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
