Saturday, January 21, 2012

Sugar Bowl 2011

Sailing Team members Sammy Barbour (‘12), Kathryn Burt (‘13), Matt Graham (‘13), Ryan Seago (‘14) and Scott Ismail (‘14) traveled to New Orleans, Louisiana for the Allstate Sugar Bowl regatta to finish off 2011. The Sugar Bowl was an intersectional hosted by Tulane out of the Southern Yacht Club, on Lake Ponchartrain. A total of 11 teams attended with Wisconsin and Ohio State from the MCSA as well as many southern teams, providing a unique match up.

The team members left Michigan on December 27th for the two-day drive down to Louisiana. Matt met the group there as he drove himself from Oklahoma. Racing began on the 30th with four races in the A division followed by four races in the B division. The air was light and shifty, but the race committee did a good job of continuing racing. More races brought Michigan to second place overall at the end of day one.

On the last day of the regatta, and the last day of the year, the club was beset by heavy fog. Racing was delayed a little while because of the foggy, windless weather. Eventually the race committee sent the fleet off for two more rotations per division. Racing ended after 3 p.m. with ten races total in each division. Michigan won the regatta overall by a point and finished second in each division. Congratulations to the 2011 Sugar Bowl regatta champions, and Sammy Barbour, who sailed his last college regatta. Full results can be found here.

The Michigan Sailing Team would also like to thank the Gahagan family, who were so kind to host the team members and provide them with a New Orleans experience full of Southern hospitality!