By: Kelly Stannard
The season has been wrapped up for just over three weeks and college sailors are now preparing for Finals. What in the world do we do with our extra time?
I reached out to some fellow college sailors from programs around the country to get a feel for what teams do after the season is over. I got the chance to talk to team members from College of Charleston, Hawaii, Yale, Vermont, Brown, Georgetown, Boston College, Wisconsin, Oregon, and Stanford. As it turns out, our offseason schedules are similar. Yes, we do have our team meetings and training. However, we get the opportunity to catch up with friends, prepare for Finals, relax and recuperate, and do some personal sailing. Each team has their own little twist. So I asked these sailors what they do during the offseason? Here is the scoop from a handful of sailors representing various college sailing programs around the county.
Thursday, December 8, 2011
Thursday, November 17, 2011
College Sailing: A Q&A with West Coast Sailors
By Kelly Stannard
This week I sat down with two of my teammates at Roger Williams University from the West Coast and they discussed what it was like growing up sailing in the Pacific. I also picked their brains about the differences between East Coast and West Coast style sailing. Meet Annie Schmidt (Sophomore / San Francisco, Calif.)
and George Saunders (Senior / San Diego, Calif.).
This week I sat down with two of my teammates at Roger Williams University from the West Coast and they discussed what it was like growing up sailing in the Pacific. I also picked their brains about the differences between East Coast and West Coast style sailing. Meet Annie Schmidt (Sophomore / San Francisco, Calif.)
and George Saunders (Senior / San Diego, Calif.).
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
A College Sailor's Life: A Win at ACC’s to Finish my Senior Fall
By: Kelly Stannard
This weekend marked the conclusion of the fall dinghy season in college sailing. Three of the biggest fall fleet races were on the line at the Pacific Coast Championship (PCC), the Women’s Atlantic Coast Championship (WACC), and the Atlantic Coast Championship (ACC).
At the PCC’s, the schools on the west coast battled it out and Stanford came out on top with Cal. Santa Barbra second and Southern Cal placing third.
The WAA’s hosted by New York Maritime had some extremely tight racing and it came down to a tie breaker between the University of Rhode Island and Yale. Yale won the tie-breaker to win the event. In third place and only one point behind the top two was Dartmouth.
The ACC’s were hosted by Harvard, where I was competing this weekend for Roger Williams University. And yes, the Hawk’s won! I couldn’t think of a better way to finish off my senior year fall season. All of my teammates sailed extremely well this weekend and our Coach, Colin Merrick insisted that we, “Stay focused ALL weekend”. This motto seemed to work out well for us and we were able to stay as consistent as we could on the shifty Charles River winning overall by 43 points. Sailing A division was Sean Bouchard, our “heavy” Jake Bartlein, and me. We finished 6th. Our B division really kept us in the running all weekend. They won their division by 20 points. Sailing in B was, Alec Anderson, Sophie Bellacosa and Tyler Wilson.
Dartmouth finished second and Brown finished up second and third.
It was a beautiful weekend with warmer than anticipated weather, even though I still wore my drysuit and a neckwarmer both days! The season is over. Time to roll up my drysuit, hang up my boots, pack away the bailer and get some homework done before the spring season comes around.
This weekend marked the conclusion of the fall dinghy season in college sailing. Three of the biggest fall fleet races were on the line at the Pacific Coast Championship (PCC), the Women’s Atlantic Coast Championship (WACC), and the Atlantic Coast Championship (ACC).
At the PCC’s, the schools on the west coast battled it out and Stanford came out on top with Cal. Santa Barbra second and Southern Cal placing third.
The WAA’s hosted by New York Maritime had some extremely tight racing and it came down to a tie breaker between the University of Rhode Island and Yale. Yale won the tie-breaker to win the event. In third place and only one point behind the top two was Dartmouth.
The ACC’s were hosted by Harvard, where I was competing this weekend for Roger Williams University. And yes, the Hawk’s won! I couldn’t think of a better way to finish off my senior year fall season. All of my teammates sailed extremely well this weekend and our Coach, Colin Merrick insisted that we, “Stay focused ALL weekend”. This motto seemed to work out well for us and we were able to stay as consistent as we could on the shifty Charles River winning overall by 43 points. Sailing A division was Sean Bouchard, our “heavy” Jake Bartlein, and me. We finished 6th. Our B division really kept us in the running all weekend. They won their division by 20 points. Sailing in B was, Alec Anderson, Sophie Bellacosa and Tyler Wilson.
Dartmouth finished second and Brown finished up second and third.
It was a beautiful weekend with warmer than anticipated weather, even though I still wore my drysuit and a neckwarmer both days! The season is over. Time to roll up my drysuit, hang up my boots, pack away the bailer and get some homework done before the spring season comes around.
Thursday, November 10, 2011
A College Sailor's Life: A Little Bit for Everyone
By Kelly Stannard
College Racing
This coming weekend will wrap-up the fall dinghy season. On the schedule is the Co-ed Atlantic Coast Championship for the 38th Fiske-Harriman-Sleigh Trophies hosted by Harvard University, the Women’s Atlantic Coast Championship hosted by New York Maritime and the 2011 Pacific Coast Championship hosted by the University of California Santa Barbara. These events are the last big “hoorah” for fall dingy racing. Some even compare the caliber of competition to the spring dingy nationals.
