By: Tony Collins
Congratulations to the Coast Guard Academy for their 1st place finish at the Eckerd Intersectional, hosted by Eckerd College. Fifteen schools raced it out in sunny St. Petersburg, Fla. The venue's reputation was withheld, teams saw lots of breeze, lots of chop, and countless reasons to remember why they compete in the sport. Saturday morning, sailors arrived to a humid, 80-degree waterfront facility. Upon shuttling the competitors and coaches to Eckerd’s floating houseboat, competitors faced a growing southerly breeze direction and a tide motion which made the racecourse extremely choppy. Throughout the day, the wavelength of the chop grew wider and wider, making for some surfable swell. In addition to the 20 knot winds, this choppy water tested the sailors skill and ability to keep their boats moving fast upwind as well as downwind.
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