CNU Sailing

On Saturday 8 A division and 6 B division races were completed in a shifty and puffy 12 knot NNE breeze early that eased to 7 by the afternoon.  Two protests were filed Saturday and resulted in two DSQ’s. 3 A division and 5 B division races were completed Sunday, fulfilling the rotation.  The races were sailed in a still shifty and puffy 15 knot NNE breeze.  No protests were filed Sunday. U/Penn was a no show. Thank you to all the sailors for a great weekend of sailing and a thank you to the Washington College team members for running the regatta.

For the teams in the Central Region of MAISA, this was an important event, a qualifier for the War Memorial Regatta in two weeks. For the CNU team it was an opportunity to see how the team we expect to take to the War has been developing. And, the team has been developing well through the fall, from our very poor showing at Ocean County to our very good performance at Georgetown where we qualified.

IMAGE: Ben France, Jessica Thal, Johanna Faroe, Lynn Ball, and Tyler Million

Ben France and Johanna Faroe have polished their sailing skills and Jessica Thal and Lynn Ball have done nothing but improve by giant steps at every event. At Washington College, Ben and Johanna showed that they are ready to produce at their best. As you will note from the attached report of the event, they placed first in A Division by a good 7 point margin while Jess and Lyn placed a very creditable 6th in B Division, just one point out of 5th. Remember, Jessica is a freshman sailing in her first season of college sailing.

The winds were quite strong at Washington and, combined with the strong tidal flow, this made for some difficult sailing, but good competition. We were looking to determine just how strong the winds might be for Jessica and Lynn to sail competitively. Tyler Million is Lynn’s backup when her 99 pounds just aren’t enough. Tyler performed quite well, but we would have liked to have had more time with his pairing with Jess. Unfortunately, winds have been rather light this year and it was good to have some of the strong stuff at WAC.

We actually held the second spot in this event at times, but by the final races, we slipped behind the host Washington team. Still, we are now quite ready to sail at our best in the War Memorial in two weeks.

On Saturday the wind was ENE in the morning at 15-24 knots, decreasing in the afternoon to 10-15 as it went NE, while Sunday wind was ENE 10-17.  Courses sailed were modified goldcups and modified olympics.  All races were sailed in FJ’s. There was one protest on Sunday resulting in a DSQ.  Thanks to the Cukers for the use of their boat and assistance with race committee.

IMAGE: Becca Hornick and Scott Racette

The Hampton University Bay days Regatta was our best so far this season. This was not so much because we finished a strong 3rd in the event. It was because we saw so much improvement in our developing sailors. The combination of Jessica Thal and Lynn Ball have improved well beyond our expectations.

Going into the season we felt our top A Division team of Ben France and Johanna Faroe were going to prove strong and reliable. With the loss of Kate McClintock and Matt Lythgoe to graduation last spring, who would fill the top B Division slot for us was up for grabs between four skippers. It appears that Jessica and Lynn are going to be the pair we were seeking.

IMAGE: Tyler Million, Jessica Thal, Lynn Ball and Amy Polhemus

At the same time, Tyler Million has come from being a backup crew to prove he has what it takes to do well on the tiller. This event was used to compare his skills with Scott Racette. While Amy Polhemus crewed for Tyler, Becca Hornick crewed for Scott. We gave Tyler and Amy the B Division spot on Saturday and then to Scott and Becca on Sunday. As it all turned out our team proved to be remarkably well balanced. We place 4th in both A Division and B Division and 3rd overall. Both B Division crews finished with identical scores of 29 for a total in the division of 58. Since the winds were much the same on both days, we can assume that the crews were as well.

IMAGE: Some of the other team members and parents who came by on Saturday.

We were indeed fortunate to have good winds throughout the weekend. At times they were a little on the high side for our A Division pair, but they got good experience in stronger winds and proved that they will be a good pair well up into the wind range. All in all, this was a great event for the team and it was most impressive that we had many of the team members who weren’t sailing come by to watch as well as many of our parents. There aren’t many venues that allow for good viewing of the racing, but Hampton’s site is one of the better ones. The official report from Hampton is attached.

On Saturday light winds were the story at the Tom Curtis Regatta.  Two races in each division were run by 12:30PM in NNE 3-5mph.  The wind shut off and didn’t pick up until 4PM.  One more A and B race were completed by 5:15PM. Sunday had 5 Races completed in each division in shifty winds.  No protests filed and only one breakdown.  Courses were Gold Cups and Windward leewards with gates.  Congrats to Fordham for winning and for CNU and American for qualifying for the War Memorial regatta. Many thanks to the Aras family and Tim Staples for the use of their motorboats.

The Tom Curtis Regatta is the second qualifier for the War Memorial Regatta for the teams in the South Region of MAISA. For us, this was a very good regatta. Ben and Johanna are sailing better than ever and Jessica, our freshman skipper, is improving dramatically since her first collegiate regatta at Ocean County. Her introduction to college sailing there in the infamous Tech Dinghy has been compared to hazing. She and Lynn Bal are becoming an excellent pair and with Tyler Million on hand for heavy winds, we think we have found the answer to our problems with the B Division in the major events.

By finishing 7th at this event, we qualified for the War quite easily. At one time in the regatta we were in 3rd place. The tricky winds and a few slips dropped us to a tie with America University who won the tie breaker. Still, we were 85 points ahead of the next potential qualifier, Salisbury, and farther ahead of the other teams competing for entry into the War, St. Johns, William & Mary, Virginia, Hampton, GeorgeWashington, and Virginia Tech.

Ben led his division for much of the event, but an over-early in one of the later races dropped him to 3rd in his division. You will note that the scores were tight at the top and just 3 fewer points would have put us in 4th. Jessica and Lynn’s 7th place in B Division was an excellent finish, particularly for Jessica’s second collegiate event. The prospects for a good showing at the War Memorial, later in the fall, are looking good.

IMAGE: Tyler Million, Jessica Thal, Lynn Ball, Ben France, Johanna Faroe