Teams competing at the Women’s Atlantic Coast Championship: Georgetown, Hobart & William Smith Colleges, U.S. Naval Academy, Cornell, SUNY Maritime College, St. Mary’s College of Maryland, Old Dominion, Dartmouth, Rhode Island, Connecticut College, Brown, Yale, Bowdoin, Vermont, Tufts, Eckerd, College of Charleston, South Florida
Teams competing at the Atlantic Coast Championship (co-ed): Georgetown, St. Mary's College of Maryland, Hobart and William Smith Colleges, Old Dominion, U.S. Naval Academy, SUNY Maritime College, U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, Penn, Dartmouth, Harvard, Yale, Brown, Roger Williams, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Tufts, College of Charleston, Miami (Fla.), South Florida
Teams competing at the Pacific Coast Championship: Oregon, Washington, Western Washington, Arizona State, California Maritime Academy, Cal. State - Channel Islands, Long Beach State, Cal. State - Monterey Bay, Chapman, Santa Clara, Stanford, UC Berkeley, UC Davis, UC Irvine, UCLA, UC San Diego, UC Santa Barbara, UC Santa Cruz, Hawaii, Southern California
You can follow the results of these events on TechScore.
Fitness Surprises
So I can’t speak for all the college sailing teams and their fitness routines but at Roger Williams we have weekly workouts and usually once a month our coach slaps us with a fitness test. Tuesday morning I was expecting to have a fun team workout, you know something like indoor soccer, for our last week of the season but that would be too nice. Instead, while I was half asleep and just stumbled to the gym I was greeted with the “nice” surprise of our final fitness test of the year… Fabulous!
Our fitness test includes, a timed two mile run (if you can’t run for whatever reason you compete for distance for 20 minutes on a bike), maximum rep push-ups and sit-ups, and a timed wall-sit. Our times and numbers are then graded against the U.S. Army scoring system. For example, to receive a 100% in our age category you must complete 80 sit ups (no one holds your feet, arms crossed, sit ALL the way up). I was glad to get this last fitness test out of the way even though I wasn’t ecstatic about the 7 a.m. surprise.
I was curious. What do other college teams do for their fitness? Do you have a fitness test?
Please share.
Other News
I’d like to ask all of you if you’ve voted for the US Sailing's 2011 Rolex Yachtsman & Yachtswoman of the Year Awards? These two awards are the most prestigious awards in the country for sailing. The people who win these awards are the sailors you race against, the ones who you follow their results, and the ones you race against every weekend. If you haven’t taken the time to nominate someone, think about it and send in your nomination. The awards go to sailor’s who have had outstanding results throughout the calendar year, so if someone instantly pops into your thoughts it probably means they are worthy of a nomination. Give your peers some recognition. More info here..
Who do you think deserves these awards?
College Racing
This coming weekend will wrap-up the fall dinghy season. On the schedule is the Co-ed Atlantic Coast Championship for the 38th Fiske-Harriman-Sleigh Trophies hosted by Harvard University, the Women’s Atlantic Coast Championship hosted by New York Maritime and the 2011 Pacific Coast Championship hosted by the University of California Santa Barbara. These events are the last big “hoorah” for fall dingy racing. Some even compare the caliber of competition to the spring dingy nationals.
Teams competing at the Women’s Atlantic Coast Championship: Georgetown, Hobart & William Smith Colleges, U.S. Naval Academy, Cornell, SUNY Maritime College, St. Mary’s College of Maryland, Old Dominion, Dartmouth, Rhode Island, Connecticut College, Brown, Yale, Bowdoin, Vermont, Tufts, Eckerd, College of Charleston, South Florida
Teams competing at the Atlantic Coast Championship (co-ed): Georgetown, St. Mary's College of Maryland, Hobart and William Smith Colleges, Old Dominion, U.S. Naval Academy, SUNY Maritime College, U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, Penn, Dartmouth, Harvard, Yale, Brown, Roger Williams, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Tufts, College of Charleston, Miami (Fla.), South Florida
Teams competing at the Pacific Coast Championship: Oregon, Washington, Western Washington, Arizona State, California Maritime Academy, Cal. State - Channel Islands, Long Beach State, Cal. State - Monterey Bay, Chapman, Santa Clara, Stanford, UC Berkeley, UC Davis, UC Irvine, UCLA, UC San Diego, UC Santa Barbara, UC Santa Cruz, Hawaii, Southern California
You can follow the results of these events on TechScore.
Fitness Surprises
So I can’t speak for all the college sailing teams and their fitness routines but at Roger Williams we have weekly workouts and usually once a month our coach slaps us with a fitness test. Tuesday morning I was expecting to have a fun team workout, you know something like indoor soccer, for our last week of the season but that would be too nice. Instead, while I was half asleep and just stumbled to the gym I was greeted with the “nice” surprise of our final fitness test of the year… Fabulous!
Our fitness test includes, a timed two mile run (if you can’t run for whatever reason you compete for distance for 20 minutes on a bike), maximum rep push-ups and sit-ups, and a timed wall-sit. Our times and numbers are then graded against the U.S. Army scoring system. For example, to receive a 100% in our age category you must complete 80 sit ups (no one holds your feet, arms crossed, sit ALL the way up). I was glad to get this last fitness test out of the way even though I wasn’t ecstatic about the 7 a.m. surprise.
