CNU Sailing

Saturday didn’t give us much wind, but Sunday was great – just the right wind to get sailors back on track after the summer. Still, the CNU team was quite rusty and our scores suffered due to some missed opportunities and mistakes. Jessica Thal and Tyler Million sailed the entire series in A Division. Tyler Myers and Amy Craven split the sailing in B Division with Maxwell Plarr and Kate Doyle. We are still looking for the best combinations of skipper and crew and this event served the purpose well. Next weekend’s two events, the Central Qualifier at Ocean County at Toms River and the Colony Cup at William & Mary will help further this effort.

IMAGE: Tyler Myers, Maxwell Plarr, Jessica Thal and Tyler Million between races.

At one time the Riley Cup (named for old timer, Riley Johnson) was a major regatta to which the top teams sent their best sailors. Now those sailors only go to major intersectional events. Still, this is a great event with which to kick off the season and the Old Dominion Team did a great job running the event. Former coach, KC Fulmer was on hand to oversee the events, but, as he said, he didn’t have to do much, so well prepared were the ODU team.

IMAGE: Amy Craven with her parents, Eric and Melissa Craven who drove up from Greenville, North Carolina for the event.

The university of Virginia now has six FJs that are in very good shape, a new location and a new dedicated faculty advisor, Patrick Garcia. With all these advancements, the team felt it was ready to host an event and, with a financial boost from the ICSA, they hosted their first event on September 5 & 6. The date was picked because the schedule was clear this early in the season. William & Mary and Christopher Newport both sent eight people and this allowed the event to be run with two teams from each of the three schools. For all it was a great way to give new and returning sailors a head start on the season.

Best of all, the event let us know that Lake Anna will be a terrific location in the future for regattas in the southern part of MAISA. The facilities are great and the water is fresh and clean. This may be one of the few venues where sailors can also go swimming without fear of contracting some disease or encountering a floating body! And, tides? What are tides? Further, UVA seems to have a great relationship with their hosts, the Lake Anna Yacht Club and even the local community is in support.

This first event also pointed out the two draw backs – lots and lots of power boats and their wakes (This was Labor Day weekend after all!) and the light airs that are so common inland and during the summer. However, these problems will both be largely solved with the scheduling of next year’s UVA event on the Weekend #7 when most of the powerboats are gone for the year and the winds are much better.

Sailing for CNU were Tyler Myers, Sarah-Daye Hand, Taylor Gray and Kate Doyle as the “Captains.” Maxwell Plarr, Meghan Magee, Taylor Morgan and Amy Craven sailed as the “CNU” team. In spite of the fact that we had three people sailing in their first event, four entering their second semester of sailing and one with just two years behind him, the “Captains” won the event with the “CNU” team second. This was a good showing and great developmental experience for all.

Apart from the sailing, the event featured the usual camaraderie that has become typical of sailing in the southern part of MAISA. The teams traveled to Charlottesville for an evening together with some of the sailors attending the William & Mary and Virginia football game. Needless to say, the W&M team was much happier on the Sunday than were the UVA team.

IMAGE: Kate, Taylor Gray, Taylor Morgan & Amy Craven

This event should mark the first of many popular events for the UVA team and you can be sure that CNU will put the event on its high priority list. Our sincerest thanks got to the many UVA team members who worked hard to make this a great event. In this effort, they were quite successful.

Kate graduated from CNU in the Spring of 2008. As one of our best sailors, she was immediately added to our list of Honored Sailors. After graduation Kate remained in the East Virginia area where she headed up the Sailing Program at the Norfolk Naval Base. This has allowed her to continue her relationship with the team as our Assistant Coach. The team is exceptionally fortunate that we have been able to draw from past team members to supplement our coaching staff.