The weekend of May 8-9th, ten Northwestern University Sailors and coach Arthur Blodgett headed up to Madison, WI to attempt to qualify for the ICSA Team Race Nationals. The conditions of first day of sailing were “not pleasant”. Sailors, volunteers, race committee members, and umpires endured very cold temperatures, wind speeds of 18-23 knots, large waves for lake Mendota, and two hail storms.
Seven teams competed and two round robins were completed on the first day. St. Thomas, Ohio State, University of Michigan, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Notre Dame, University of Minnesota, and Northwestern were all present. In the first round robin, Northwestern won 4 races against St. Thomas, Ohio State, Notre Dame, and Minnesota. Northwestern unfortunately lost to Wisconsin and Michigan. In the second round robin, St. Thomas retired due to the cold, so Northwestern only sailed 5 times. This time, Northwestern only lost to Wisconsin and brought their total wins up to 8. At the end of the day on Saturday, Wisconsin was in first with 11 wins while Minnesota and Northwestern had 8 wins each with the tiebreaker going to Northwestern. Saturday was a long day and Northwestern was ahead by a sliver.
Sunday presented very different conditions. It was 60 degrees and there was no wind the entire day. Racing was postponed and the day of sailing was eventually abandoned at noon. With this end of racing, Northwestern officially qualified for the ICSA Team Race Nationals! The entire team got in a 420 for a celebratory photo. The team enjoyed Ian’s Pizza and the ice cream in the Wisco union before the car ride home.
Congrats to Tod Reynolds, Nina Lincoff, Kim Wieczner, Maija Mikkila, Michael Cornew, Geoff Pedrick, Andrew Wein, Noah Aldonas, Bryan Stenson, and Allie Gullquist for qualifying for Team Race Nationals!
-Michael Cornew, WCAS 2013
Monday, May 24, 2010
College Sailing Semifinals - CofC - May 1-2
Less than 12 hours after receiving a call from our coach that our B skipper Geoff Pedrick hurt his knee playing beach soccer and would not be able to sail for Co-Ed Semis, I was in the car with my A skipper Michael Cornew picking up the rest of our team for the epic drive to Charleston.
As we made our rounds from house, to sorority, to dorm, the car was soon filled with Kim Weiczner, Bryan Stenson, Noah Aldonas,and our coach Arthur Blodgett, and we were on our way to Semis by 6 am Friday morning. We couldn't stop talking about our savior Andrew Wien, our new B skipper who was flying from Annapolis to meet us in Charleston, where we would pick him up late Friday night. The drive was rather roomy with one less sailor, and we arrived in Charleston in record time.
After reviewing strategy for the current in Cooper River, (a venue only I was slightly familiar with due to a Women's regatta there earlier this year) we went to bed in our hotel that was filled with other sailors from around the country. Saturday morning brought us beautiful 80 degree weather and heavy winds. We had a great view from the dock, where we could almost reach out and touch boats that were banging the corner. I sailed the first two races, then sat our the rest of the day, allowing heavy crew Aldonas to keep the boat flat. After a head injury to B heavy crew Stenson, Weiczner subbed in so we could make sure no serious damage was done. Sunday's conditiond were very similar with lots of waves, current, wind, and sun. Arthur kept our spirits high, talking with us about every aspect of the race - the line, body movement in the boat, the current, the waves, and how to adjust our mark roundings to the current.
As we made our rounds from house, to sorority, to dorm, the car was soon filled with Kim Weiczner, Bryan Stenson, Noah Aldonas,and our coach Arthur Blodgett, and we were on our way to Semis by 6 am Friday morning. We couldn't stop talking about our savior Andrew Wien, our new B skipper who was flying from Annapolis to meet us in Charleston, where we would pick him up late Friday night. The drive was rather roomy with one less sailor, and we arrived in Charleston in record time.
After reviewing strategy for the current in Cooper River, (a venue only I was slightly familiar with due to a Women's regatta there earlier this year) we went to bed in our hotel that was filled with other sailors from around the country. Saturday morning brought us beautiful 80 degree weather and heavy winds. We had a great view from the dock, where we could almost reach out and touch boats that were banging the corner. I sailed the first two races, then sat our the rest of the day, allowing heavy crew Aldonas to keep the boat flat. After a head injury to B heavy crew Stenson, Weiczner subbed in so we could make sure no serious damage was done. Sunday's conditiond were very similar with lots of waves, current, wind, and sun. Arthur kept our spirits high, talking with us about every aspect of the race - the line, body movement in the boat, the current, the waves, and how to adjust our mark roundings to the current.