I was curious. What do other college teams do for their fitness? Do you have a fitness test?
Please share.
Other News
I’d like to ask all of you if you’ve voted for the US Sailing's 2011 Rolex Yachtsman & Yachtswoman of the Year Awards? These two awards are the most prestigious awards in the country for sailing. The people who win these awards are the sailors you race against, the ones who you follow their results, and the ones you race against every weekend. If you haven’t taken the time to nominate someone, think about it and send in your nomination. The awards go to sailor’s who have had outstanding results throughout the calendar year, so if someone instantly pops into your thoughts it probably means they are worthy of a nomination. Give your peers some recognition. More info here..
Who do you think deserves these awards?
Monday, November 7, 2011
A College Sailor's Life: New National Champs!
By: Kelly Stannard
Lots of racing took place around the conferences this weekend. Most notably the Men’s and Women’s Singlehanded National Championships were held in Chicago.
After the first four races of day one in Chicago, junior Cam Cullman from Yale and freshman Chris Stocke from University of South Florida (USF) were in the lead followed by junior Colin Smith of Brown for the Men’s Championship. For the Women’s Championship after day one, freshman Mary Hall from
Navy was in first, senior Corey Hall of College of Charleston was in second and senior Anne Haeger of Boston College (BC) who had won the event twice before was in third.
Things got shaken up along the way and after 15 races for both the men and the women, new National Champions were named! Cam Cullman from Yale is the Men’s Singlehanded Champion. Chris Stocke of USF won the tie breaker over senior Zeke Harowitz from Charleston to place second. On the women’s course, senior Annie Haeger of BC, for the third time in four years, is the Women’s Singlehanded National Champion. Junior Claire Dennis from Yale who won the event last year placed second closely followed by her teammate, junior Emily Billing in third.
Congratulations to all the competitors and to Annie and Cam for their victories!
At the Hap Moore Team Race at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy, Tufts won the event with a 13-2 record, Boston College placed second with a record of 12-3 and Roger Williams rounded out the top three with an 11-4 record.
At the Freshman Intersectional hosted by Bowdoin (not Connecticut College as I mentioned in my last blog, my mistake), the Tufts Jumbos placed first followed by both University of Vermont teams in second and third.
The SAISA/MAISA event was dominated by the Charleston Cougars. All three Charleston teams made up the top three spots for the event! Go home team!
For full results from these events and other events visit http://scores.collegesailing.info/.
This coming weekend is another big one on the East Coast with the Atlantic Coast Dinghies and Women’s Atlantic Coast Dinghies on the schedule.
Lots of racing took place around the conferences this weekend. Most notably the Men’s and Women’s Singlehanded National Championships were held in Chicago.
After the first four races of day one in Chicago, junior Cam Cullman from Yale and freshman Chris Stocke from University of South Florida (USF) were in the lead followed by junior Colin Smith of Brown for the Men’s Championship. For the Women’s Championship after day one, freshman Mary Hall from
Navy was in first, senior Corey Hall of College of Charleston was in second and senior Anne Haeger of Boston College (BC) who had won the event twice before was in third.
Things got shaken up along the way and after 15 races for both the men and the women, new National Champions were named! Cam Cullman from Yale is the Men’s Singlehanded Champion. Chris Stocke of USF won the tie breaker over senior Zeke Harowitz from Charleston to place second. On the women’s course, senior Annie Haeger of BC, for the third time in four years, is the Women’s Singlehanded National Champion. Junior Claire Dennis from Yale who won the event last year placed second closely followed by her teammate, junior Emily Billing in third.
Congratulations to all the competitors and to Annie and Cam for their victories!
At the Hap Moore Team Race at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy, Tufts won the event with a 13-2 record, Boston College placed second with a record of 12-3 and Roger Williams rounded out the top three with an 11-4 record.
At the Freshman Intersectional hosted by Bowdoin (not Connecticut College as I mentioned in my last blog, my mistake), the Tufts Jumbos placed first followed by both University of Vermont teams in second and third.
The SAISA/MAISA event was dominated by the Charleston Cougars. All three Charleston teams made up the top three spots for the event! Go home team!
For full results from these events and other events visit http://scores.collegesailing.info/.
This coming weekend is another big one on the East Coast with the Atlantic Coast Dinghies and Women’s Atlantic Coast Dinghies on the schedule.
Thursday, November 3, 2011
Weekend College Sailing Preview
By Kelly Stannard
I have this weekend off from racing but there are plenty of events happening all over the country. The biggest event of the weekend is the 2011-12 ICSA Men's and Women's Singlehanded National Championships hosted by Chicago Yacht Club. There is the Kennedy Cup, a sloop event, at the U.S. Naval Academy, the Hap Moore Team Race at U.S. Coast Guard, a Team Race Scrimmage on the West Coast at University of California Santa Barbara (UCSB), the SAISA/MAISA at College of Charleston and the Freshmen Intersectional at Connecticut College.
