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Volume CXXXII, Number 4 |
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Sailors brave the weather
MELANIE KEENE
STAFF WRITER
With extreme winds, the sailors found last weekend's regattas to be extremely challenging. The Women's team finished the best over all, taking a fifth out of 14th in their regatta.
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| Crew Jackie Haskell '05 (front) and Allie Binkowski '05 (back) work together to reach max velocity. (Karsten Moran, Bowdoin Orient) |
The light and fluky winds at Boston University's President's Cup on Sunday allowed for only eight races total, but they made the best out of the situation. Laura Windecker '03 and Caitlin Moore '06 sailed A division while Allison Binkowski '03 sailed B division crew with Jackie Haskell '05.
The Binkowski / Haskell team sailed with their usual intensity, achieving several top three finishes and placing fifth overall in their division.
The coed team had a more frustrating regatta at Tufts' Hood Intersectional. Tyler Dunphy '03 skippered A division with crew Melanie Keene '03 and Ryan Cauley '03 skippered B division with crews Elliott Wright '05 and Whitney Rauschenbach '06.
They fought against the ultimate wind extremes possible during a regatta. On Saturday, the team faced the remainder of the hurricane and were forced to endure gusts of 30 knots, while Sunday provided light and variable winds that reached no higher that 0-2 mph for Cauley's last race.
The bright aspect of the regatta was Skipper Cauley's performance and "stellar" is the only way to describe his sailing. With no finishes below 12th and several top six finishes with 18 boats on the line, he kept the team afloat and had a series of good comebacks.
The weekend was also fun but frustrating for the team sent to Maine Maritime's Penobscot Bay Open. Pieter Scheerlinck '05 skippered A division with crew Amy Titcomb '04 and Eddie Briganti'05 skippered B with crew Becca Bartlett '05.
The wind conditions varied greatly both days, going from gale force on Saturday to light on Sunday. While they were disappointed with their performance on Saturday, they put forward their best effort on Sunday, sailing faster and making less mistakes, and arrived at ninth place overall.
However, while it was frusturating, the sailors did benefit from the experience as Skipper Briganti stated, "It was a tough venue because of the constantly changing wind direction and velocity, but we did some things really well in a few of the races, and we know what we need to work on to do better, namely our transition into different types of boats and our ability to keep our speed up when the breeze goes light."
Next weekend looks more promising for the Sailing Team as they expect more seasonable winds and sailing conditions. The coed team will travel to UNH to sail at the Chris Loder Trophy while the women skippers travel to MIT to qualify for the Singlehanded Championship.
Bowdoin is also hosting a home event, an Eastern Series regatta in which six members of the team will be competing. It should be a great event and the team welcomes everyone down to watch the sailing.