A Recap from the Weekend of April 7-8

Jan Friis/Lynne Marchiando Team Race

Seven members of the Michigan Sailing Team drove out to Boston for the Jan Friis/Lynne Marchiando Team Race at Tufts/MIT a few weeks ago. Ryan Seago, Matt Graham, Will Cyr, Kirsten Corneliussen, Karinne Smolenyak, and Scott Ismail sailed FJs and Fireflies at the event. The regatta is hosted jointly by Tufts and MIT, with racing in 2 separate fleets at both locations on Saturday. The top 4 teams from each fleet advance to sail at Tufts on Sunday and the remaining teams race at MIT.

Saturday sailing out of MIT on the Charles River was a little rough with strong team racing performances by the other schools, but the Michigan team learned a lot from the close competition and many races over the course of the day.

Sunday sailing was better and the team managed to keep the races much closer. The level of racing is much higher than what our team can practice for, but we had a strong showing nonetheless.  After sailing, the team was fed some good food and given Easter baskets by their wonderful hosts the Cove family. Overall the weekend was a success and an incredible learning experience for all those sailing.

Wet Your Willie

The same weekend as our team race group was sailing in Boston, an incredible twenty-one members of the Michigan Sailing Team made their way to Chicago for the Wet Your Willie regatta at Northwestern. Everyone who went got a chance to sail over the course of the weekend on one of the 3 Michigan teams competing. The sailors all left Friday during the day and arrived at one of three houses to stay the night.

Saturday morning, almost everyone sailed, and the weather was beautiful. There were medium winds around 8-10 knots with some chop on Lake Michigan and it was very sunny. All 3 teams did well with strong performances by our newer team members.  After sailing, the team went back to Rachel Barch’s house to shower, eat dinner as a group, and rest up for Sunday’s sailing.

Sunday morning, the rest of the gang got a chance to sail. The weather remained beautiful, but the wind built over the course of the day to the high teens. Many teams were struggling to keep control of their boats in the strong winds by the end of the day and the regatta ended a little early. Our team got 2nd, 3rd, and 8th overall.