The Singlehanded National Championships bring together 18 of the best men and women singlehanded sailors. All will compete for a national title to bring home to their schools, each has qualified for the event at a conference elimination. Men will sail Lasers and women will sail Laser Radials. I’m predicting it will be a tad bit chilly up in Chicago at this time of year. Racing starts tomorrow and ends Sunday. Sailors get a chance to do some open-water racing off of Belmont Harbor, the forecast for the weekend has breeze ranges from 5 to 20 knots, but you never know what you’ll get till you’re there. You can follow results on the event page, http://2011singlehanded.collegesailing.info/.
The competition will be stiff at both of these Championships. At the Men’s, junior Cam Cullman from Yale placed third last year, junior Colin Smith of Brown was seventh, junior Chris Barnard of Georgetown placed 10th and senior Sam Blouin of Hobart finished 15th. Cullman won the NEISA qualifier by more than 50 points. Four of the sailors who placed in the top five at this event last year have graduated leaving the podium open for newcomers to rise to the occasion.
The Women’s Singlehanded Nationals this year will have many of the sailors who competed last year back again to try and win the title. Four of the top five sailors from 2010 are returning, making for some tight and exciting races. Junior Claire Dennis of Yale edged out senior, Annie Haeger of Boston College by one point to win the event last year. In 2009, Haeger of BC won the event while Dennis took second. I’m guessing Haeger will be looking for a re-match against Dennis this year (Haeger’s senior year)! Also placing in the top five last year was sophomore, Arielle DeLisser from Hobart and William Smith who placed third and junior, Emily Billing of Yale who placed fourth.
Other events on the weekend schedule include the Hap Moore team race at Coast Guard where teams from NESIA and MAISA have a chance to get their feet wet with a fall team race. There is the sloop event at Navy where teams from all conferences will be competing in Navy 44’s, some more NEISA and MAISA teams will be throwing down at Charleston, the freshmen will have a chance to shine at the Freshman Intersectional hosted by Connecticut College and some of the West Coast schools will be at the Team Race Scrimmage at UCSB.
If you’re sailing at one of these events or a regatta we didn’t mention let us know how you’re preparing, and what you’re looking forward to!
It should be a busy weekend of high-level college sailing as usual. Which school do you think will win at the Men’s and Women’s Singlehanded Nationals? Add your comments below.
Competitors at Men’s Singlehanded by conference:
MAISA:
John Wallace '14 St. Mary's College of Maryland
Chris Barnard '13 Georgetown University
Samuel Blouin '12 Hobart & Williams Smith
Philip Alley '12 Cornell University
MCSA:
Andrew Fox '13, University of Wisconsin
Joseph Kutschenreuter '12, University of Wisconsin
Harrison Burton '14, University of Minnesota
NEISA:
Cam Cullman '13, Yale University
Colin Smith 13', Brown University
Lucas Adams '15, Brown University
Michael Zonnenberg '15, University of Vermont
NWICSA:
Elliot Drake '12, University of Oregon
PCCSC:
Mateo Vargas '14, Stanford University
Kieran Chung '15, Stanford University
SAISA:
Zeke Horowitz '12, College of Charleston
Christopher Stocke' 15 University of South Florida
David Hernandez '12, University of Miami
SEISA:
Trey Hartman '15, Texas A&M Galveston
Competitors at Women’s Singlehanded by conference:
MAISA:
Arielle DeLisser, Hobart & William Smith
Marissa Lihan U.S. Naval Academy
Giuditta deLaghi Hampton University
Mary Hall U.S. Naval Academy
MCSA:
Lauren-Alyssa Knoles Michigan State University
Ellen Dubois '14, University of Michigan
Natalie Sinn '12, University of Minnesota
NEISA:
Anne Hager '12 Boston College
Claire Dennis '13, Yale University
Emily Billings '13, Yale University
Sky Adams '14, Brown University
Jessica Claflin '13, Brown University
NWICSA:
Erika Vranizan '12 Western Washington University
PCCSC:
Molly McKinney '14, Stanford University
Kaitlyn Baab '15, Stanford University
SAISA:
Corey Hall '12, College of Charleston
Dominique Wright '15 University of South Florida
SEISA:
Rebekka Urbina '12, Texas A&M University Galveston
I have this weekend off from racing but there are plenty of events happening all over the country. The biggest event of the weekend is the 2011-12 ICSA Men's and Women's Singlehanded National Championships hosted by Chicago Yacht Club. There is the Kennedy Cup, a sloop event, at the U.S. Naval Academy, the Hap Moore Team Race at U.S. Coast Guard, a Team Race Scrimmage on the West Coast at University of California Santa Barbara (UCSB), the SAISA/MAISA at College of Charleston and the Freshmen Intersectional at Connecticut College.
The Singlehanded National Championships bring together 18 of the best men and women singlehanded sailors. All will compete for a national title to bring home to their schools, each has qualified for the event at a conference elimination. Men will sail Lasers and women will sail Laser Radials. I’m predicting it will be a tad bit chilly up in Chicago at this time of year. Racing starts tomorrow and ends Sunday. Sailors get a chance to do some open-water racing off of Belmont Harbor, the forecast for the weekend has breeze ranges from 5 to 20 knots, but you never know what you’ll get till you’re there. You can follow results on the event page, http://2011singlehanded.collegesailing.info/.
