Oct. 13, 2011

Even though we thought we might have gotten through the early fall weather pattern that left us windless for much of the start of our season, the warm, light winds returned again and made it difficult to race on the East Coast this past weekend. The Navy team had a full slate of events with five regattas, including the first of its major home events of the season.

Seventeen of the top women's teams in the country showed up in Annapolis for the Navy Fall Women's Intersectional, to sail in three divisions, with 51 boats on the course. A light but steady southeasterly breeze filled in on Saturday and allowed for a full day of sailing. The conditions were challenging with a great deal of pleasure boat traffic in the Severn River on a beautiful Boat Show weekend, but Navy's team was used to the conditions and had a very solid day. The wind never filled in on Sunday, so the first day's results became final, with Navy finishing third overall. Mary Hall and Laura Burzenski were third in A division, Killian Corbishley and Kristin Rovito were seventh in B, and Marissa Lihan finished second in C division.

Further North the wind was a little better and Navy team got in some real nice sailing at the HWS Fall Intersectional in Geneva, N.Y. The regatta drew 18 strong teams from all over the country and Navy finished third overall. Jason Carminati and Julie Digiovanni finished sixth in A division while Alex Ramos and Saverio Maldari were fourth in B.

In yet another competitive intersectional, Navy squared off against the best teams in the Northeast at the Moody Trophy in Rhode Island. The fleet was extremely tight throughout the event and Navy ended up sixth overall out of 18 teams. Taylor Vann and Jocelynn Knudsen finished 12th in A division, while Maichael Grove and Caroline Lockett were an impressive 2nd in B.

The wind was even lighter this weekend in New York City than it was in Annapolis, and the fleet struggled to get racing in at the Carl Van Duyne MAISA Men's Singlehanded Championship. After two light races on Saturday morning, the sailors waited ashore all afternoon until a late day light seabreeze filled in and three more races were completed as the sun was setting over Manhattan. The wind never filled in on Sunday and the results from the five completed races stood. George Prieto finished 11th and Gabriel Tang 17th in the 18-boat fleet.

The fifth event of the weekend turned out to be a non-event as there just wasn't enough wind in Washington, D.C., to complete the Tom Curtis Regatta. Only two races were sailed all weekend, but even though it's not an official event, Navy's Phil Youngberg and Alex Asuncion won both races. Emma Ferris and Julie Miller were ready to sail in B division, but never got the chance.

After insufficient winds led to a non event on the scheduled dates of the MAISA Women's Single-handed Championship for the Faye Bennet Trophy, our conference Executive Committee voted to attempt a re-sail of the event on Columbus Day at the Naval Academy to determine the four sailors who will advance to the Nationals.

Unfortunately, the wind did not cooperate on Columbus Day either and despite the Race Committees efforts to get the competitors on the water and get a course set twice, and then extending the last start time until sunset, there were never sustained winds over three knots all day and no races were completed. Having tried twice to sail the event, the MAISA Executive Committee will now review resumes submitted by the competitors and select the best four to represent our conference at the Nationals in Chicago on November 4-6.

# GO NAVY #