Season Wrap-Up

I'd like to send out a massive thank you to all of the people on the team who have driven groups to regattas, gone grocery shopping for them, sailed in them, shown up to meetings or participated on any level in the team this season.

Another to any sailors from the other teams who have allowed us to sleep on their floors for regatta weekends. Hopefully we'll be hosting regattas soon and we can return the favor!

We participated in 5 regattas this season, got 4 people out sailing for their first time and had tons and tons of fun. It's been a great season!

See you again in the Spring...

Frosh/Soph

We had our final regatta of the Fall season last weekend. We sent 7 sailors up to Bellingham to race on Lake Whatcom for the Frosh/Soph Regatta (first- and second-year sailors only). Saturday saw a SSE breeze, building from 6 to 15 knots throughout the day. We had good racing, getting 6 races off in both fleets. Sunday was very windy, over 20 knots with large gusts. After attempting to hold a race, the conditions proved too unmanageable and the races were called off for the day. The winds were patchy and unpredictable, making it incredibly difficult to keep the boat upright. It was lots of fun to sail under such extreme conditions; we haven't seen winds like that all season so it was good for our sailors to experience it. Our boats finished 9th and 12th this weekend.

Many thanks to Western Washington's upperclassmen sailors for all their help from the support boats during the racing and Sunday's blustery madness. Also thanks to Western's alternate sailor Kirsten for crewing for our B fleet because we didn't have enough people.

Outlaw

Eight of our sailors spent Halloween weekend in Eugene, OR for the Outlaw Regatta. The first day the winds were very light and by the afternoon the wind had dropped off completely, making the downwind leg of B fleet's final race last roughly one hour--a true test of patience. On Sunday the weather changed dramatically and it was actually very windy, making for some exciting sailing. Our boats finished in 16th and 19th place overall out of 19 boats.

Thanks to the Eugene Yacht Club and the U. of Oregon sailing team for hosting the regatta and the Ramsing family for feeding us an amazing dinner.

Complete list of results from the regatta here:

http://regatta.mit.edu/f09/outlaw/

Jackson Alexander Regatta

The weekend of October 24th, six University of Puget Sound sailors traveled to Portland for Jackson Alexander, which was hosted by Portland State University. We sailed at Willamette Sailing Club against University of Victoria, Lewis and Clark, Western Washington, University of Oregon, and Oregon State sailing teams. Saturday was sunny and clear but unfortunately wind was very light. These conditions tested sailors’ attention and knowledge of shifts, current, weight distribution, and rig tension. We fit in a few rotations on Saturday, but most of our time was spent hanging out on the docks or floating in FJs on the river in the gorgeous October sun. On Sunday, wind failed to build so the Race Committee called it. We performed well and had fun at this great JV regatta even though wind was absent for the most part. Thanks to Willamette Sailing Club for making their facilities available and to Portland State for their hard work and organization.

Our boats finished in 3rd and 8th out of 13. More detailed results can be found at http://collegesailing.org/nwicsa/results/jack%202009%20RESULTS.pdf

North/North

Yesterday we returned from the North/North Regatta in Seattle. We had 2 boats, and 10 sailors, so we rotated crew throughout the races. On Saturday we saw lots of rain and varying winds, but also a spectacular rainbow. On Sunday the weather changed, the sun even came out from time to time, but the wind died completely and B fleet was unable to finish a single race. In the end UPS finished with boats in 12th and 20th place.

12th: UPS Mike Knape and Matt Clevenger* (A), David Eva and Josephine Miller* (B)

20th: UPS John Elam and Laura Yonamine* (A), Luisa Kennefick and Pieter VerHaar* (B)

*Katherine Weiss and Hannah Schneider-Lynch rotated in as crew

For a more complete report of the results go to www.collegesailing.0rg/nwicsa

Many thanks to UW sailing team and Sail Sand Point for hosting the regatta and making boats available to us.

Pictures from the weekend coming soon.

Singlehand Qualifiers in Bellingham

Last weekend (9/26-27) the team sent 7 sailors up to the Northwest Singlehand Qualifiers regatta in Bellingham. The regatta was hosted by Western Washington University. It was a long weekend, including 14 windward-leward races, and over 10 hours on the water over two days with no breaks. The wind was very light on Saturday, blowing about 5 kts. all day, and the low winds continued through the first race on Sunday, but before the second race began, the winds built up to 10-15 kts., making for an exciting end to the day's races. Due to a good amount of equipment failure, the UPS fleet was considerably diminished by the end of the second day, but it was a fun weekend and everyone appreciated the chance to get out on the water once again.

Men's results:
9. U. Puget Sound 653 141 David Eva '13
11. U. Puget Sound 969 161 John Elam '11
15. U. Puget Sound Yello 198 Mike Knape '12
16. U. Puget Sound LBC1 205 Colin Thompson '12

Women's results:
7. U. Puget Sound 01 108 Josephine Miller '13
8. U. Puget Sound 677 112 Annin Ramsing '13

For more a more detailed report on the racing results, go to: http://www.collegesailing.org/nwicsa/results/Singlehands%202009%20RESULTS.txt

Orcas Island Team Race

Last weekend our sailing team participated in its first team race. The venue was West Sound on Orcas Island, Washington. District sailors from University of Oregon (UO), University of Washington, Oregon State , Portland State, University of Victoria (Uvic), and Lewis & Clark (LC) were all staying at a camp site in Moran State Park. Unlike many college sailing regattas, we sailed Vanguard 15s instead of CFjs. Everyone was essentially on the same playing field because of inexperience with the type of boat. Team racing is more strategy than fleet racing, where boast speed is more important. Instead of buying for finishes individually, your team (made up of 3 boats) is looking for a combined score in 10 points or less. The sailing course is also shorter, so the outcome of the race is decided at the start and finish lines.

On the racing side, Saturday was "windy" (10-12 kts, 20 kts gust) with a cold Canadian wind. I have never been so cold out on the water sailing in my life. Puget Sound sported one team in the regatta and went 1-2 (lost against UO, won against Uvic & LC) in rotation. We clearly excelled against the other division 3 teams and still need impairment to be a formidable opponent of the division 1 teams. The forcast was dismal for Sunday on Orcas Island, 25 kts and raining. However, it was sunny and warm for Washington and no wind; so no racing was achieved for the day.

Our racing team: (left to right) Allya, Collin, Jennie, Benjamin Shapiro, Mike, Micheal

Thank you to UW and WWU for hosting this event and cooking us food, OIYC for making the sailboats available to the district sailors at no charge!

To see the full results of please visit: www.collegesailing.org/nwicsa