The competition will be stiff at both of these Championships. At the Men’s, junior Cam Cullman from Yale placed third last year, junior Colin Smith of Brown was seventh, junior Chris Barnard of Georgetown placed 10th and senior Sam Blouin of Hobart finished 15th. Cullman won the NEISA qualifier by more than 50 points. Four of the sailors who placed in the top five at this event last year have graduated leaving the podium open for newcomers to rise to the occasion.
The Women’s Singlehanded Nationals this year will have many of the sailors who competed last year back again to try and win the title. Four of the top five sailors from 2010 are returning, making for some tight and exciting races. Junior Claire Dennis of Yale edged out senior, Annie Haeger of Boston College by one point to win the event last year. In 2009, Haeger of BC won the event while Dennis took second. I’m guessing Haeger will be looking for a re-match against Dennis this year (Haeger’s senior year)! Also placing in the top five last year was sophomore, Arielle DeLisser from Hobart and William Smith who placed third and junior, Emily Billing of Yale who placed fourth.
Other events on the weekend schedule include the Hap Moore team race at Coast Guard where teams from NESIA and MAISA have a chance to get their feet wet with a fall team race. There is the sloop event at Navy where teams from all conferences will be competing in Navy 44’s, some more NEISA and MAISA teams will be throwing down at Charleston, the freshmen will have a chance to shine at the Freshman Intersectional hosted by Connecticut College and some of the West Coast schools will be at the Team Race Scrimmage at UCSB.
If you’re sailing at one of these events or a regatta we didn’t mention let us know how you’re preparing, and what you’re looking forward to!
It should be a busy weekend of high-level college sailing as usual. Which school do you think will win at the Men’s and Women’s Singlehanded Nationals? Add your comments below.
Competitors at Men’s Singlehanded by conference:
MAISA:
John Wallace '14 St. Mary's College of Maryland
Chris Barnard '13 Georgetown University
Samuel Blouin '12 Hobart & Williams Smith
Philip Alley '12 Cornell University
MCSA:
Andrew Fox '13, University of Wisconsin
Joseph Kutschenreuter '12, University of Wisconsin
Harrison Burton '14, University of Minnesota
NEISA:
Cam Cullman '13, Yale University
Colin Smith 13', Brown University
Lucas Adams '15, Brown University
Michael Zonnenberg '15, University of Vermont
NWICSA:
Elliot Drake '12, University of Oregon
PCCSC:
Mateo Vargas '14, Stanford University
Kieran Chung '15, Stanford University
SAISA:
Zeke Horowitz '12, College of Charleston
Christopher Stocke' 15 University of South Florida
David Hernandez '12, University of Miami
SEISA:
Trey Hartman '15, Texas A&M Galveston
Competitors at Women’s Singlehanded by conference:
MAISA:
Arielle DeLisser, Hobart & William Smith
Marissa Lihan U.S. Naval Academy
Giuditta deLaghi Hampton University
Mary Hall U.S. Naval Academy
MCSA:
Lauren-Alyssa Knoles Michigan State University
Ellen Dubois '14, University of Michigan
Natalie Sinn '12, University of Minnesota
NEISA:
Anne Hager '12 Boston College
Claire Dennis '13, Yale University
Emily Billings '13, Yale University
Sky Adams '14, Brown University
Jessica Claflin '13, Brown University
NWICSA:
Erika Vranizan '12 Western Washington University
PCCSC:
Molly McKinney '14, Stanford University
Kaitlyn Baab '15, Stanford University
SAISA:
Corey Hall '12, College of Charleston
Dominique Wright '15 University of South Florida
SEISA:
Rebekka Urbina '12, Texas A&M University Galveston
Monday, October 31, 2011
A College Sailor's Life: Sailing in the Snow!
By: Kelly Stannard
As I said in my Thursday blog, this was a big weekend for schools in NEISA with both the co-ed and the women’s qualifying events for Atlantic Coast Dinghies. Both of these events were held in Boston, ladies were at Harvard, and the Schell was at MIT.
All over New England the weather was brutal, Saturday was one of the nastiest days of sailing I have been a part of in awhile. At Yale, racing was canceled due to white out snow conditions!
At the Schell and the Urn it was freezing cold with pelting rain and big breeze on the Charles always means deadly auto-tacks are lurking on the course. I only sailed the first four races and luckily the rain hadn’t started yet. The rest of the day the heavy crews battled the elements and put up with the terrible conditions while we watched from inside one of MIT’s unheated boat bays. I’m not sure which was colder, sailing, or watching sailing!
For Sunday we had a delayed report time to allow for the wintery conditions to clear and make traveling safe! Who ever thought we would be dealing with a winter weather advisory before Halloween? When we got to MIT, the boats had snow on them and many competitors enjoyed tossing a snowball or two at their teammates. I was expecting another day of sitting on land because high winds were forecasted for most of the day so I made sure to pack plenty of warm layers again! It turned out that the forecast wasn’t too accurate and it was lighter breeze. I was able to sail all day in the 3-16 knot shifty winds; it was exciting and scary all at once. The top of the beats had some hairy shifts and large unpredictable puffs made for wild auto-tacks. It was absolutely crucial to be able to have inter-boat communication about the puffs coming down at you and to be on the same page to determine whether you’d flop right over or dig into the shift a little more before you decide what it’ll give you. My skipper Sean Bouchard, heavy crew Tyler Wilson, and I managed to figure out the ways of the river and we won A division by 30 points!
