2013 Hatch Brown Trophy

The Michigan Sailing Team traveled to MIT over the weekend for the Hatch Brown Trophy hosted by MIT.  This was the second weekend in a row that the team had drove 12 hours or more to the northeast, but the intense competition seen at the NEISA and MAISA intersectionals have been definitely worth the long drive.  

Charles River

 

Saturday featured 5-20 knot winds out of the southwest, with 70 degree temperatures and sunny skies.  The conditions were shifty and puffy as always on the Charles River which caused all crews to be on top of their tactical game and boat handling in order to succeed.  The regatta consisted of three divisions per team, and since MIT has a fleet of FJ’s and Fireflies (a European two-person dinghy) two of the divisions were able to race at a time on a modified trapezoid course.



Alex Ramos and Karinne Smolenyak

The team took a race or two to get up to speed on the competitive NEISA starting line, but by the second set of the day all three divisions were consistently recording finishes in the top half of the fleet. In A division we had Alex Ramos ’15 and Karinne Smolenyak ’14, B division- Ryan Seago ’14 and Elizabeth Wallace ’14, C division Tom Etheridge ‘16 and Scott Ismail ’14 with Chris Cyr '16 crewing for a few races in A div. and skippering in C div.

Sunday featured slightly different conditions with a 5-15 knot westerly wind with partial sunshine and 70 degrees temperatures. This allowed the race officials to run 7 more races per division by the 3 pm deadline. After 17 races, Michigan finished in 15^th place of 18 which was respectable considering that it was the first regatta of the year for most of the team.

-Ryan Seago '14

Commodore Barbour Memorial Regatta Recap

On Sunday September 8, the Michigan Sailing Team hosted the inaugural Commodore John S. Barbour Memorial Regatta at Bayview Yacht Club in Detroit, MI. The team has been working for over a year to develop and host a keelboat regatta for local sailors. The team was incredibly happy with the success of the event:

We had 21 boats on the start with 20 junior sailors from the local area participating. 

Weather conditions could not be better the day of the race: wind out of the North, 15 knots. Both fleets had great starts to their distance races and continued with great sailing for the next two hours. From the start in the Detroit River the fleet continued on into Lake St. Clair and back where 2-4 ft seas were encountered by the racers. The distance race had two PHRF classes with one sailing a 15 mile point-to-point race, and the other racing a 9 mile course.

Racing wrapped around 1 pm and the team, junior sailors, racers and their families enjoyed a pleasant afternoon at the club. The team organized a variety of social activities including a taco bar, face painting, a tin can auction and live music by Little Davy & the Diplomats.

Winner of PHRF A was Wick Smith on, Mostly Harmless, a Beneteau 42. PHRF B was won by the C&C 35, Siochail, skippered by Brian Geraghty.

The Michigan Sailing Team would like to extend a big thank you to Bayview Yacht Club, all the events sponsors and the Barbour family for all their help, input and support of this amazing event. We look forward to growing the regatta with more junior sailors next year!

-Ansley Semack '14