CNU Sailing

This was Salisbury’s first event in a decade and they went all out to make this a good event. They held it at Ocean Pines Yacht Club in Ocean City, MD. To help them provide good, fair racing, the CNU team loaned them our older set of practice sails that are still good and closely matched.

This was our “Estrogen Weekend” when we took only our women, as well as our woman assistant coach and the head coach’s wife. We were also very happy to have Richard Gore, the father of our team member, Maggie Gore with us for the entire weekend. Now we know why Maggie is such a great “kid.” For us, this was purely a training weekend in which we would see how our women have progressed since the fall. We were also giving our newest team member, Catlin Bowman, her first experience in competition. We weren’t looking at how we placed, but, rather how we sailed. And, we sailed exceptionally well!

We had expected to split time in one division since we had three full crews. But when another team dropped out, we elected to pair one of our crews with an extra SSU crew to create what was called “The Hybrid Team.” Victoria Miller and Catlin were our pair with this team. Kira Munger and Sarah-Daye Hand were our pair for the A Division CNU team and Maggie Gore sailing with Meghan Magee were our B crew.

While Kira and Sarah-Daye had their struggles (they did post a 2 and a 3 in one of their sets) Maggie, Victoria, Catlin and Meghan sailed extremely well and their competence when the wind and waves picked up was noticed and commented upon by several other coaches and spectators. Kate and I couldn’t have been more pleased and Maggie actually won her first collegiate race. Our girls were consistently in the top three positions.

With only nine teams represented (after late No Shows by Queens and Villanova), W&M added an all women Green team to fill the rotation. The William and Mary Gold team was designated as the William and Mary team that would count as far as the ranking procedure for the draft. Delaware was invited at the last minute (after being told there was no room the week before), but they had already made alternative plans for the weekend.

Well, with temperatures in the low seventies, an early morning rain ended, but the wind on the James River took a little while to come up. So, we started the Leroy Grant with a W&M tradition of a sailboat raft up and a little swimming! Once the wind filled in, racing started with winds out of the west at 5-8 mph. Winds built throughout the day and the final races of the day were sailed in a gusty 15-20 mph breeze. Two protests were heard resulting in one disqualification, and one redress was granted for an equipment failure. The William and Mary Green team was also pulled off the water for the last two sets to allow the rest of the teams to compete after the high winds wreaked a little havoc on one of our boats. All was repaired and ready by Sunday morning. Thanks to the Pinckney family for providing a down home southern lunch on Saturday! Thanks also to Kate McClintock from CNU & Mr. Pinckney for helping with the protests. In all, 14 races were sailed on Saturday (Eight in A Division, Six in B Division).

Sunday began with a shifty 5-8 mph breeze out of the northwest that built quickly into the 20 mph range. Six races were sailed to complete the rotations. One protest was heard that resulted in a disqualification. The boats held together, although the Army B team suffered from ring-ding syndrome (always check your ring-dings) and got to feel what it is like to see your rig fall over the side. After a quick repair, they continued.

Speaking of Army, they should be congratulated for earning the Elvstrom award, which was voted on by all of the teams and given to the team that earned the most respect for their seamanship and honor throughout the weekend. Go Army!

After two full days of racing and all but the last set completed, there was a virtual tie for first place between Stevens, CNU and W&M -Gold. After the last A set, things remained up in air with Taylor Gray winning his final race for CNU (within sight of him family home). So, the final standings came down to the final two races that were sailed in a steady 18 mph breeze.

Congratulations to William and Mary Gold for winning the Leroy Grant and earning William and Mary their first regatta victory….ever! Congratulations also go to Stevens for winning the A Division.

Many thanks go to those who live in the First Colony community who allow us to use their marina as our sailing site and who have let us invade them for the last four weekends in a row. I also want to thank my team at William and Mary who have stepped up and hosted four events (one high school and three MAISA regattas) in the last four weekends, starting an impressive 104 races over those events. My whole team deserves a round of applause! Thanks also to those who came to our regattas (including the Leroy Grant) and were such impressive competitors on the water, and are now such good friends on land!

After a short delay on Saturday morning, the wind filled in from the west and built throughout the day from 5 to 15 knots. Rotation #1 was sailed in 5-10 knots in the morning before a break for lunch. Rotation #2 was completed by 5pm as the wind strengthened. Judges were used for this event, with two roving judges (John Griffin & Dan Winters) and one judge (Alex Ambrosi) on the committee boat to observe some exciting downwind finishes (as we were using the CNU Box course). After attempting to get underway on Sunday morning, a lunch break was called. We watched as a steady wind line came down the James River and were waiting for it when it arrived. Ten races were sailed before the wind lightened and the current strengthened. Soon, we were below 3 knots of wind and had close to 2 knots in current. So, racing ended before a third rotation could be completed. In all, two full rotations were sailed (30 races) and the match between UVA and VT on Sunday settled the tie for third place. Congrats to Christopher Newport University for posting a record of 8 & 2 (going 5 for 5 in second rotation) and winning this event

As always, thanks to the William and Mary Sailing Team, who have now started 81 races for MAISA and VISA events in the last three weeks. (We are shooting for 100+ before the end of the Leroy Grant next weekend.) We also want to thank the community of First Colony for letting us use their marina and to Mama Peacock for keeping us fed all weekend! Thanks also to Dan Winters and Alex Ambrosi for acting as judges and teachers throughout the weekend.

IMAGE: Brennan, Lynn, Taylor, & Tyler

Kira Munger and Max Plarr sailed the Saturday races and Taylor Gray & Lynn Ball sailed on Sunday with Tyler Myers and Brennan Russell sailing both days. All six sailors gave us what was probably their best performance of the year. It was also very nice having Lynn’s and Taylors parents at the event as well as Tyler’s mother and aunt. W&M’s sailing site does allow for good viewing of the course. Taylor’ mom, Ann, provided her terrific ham biscuits and other goodies for the team – THANKS MOM!