As expected the competition was tight for both events and unfortunately despite the wide talent pool at both the Schell and the Urn, only the top 7 from Schell and top 8 from Urn will move on to Atlantic Coast Dinghies. TechScore has full racing summaries and scores, http://scores.collegesailing.info/. The Roger Williams Hawks placed 5th at Schell and unfortunately we missed qualifying at the Urn by one place.
As I said in my Thursday blog, this was a big weekend for schools in NEISA with both the co-ed and the women’s qualifying events for Atlantic Coast Dinghies. Both of these events were held in Boston, ladies were at Harvard, and the Schell was at MIT.
All over New England the weather was brutal, Saturday was one of the nastiest days of sailing I have been a part of in awhile. At Yale, racing was canceled due to white out snow conditions!
 | |
| Tyler Macdonald and Jake Bartlein give Coach a thumbs up. (Photo by Alex Rudkin) |
For Sunday we had a delayed report time to allow for the wintery conditions to clear and make traveling safe! Who ever thought we would be dealing with a winter weather advisory before Halloween? When we got to MIT, the boats had snow on them and many competitors enjoyed tossing a snowball or two at their teammates. I was expecting another day of sitting on land because high winds were forecasted for most of the day so I made sure to pack plenty of warm layers again! It turned out that the forecast wasn’t too accurate and it was lighter breeze. I was able to sail all day in the 3-16 knot shifty winds; it was exciting and scary all at once. The top of the beats had some hairy shifts and large unpredictable puffs made for wild auto-tacks. It was absolutely crucial to be able to have inter-boat communication about the puffs coming down at you and to be on the same page to determine whether you’d flop right over or dig into the shift a little more before you decide what it’ll give you. My skipper Sean Bouchard, heavy crew Tyler Wilson, and I managed to figure out the ways of the river and we won A division by 30 points!
As expected the competition was tight for both events and unfortunately despite the wide talent pool at both the Schell and the Urn, only the top 7 from Schell and top 8 from Urn will move on to Atlantic Coast Dinghies. TechScore has full racing summaries and scores, http://scores.collegesailing.info/. The Roger Williams Hawks placed 5th at Schell and unfortunately we missed qualifying at the Urn by one place.
Thursday, October 27, 2011
A College Sailor's Life: A Big Weekend for NEISA Teams
By: Kelly Stannard
This weekend is an extremely important weekend for all teams in New England. Both the co-ed and women’s qualifiers for the Atlantic Coast Dinghies (ACD) are taking place, the Schell at MIT and the Women's Victorian Urn at Harvard University. At the Schell, the top eight teams will advance to the ACD and at the Urn, the top 7 NEISA teams will advance to the Women’s Atlantic Coast Dinghies.
We’ve had some solid results at the Schell in the past. The last two years the Hawks have consistently placed 2nd and we won in 2006 in some epic conditions that were so windy the regatta organizers put the storm sails on the Tech Dinghies. Our women’s team has never qualified for the ACD but we are hoping to change that this weekend!
This is a time for the top NEISA teams to throw down and prove who the best of the North East is. For the Schell, Roger Williams we will be sending Alec Anderson, Sophie Bellacosa and Tyler Wilson to represent A division. Representing the B division will be Sean Bouchard, myself, and Jake Bartlein. Representing the Hawks at the Urn will be Haley Powell, Alyssa Seifert, and Jaye Fay in A division with Annie Schmidt, Wendy Reuss, and Rachel Perry sailing in B division.
Sometimes teams will break up their A and B division teams and send them to different events for the weekend but I expect each team to send their top teams to these two important qualifiers, it’ll make for some challenging competition. In the latest Sailing World Rankings, which came out October 13th, ten of the twenty co-ed teams are from NEISA and nine of the fifteen women’s teams are from NEISA. All eighteen teams at the Schell will be looking to make it to ACD and all thirteen NEISA teams at the Urn will be pushing themselves to go on to the WACD, but only the top eight and the top seven will go on.
Many events this fall have had light and shifty conditions including the Hoyt last weekend, the Hatch Brown, the Captain Hurst, the Mrs. Hurst, the Moody, etc. I am hoping that the experience with unpredictable breeze has prepared the Hawks to perform on the Charles this weekend which notoriously brings some shifty and squirrely conditions. Our success at the Captain Hurst can be attributed to our team being able to stay focused and sail on the conservative side in the mentally exhausting conditions. I think we will need to be in a similar mindset for this coming weekend.
There will certainly be a high level of competition this weekend and I’m looking forward to seeing how it all unfolds! You can follow the results at http://scores.collegesailing.info/. I wish us luck and I wish all my fellow NEISA teams luck. I’ll see you all on the Charles!
This weekend is an extremely important weekend for all teams in New England. Both the co-ed and women’s qualifiers for the Atlantic Coast Dinghies (ACD) are taking place, the Schell at MIT and the Women's Victorian Urn at Harvard University. At the Schell, the top eight teams will advance to the ACD and at the Urn, the top 7 NEISA teams will advance to the Women’s Atlantic Coast Dinghies.
We’ve had some solid results at the Schell in the past. The last two years the Hawks have consistently placed 2nd and we won in 2006 in some epic conditions that were so windy the regatta organizers put the storm sails on the Tech Dinghies. Our women’s team has never qualified for the ACD but we are hoping to change that this weekend!
