indication of how well they are sailing. Jess is just a freshman. So, we have a lot to look forward to as she gains experience. Jess and Tyler are becoming an exceptionally good pairing. They make the coach look good!

On Saturday the races were postponed in the morning until 11:45 due to limited visibility from fog and variable winds. Wind filled and we had east southeast 5-10 for the rest of the day. Courses sailed were modified Olympics and modified gold cups.  There were 3 protests resulting in 3 DSQ’s. Coaches Ward Cromwell, Allison Jolly, and Dan Winters heard protests.  Thanks to Dr. Benjamin Cuker, HU sailing’s faculty advisor, for providing his boat for Race Committee.  And thanks to Mike Park for volunteering to help out with race committee.

Sunday’s breeze was plentiful all day.  Morning races sailed in WSW 15-22, breeze built in the afternoon to 20-28.  Courses sailed were Gold cups and the last B race sailed a modified triangle.  One protest was heard resulting in a DSQ.  Thanks to the coaches who heard the protest.

The team finished up on Saturday in fifth place, but in the stronger winds on Sunday, our team of rather new sailors slipped to sixth. Still, this was a fine showing. Both of our crews, Brennan and Meghan, are brand new this semester. Tyler, our B Skipper is also new to the team and CNU this spring. Our finish was exactly the same as last year when we used a combination of nearly all of our team members rather than a team of relatively new sailors.

In every way, this regatta was a good one, not just for the actual finish, but also for the valuable experience it gave some of our newer sailors. Congratulations to Maxwell, Meghan, Tyler and Brennan for a very good weekend.

IMAGE: Back: Maxwell Plarr, assistant coach, Matt Lythgoe, and Tyler Myers. Front: Brennan Russell and Meghan Magee.

The regatta began with 12 new boats on site and perfect wind conditions. The shifty 5-6 kt Northerly let some teams really put to use the team racing skills they have been honing. Two full rotations were completed on Saturday that consisted of 56 races. Our judges, which consisted of two US sailing trained judges on one boat and another boat of former college sailors, made for very fair racing. Calls were made in about every third race. One protest was heard on land and cost CNU their perfect record.

Sunday morning had Colgate and Maryland sailing a tie-breaker after a short wind delay with Colgate moving on.  The fleets were then divided into Gold and Silver and 6 more races were completed in each division. The double full rotation worked well and seemed the only format because of only having 12 boats.  Over the course of 68 races each team sat out for a total of 8 races. If we had chosen to start in a two division format, the number of sitting sailors would have tripled.

Needless to say, our team sailed well. Working to perfect our 2-on-2 sailing has done much to improve our sailing in general and our understanding of the rules in particular. Right now, we are just sorry we don’t have more 2-on-2 events in which to compete. We will be sailing in the Army 2on2 at West Point later in the spring. We expect this discipline to draw more and more interest and the spring of 2010 should see even more 2on2 events to compliment the growing interest in 3-on-3 racing among the biggest teams.