Chicago Match Race Center Spring Invitational

Over the weekend, a few upcoming match racers from our team competed in the Chicago Match Race Center Spring Invitational. After rolling out of Ann Arbor at 1 pm, we made it right on time for our practice slot on Friday. Since our team consisting of Will Cyr, Chris Cyr, Ryan Seago, Tom Etheridge and a high school kid named Austin, had never all sailed together before, we practiced hard to get through all possible maneuvers.

The conditions throughout the weekend were light and variable, with wind delays occurring every few hours or so. This was due to the thermal from lake Michigan fighting the persistent south westerly breeze. Chicago was not the windy city this weekend! The next day we only managed to complete 4 flights out of the 12 necessary to complete a full format “round robin”, where everyone races each other for semifinals rankings. We ended the first day with a 2-1 record.  We ended the day with a bye round, waiting aboard the large house boat sailing center during a light air postponement.

On Sunday, we sailed two more races before the regatta was ended due to time limits. We finished with a record of 4-1, tied for second place with Don Wilson the founder of CMRC and Nathan Hollerbach.. In a three way tie, there are ISAF rules applicable to any situation. We lost the tie breaker to Don Wilson and placed 3^rd,  even though we had beaten him. This was a great tune up event for our fall lead up to the ICSA Match Racing Championship to be held in St. Petersburg, FL. 

 -Will Cyr '14

Gopher Invite

The University of Minnesota hosted the Gopher Invitational this past weekend, May 11-12, at the Wayzata Community Sailing Center.  The University of Michigan sent 5 freshman sailors to the event. The group nicknamed themselves 'The Dream Team' and consisted of Blake Carlson '15, Zachary Frankel '14, Taylor Landeryou '16, Cody Oeung '14, and Andrew Roth '15. Twelve teams from the MCSA competed, and notably the new St. Olaf College sailing team raced in their first regatta.

The first day of sailing was canceled due to extreme wind conditions of 30-40 knots.  It was reported that 17 boats simultaneously capsized at a near by regatta.  During the down time there were lectures on racing strategy, tactics, and rules.  Sunday's races went smoothly. The winds were strong in the morning, but became shifty by the end of the day. The novice wolverine sailors stayed competitive all afternoon on the gated windward-leeward course, but were ultimately beaten out by the veteran gopher sailors.  The young group learned a lot from the experience and had a fun time on and off the water.

-Zachary Frankel '14

2013 MCSA Team Racing Championship

The team competed over the weekend of May 4-5 in the 2013 MCSA Team Racing Championship hosted by the Wayzata Community Sailing Center. With the winter academic semester just ending a few days before the event, the 11 hour car ride to Minnesota wasn’t as dreadful as usual. With most of the MCSA teams in the middle of their finals, the regatta only featured four teams, Northwestern, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan. This was a disappointment because this meant that the MCSA had to forfeit one of its two team racing berths to nationals to another conference.
Saturday’s conditions on Wayzata Bay consisted of chilly 40 degree temperatures, cloudy skies, and a 5-10 knot northerly wind. The conditions proved to be tricky because of the massive velocity changes on the course and shifty conditions. This meant that no lead was ever safe! Our team was comprised of Matt Graham ’13, Karinne Smolenyak ‘14 Elizabeth Wallace ’14, Ryan Seago ’14, Will Cyr ’14, Ryan Davison ’15, Chris Cyr ’16, Emily Gazall ’16, Sophie Lucente ’16 and Tom Etheridge ’16. Throughout the regatta the team performed well, but after 3 round robins the team finished in second place with Wisconsin winning the regatta with a perfect record. In two of the three races vs. Wisconsin the team had the lead, but weren’t able to hold on to our winning combination. With the co-ed team being eliminated from the postseason, this means that this year only our women’s team will be headed to St. Petersburg to compete in the ICSA women’s semifinals starting on May 21st. Good Luck ladies!

-Ryan Seago '14