This is a time for the top NEISA teams to throw down and prove who the best of the North East is. For the Schell, Roger Williams we will be sending Alec Anderson, Sophie Bellacosa and Tyler Wilson to represent A division. Representing the B division will be Sean Bouchard, myself, and Jake Bartlein. Representing the Hawks at the Urn will be Haley Powell, Alyssa Seifert, and Jaye Fay in A division with Annie Schmidt, Wendy Reuss, and Rachel Perry sailing in B division.
Sometimes teams will break up their A and B division teams and send them to different events for the weekend but I expect each team to send their top teams to these two important qualifiers, it’ll make for some challenging competition. In the latest Sailing World Rankings, which came out October 13th, ten of the twenty co-ed teams are from NEISA and nine of the fifteen women’s teams are from NEISA. All eighteen teams at the Schell will be looking to make it to ACD and all thirteen NEISA teams at the Urn will be pushing themselves to go on to the WACD, but only the top eight and the top seven will go on.
Many events this fall have had light and shifty conditions including the Hoyt last weekend, the Hatch Brown, the Captain Hurst, the Mrs. Hurst, the Moody, etc. I am hoping that the experience with unpredictable breeze has prepared the Hawks to perform on the Charles this weekend which notoriously brings some shifty and squirrely conditions. Our success at the Captain Hurst can be attributed to our team being able to stay focused and sail on the conservative side in the mentally exhausting conditions. I think we will need to be in a similar mindset for this coming weekend.
There will certainly be a high level of competition this weekend and I’m looking forward to seeing how it all unfolds! You can follow the results at http://scores.collegesailing.info/. I wish us luck and I wish all my fellow NEISA teams luck. I’ll see you all on the Charles!
Monday, October 24, 2011
A College Sailor's Life: Light Winds and Rings
By Kelly Stannard
Another weekend finished leaves me with only three more weekends of racing for my senior fall season! It’s hard to believe how fast it goes by. For those of you who read my blog on Friday, you know I was at the Hoyt Trophy at Brown, hosted by Boston College.
At this event we had some trying conditions on both days. Saturday each division waited around for the breeze to settle and the first race started at 1 P.M., each division was able to get in four races. We raced in 3-10 knots of breeze, and witnessed some 90 degree shifts swinging from North to West. After racing the Hawks, in record time, de-rigged and hurried back to school to get dressed up for our Ring Ceremony to celebrate our Team Racing National Championship in June. We got back to campus with only a half hour to get ready and look our very best in front of the many people who came out to celebrate. Guest s included, our University President, Vice President, Athletic Director, Assistant Athletic Director, parents (including mine), fans, friends etc., the list goes on and on.
Our Global Heritage Hall was the perfect setting for the ceremony with its great view of the bay and open space. Teammates, Alex Rudkin, Josh Gershuney and Mark Gargula spent the day making it look wonderful, they even managed to get one of our boats rigged up inside! It was a simple gathering with some great appetizers; some socializing and we re-watched Sailgrooves coverage of the final race against Boston College and our team celebrating afterwards. Even though I have probably seen the videos over 20 times they still give me the chills when I watch our boats cross the finish line in a 1-2 combo knowing we had won our first nationals. It was awesome to re-share the moment with everyone who came and to know that our school supports us so much. Although we didn’t get our championship rings Saturday night (there was a scheduling issue, they’ll be here by the end of the week) we finally saw what they were going to look like, they are pretty awesome. I can’t wait to get mine and wear it (pictures to come ASAP)!
After an exciting night with the team and dinner with my parents, it was back to Brown Sunday morning. A division set out and was able to get in one race before the breeze turned off. We had quite the long on-land postponement, giving us some time to toss a football and beat BC in a little parking lot soccer scrimmage. It was a 4 v 4 game with Aigle’s and sandals as make shift goal posts. The only rule was that for a goal to count the ball must pass through the “posts” on the ground. I got roped into this and played in my Ugg boots, not the best for soccer I must say, and the game got pretty heated! People lost their spray pants and traded them in for some athletic shorts and sneakers to try to get a competitive edge, unfortunately the sneakers weren’t enough for BC and they just couldn’t handle the soccer skills of RWU, we won 3-0. After everyone was winded from soccer we went back to tossing the football (I can say I successful learned to spiral a full sized football this weekend thanks to the help of my teammates). After we also grew tired of football we retreated to our van and had some pizza delivered. A hot pizza lunch and some Orange Crush soda gave us just enough energy to go out for our last set.
B division went out for two races followed by A division finishing their last race just before the time limit. Overall we finished up in 5th place with Boston College winning, Yale placing second, and Charleston placing 3rd. It was another challenging weekend with light and shifty conditions but it should prove to be good practice for the Schell next weekend at MIT.
At the Stu Nelson at Connecticut College our women’s team placed 3rd, also competing with fickle winds, at the Oberg we finished 9th overall, and at our home event we had three different RWU teams compete, they finished, 2nd, 3rd and 6th! Overall, it was another solid weekend for the Hawks.
Another weekend finished leaves me with only three more weekends of racing for my senior fall season! It’s hard to believe how fast it goes by. For those of you who read my blog on Friday, you know I was at the Hoyt Trophy at Brown, hosted by Boston College.
