The South Spring Qualifier
April 4th, 2010After a short delay, the wind filled in nicely from the south east at 5-10 mph on Saturday and remained fairly steady all day. The great racing wrapped up around 5pm. Eight races were sailed in each division, three protests were heard, resulting in two disqualifications. Sunday started out light with approximately a half hour delay. Racing resumed around 10:15 and two races were sailed in each division before the wind lightened and began to shift radically. Racing was abandoned at 1pm.
How can a team have so much fun while doing so poorly? I guess now we know. As you can tell by now, having lost so many of our best sailors to transfers, academic scheduling, and other problems, we are spending more time giving new, developing people time on the water.
But William & Mary is a great host and the James River is a great sailing venue. This year the weather was beautiful, if only really sailable on Saturday. Warm temperatures and sunny skies prevailed. The winds on Saturday were excellent. Bur all of our “best friend schools” in the south were there, Tech, Virginia, Hampton, Salisbury, Maryland, St. Johns, William & Mary, with the fleet filled out by George Washington and America U.
We didn’t expect to qualify for the America Trophy at Cornell and we didn’t. Indeed, the coach got so caught up in giving developing players tiller time that we barely got a guaranteed spot at the Grant regatta, also to be held at William & Mary in two weeks.
In so many ways, this regatta showed what is so great about college sailing. All the sailors from the division that was not on the water gathered on the observation dock, soaking up the sun and socializing. It was difficult to tell who was from which team, so mixed were the teams. That is until they put their pinnies on and took to the boats. The William & Mary team did a terrific job as hosts and “Doc” Griffin had everything organized to perfection. The whole weekend was simply great and 50+ sailors singing “Happy Birthday” were special. I’ve tried to keep the date secret for years but I’m now too old to care. I might add that having several of the team’s parents there was extra special.
We didn’t make it to the America, but our good friends from Virginia and Hampton did and we’ll be having Hampton practicing with us over the next two weeks to give them time in 420s which are boats that are sailed at Cornell.
One special accomplishment for CNU we should note. Taylor Gray and Lynn Ball took a fist place in race 9A, taking the start and improving their position all race long. It was easily our “high water mark” for the event.
Thanks to the sailors, coaches and the whole William and Mary Sailing team for making this a class event. Thanks also to the community of First Colony for letting us be their guests at the marina and sail in such a wonderful venue.
| Scores | A Div. | B Div. | Team |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. University of Virginia | 26 | 17 | 43 |
| 2. George Washington U. | 48 | 20 | 68 |
| 3. Hampton University | 49 | 39 | 79 |
| 4. American University | 26 | 6 | 87 |
| 5. College of William and Mary | 57 | 48 | 105 |
| 6. Saint John’s College | 56 | 74 | 130 |
| 7. Christopher Newport | 56 | 79 | 135 |
| 8. Salisbury University | 70 | 66 | 136 |
| 9. University of Maryland | 71 | 75 | 146 |
| 10. Virginia Polytechnic Institute | 93 | 77 | 170 |