As expected, the competition was tough, and unfortunately we were not able to make it in the top half of the fleet that were sent to Nationals. However, we improved tremendously over the two days and had a great time in Charleston. As a graduting senior, I expect that NUST picks up where we left off and makes it even furthur year after year.
-Maija Mikkila, SESP 2010
Monday, May 10, 2010
Intrepid Trophy - US Naval Academy - April 24-25
The new thing in college keelboat sailing is match racing, and after our successful trip to Sheboygan in the fall, we decided to continue our match racing schedule with the Intrepid Trophy at the end of April. Tod Reynolds, Nick Campbell, Joe Teno, and Geoff Pedrick – the four sailors who made up the sloops and match race team in the fall – went to Annapolis to compete against 11 other schools at the US Naval Academy. We were postponed for a while and had our first match against Navy in their boats and their home waters. That race didn’t really go well for us, but we quickly were able to apply our match racing experience in later races and win against some of the harder teams at the regatta. We got halfway through the round robin before dusk and set aside the rest of the races for Sunday.
On Saturday night we met up with a few current seniors and a few recent graduates who were chartering a boat in the area. Good times were had by all.
Sunday morning brought with it a rather unpleasant absence of wind and we were again postponed. The race committee decided on a different format for the remainder of the regatta so we were able to fit in all of the races we needed to accurately rank everyone. We ended up in 6th after two poor starts that day but came away with valuable match race experience that will help us next fall when it becomes the new sloop championship format.
-Geoff Pedrick, McCormick 2012
On Saturday night we met up with a few current seniors and a few recent graduates who were chartering a boat in the area. Good times were had by all.
Sunday morning brought with it a rather unpleasant absence of wind and we were again postponed. The race committee decided on a different format for the remainder of the regatta so we were able to fit in all of the races we needed to accurately rank everyone. We ended up in 6th after two poor starts that day but came away with valuable match race experience that will help us next fall when it becomes the new sloop championship format.
-Geoff Pedrick, McCormick 2012
MCSA Women's Qualifier - Univ. of Illinois - April 24-25
This past weekend, five of the Northwestern female sailors traveled to Champaign, IL, along with coach Arthur Blodgett, to compete in the women’s qualifying regatta for either Nationals or Semifinals. There were a total of seven teams at the regatta competing for the top three finishes, and we ended up fourth overall. Northwestern A Division skipper Allie Gullquist and crew Olivia Green finished fourth, and B Division skipper Sarah Hughes and crews Carolyn Fallert and Lauren Radomski finished fifth.
The weekend dawned warm, but cloudy, with threats of thunderstorms. Racing started a little late on Saturday, but we were able to get through six races in the A division and four races in the B division before thunder and lightning stopped racing for the day. It was quite different sailing on a small lake when we’re used to the huge Lake Michigan; the ever-present shifts and puffs were a big change! Apart from the shifty wind; however, had a steady breeze, which only increased as the thunderstorm rolled in. Soon after coming off the water, we learned that there would only be one set sailed this weekend (a total of seven races for each division). Going into Sunday, we were several points out of third place, and had only four races to catch up. The day dawned a little colder, but with a much steadier breeze. B division started off with a set of two races, followed by a half set for each division (one race for As, and one race for Bs). Although we were able to catch up, unfortunately it wasn’t enough, and we finished fourth. We look forward to (hopefully) qualifying next year!
- Allie Gullquist, WCAS 2013
The weekend dawned warm, but cloudy, with threats of thunderstorms. Racing started a little late on Saturday, but we were able to get through six races in the A division and four races in the B division before thunder and lightning stopped racing for the day. It was quite different sailing on a small lake when we’re used to the huge Lake Michigan; the ever-present shifts and puffs were a big change! Apart from the shifty wind; however, had a steady breeze, which only increased as the thunderstorm rolled in. Soon after coming off the water, we learned that there would only be one set sailed this weekend (a total of seven races for each division). Going into Sunday, we were several points out of third place, and had only four races to catch up. The day dawned a little colder, but with a much steadier breeze. B division started off with a set of two races, followed by a half set for each division (one race for As, and one race for Bs). Although we were able to catch up, unfortunately it wasn’t enough, and we finished fourth. We look forward to (hopefully) qualifying next year!
- Allie Gullquist, WCAS 2013
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