At this event we had some trying conditions on both days. Saturday each division waited around for the breeze to settle and the first race started at 1 P.M., each division was able to get in four races. We raced in 3-10 knots of breeze, and witnessed some 90 degree shifts swinging from North to West. After racing the Hawks, in record time, de-rigged and hurried back to school to get dressed up for our Ring Ceremony to celebrate our Team Racing National Championship in June. We got back to campus with only a half hour to get ready and look our very best in front of the many people who came out to celebrate. Guest s included, our University President, Vice President, Athletic Director, Assistant Athletic Director, parents (including mine), fans, friends etc., the list goes on and on.
Our Global Heritage Hall was the perfect setting for the ceremony with its great view of the bay and open space. Teammates, Alex Rudkin, Josh Gershuney and Mark Gargula spent the day making it look wonderful, they even managed to get one of our boats rigged up inside! It was a simple gathering with some great appetizers; some socializing and we re-watched Sailgrooves coverage of the final race against Boston College and our team celebrating afterwards. Even though I have probably seen the videos over 20 times they still give me the chills when I watch our boats cross the finish line in a 1-2 combo knowing we had won our first nationals. It was awesome to re-share the moment with everyone who came and to know that our school supports us so much. Although we didn’t get our championship rings Saturday night (there was a scheduling issue, they’ll be here by the end of the week) we finally saw what they were going to look like, they are pretty awesome. I can’t wait to get mine and wear it (pictures to come ASAP)!
After an exciting night with the team and dinner with my parents, it was back to Brown Sunday morning. A division set out and was able to get in one race before the breeze turned off. We had quite the long on-land postponement, giving us some time to toss a football and beat BC in a little parking lot soccer scrimmage. It was a 4 v 4 game with Aigle’s and sandals as make shift goal posts. The only rule was that for a goal to count the ball must pass through the “posts” on the ground. I got roped into this and played in my Ugg boots, not the best for soccer I must say, and the game got pretty heated! People lost their spray pants and traded them in for some athletic shorts and sneakers to try to get a competitive edge, unfortunately the sneakers weren’t enough for BC and they just couldn’t handle the soccer skills of RWU, we won 3-0. After everyone was winded from soccer we went back to tossing the football (I can say I successful learned to spiral a full sized football this weekend thanks to the help of my teammates). After we also grew tired of football we retreated to our van and had some pizza delivered. A hot pizza lunch and some Orange Crush soda gave us just enough energy to go out for our last set.
B division went out for two races followed by A division finishing their last race just before the time limit. Overall we finished up in 5th place with Boston College winning, Yale placing second, and Charleston placing 3rd. It was another challenging weekend with light and shifty conditions but it should prove to be good practice for the Schell next weekend at MIT.
At the Stu Nelson at Connecticut College our women’s team placed 3rd, also competing with fickle winds, at the Oberg we finished 9th overall, and at our home event we had three different RWU teams compete, they finished, 2nd, 3rd and 6th! Overall, it was another solid weekend for the Hawks.
Friday, October 21, 2011
A College Sailor's Life: We Can't Wait to Get our Rings!
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| Kelly and her teammates last weekend at Dartmouth. |
This weekend I am happy to say I am staying in Rhode Island to race at Brown University, and competing for the Hoyt Trophy. This makes getting back to Roger Williams Saturday night a breeze! It is homecoming weekend on our campus and Saturday night the University is honoring our National Championship win at the ICSA/Gill Team Race Nationals in June. We will be receiving championship rings (well maybe ring pops until the rings arrive), while being acknowledged by the campus community, parents and friends.
Our team will be taking the same crew from last weekend to the Hoyt Trophy hosted at Brown, Alec Anderson, Sophie Bellacosa, Tyler Wilson (all three were NEISA sailors of the week for helping us win at Dartmouth last weekend) Sean Bouchard, Jake Bartlein and me. We are hoping that the six of us can keep the momentum rolling from our win last weekend and perform similarly tomorrow and Sunday!
For those of you who don’t know, Brown’s sailing facility has been Edgewood Yacht Club for years. Unfortunately, a tragic fire destroyed the historic club in January of this year. Not only did this have a tremendous impact on the Edgewood Yacht Club’s members it directly affected the Brown sailing team.
I talked with Colin Smith, a junior on the Brown University team about what it has been like this year and the impact its had on the team. The team had locker rooms on the bottom floor of the Edgewood Yacht Club where they stored their personal sailing gear. “The major bummer was that we lost thousands of dollars worth of gear. Everyone on the team was affected whether it was losing a pair of boots or all their private sailing equipment. The school has been very supportive and in the next few years we hope to have a new permanent facility that should be one of the best in college sailing,” explained Colin.
For the Brown team, “initially it was pretty tough after the fire,” he reflected, “we would have to change in our cars and couldn't get out of the elements. After a month or so of roughing it, the school bought us a large portable building that we use.” This portable building gave them some shelter from the chilly Rhode Island weather throughout the spring season.
I’m glad to report the Brown team has been able to prevail through this tragedy and they are looking forward to hosting the Hoyt this weekend!
My fellow Hawks are also competing at the ladies event at Connecticut College (the Stu Nelson), a team is going to the Oberg hosted by Harvard and we’ll have a team racing at home for the Southern Series event.
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