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.
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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 3rd, 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
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
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