By Airwaves writer Grace Lucas
This past weekend the Annapolis Yacht Club hosted a team race regatta, much like the CJ Buckley Team Race Regatta, but on a much smaller scale. Anyone could enter, provided that they had a full team of 6; 3 skippers and 3 crews, however the registration was capped at 12 teams. My CJ Team, The Powerpuff Girls, entered together, excited to have an excuse to sail together again.
Saturday morning, everyone was at the AYC junior sailing building by 8 o’clock, except for a few late stragglers, one of whom was one of the Powerpuff Girls who was flying in from Maine that morning. Once we got the lay of the land, we all waited for the skippers meeting, which came promptly at 9 am outside on the deck to accommodate the large number of people there. It was brisk outside, around 40 degrees, but definitely sailable. We were lucky to have very talented and knowledgeable coaches at the event, all of whom coincidentally sailed at the College of Charleston!
Since high school sailing had ended three weeks prior to this event, I was eager to get out onto the water, despite the chilly air. The Powerpuff Girls were one of the two teams that rigged SSA (Severn Sailing Association) boats, which is where we would be switching boats for the weekend. 24 boats were sailed; 6 SSA boats and 18 AYC boats. The regatta ran much like a high school team race regatta, with teams switching boats after almost every race. However, once we got out on the water, we didn’t start races immediately. Due to a delay for one of the teams, we did a couple of practice starts before the team racing actually began.
It was extremely fun to be back on the water. Just three weeks felt like eternity, and once I was back in a boat I realized how much I really missed sailing. Emma, my skipper, and I even got chastised for smiling too much during a race by one of the coaches (which we thought was even funnier). The conditions were very appropriate in portraying what high school and college regattas can be like. The wind was oscillating rapidly, and the pressure was very up and down. To succeed, it was extremely important to remember to sail your boat well. Just getting off the line well and consistently tacking with headers could make or break a team. Our coaches, Cole Allsopp, Russ (Rustle) O’Reilly, Brendan Healy, and Zeke Horowitz, watched the races closely throughout the day, and gave us feedback and advice, all of which was very beneficial, especially for those of us wanting to take it back to our school teams.
The racing had to end early for a couple of the teams, as AYC had its annual awards at 3:30, which the AYC kids had to attend. Right before the last start of the day there was a giant collision between two boats, which left one boat with a hole in its hull. Despite these unfortunate circumstances, the coaches stayed out on the water with the remaining teams and ran drills for an extra half-hour to maximize time on the water for the teams from out of town.
After the AYC annual awards, all of the contestants met in the Skipjack (the bottom level of AYC) and ate dinner together and then consolidated for a debrief with the coaches, in which we discussed various scenarios throughout the day.
Sunday was quite different from the day before. The conditions were more severe. The wind started in the upper teens and built throughout the day with gusts up to 35-40 knots. The temperature started in the mid-20s and rose slightly throughout the day, even though it felt like it got colder due to the wind chill. All of the sailors were at AYC by 8:30, and many did not want to sail. Even our visitors from Maine and up-state New York thought that it was too cold to sail, which I thought was ridiculous. To Emma and I this looked like a great opportunity to practice in big breeze, and in all honesty, it just looked like fun! Joel Labuzetta and Alana O’Reilly, our AYC directors, made the decision to go out and sail, an announcement that was met with groans from most, but cheers from one third of the Powerpuff girls (for which we were berated). Luckily for us, we started a day with a bye, so we immediately headed over to SSA to wait for the first round of races. Sadly, we waited and waited and no boats ever came from AYC. Sailing had been called off due to the weather, so instead we had chalk talks upon chalk talks (which were really white board talks) with our coaches, with only one burrito break (which was really plenty). We talked in depth about the play two weave, and got opinions from various coaches on how they prefer certain maneuvers to others. We also learned that this same weave should be performed when in a 1-2-3 because it covers the entire course while not giving opportunities to pass. Another thing the coaches went over, were various team racing (and just sailing) rules, which seemed unnecessary at first, but then turned out to be extremely helpful in clarifying why calls consistently go certain ways, and how to phrase the situation when describing it in the protest room so that the call will more than likely go in your favor.
All in all, I am very excited this event took place. CJ Buckley was easily my favorite regatta of the summer, and I think that more non-high school team racing events need to happen. For so many youth sailors, the only people we hear about team racing from are our high school coaches, and as brilliant as they are, it is nice to hear about different opinions from different coaches. This event, hopefully, is the start of a new trend in the youth sailing world. Team racing is fun! It requires flawless boat handling, while also understanding and managing course awareness more than in fleet racing. As cliché as it sounds, it pushes good sailors to become great sailors because they have to manage a plethora of aspects that are not pertinent in fleet racing. Plus, it is a bit more interesting to watch, which is a plus side for all the parents who we drag around the country all year!
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