Since early last fall the UW sailors aggressively prepared for the North American Championships. Three practices a week, regattas and clinics took up most weekends. Fundraising to get to all these events also kept the team very busy all year. In short, the year has been about planning, organizing and most importantly honing their boat-speed and race tactics.
Some of the year's regatta highlights include Stoney Burke kicking off the year in San Francisco and Outlaw officially welcoming the year's new freshman to the team in the fall at the Gorge. The damp chilliness of winter deterred no UW sailor as everyone continued working, putting on the annual Alumni Regatta, practicing hard at a Northwest Clinic with coach Scott Leppert, even venturing down to the Gorge for a cold, cold Frostbite regatta in February. Some lucky sailors got a reprieve from the frigid winter and basked in sunny Southern California at the Rose Bowl Intersectional in December.
Spring was insanely full of sailing with a Spring Break trip to Washington College in Maryland for intensive practice followed by a strong performance at the Southern New England Team Race at Connecticut College including a detour to see the sights of Washington D.C. along the way. UW thrived in the huge wind and waves of San Francisco in the Saint Francis Intersectional Regatta bringing home a 3rd place finish and spent a great amount of time racing at the Gorge for the rest of the spring in hopes of preparing first for the northwest qualifiers and next for the NAs.
The WYC Racing Team returned from ten days in Cascade Locks, Oregon where they competed in the three North American Collegiate Championships: Women's, Team Racing, and Coed. The Team qualified for these events earlier in the spring by defeating all of the other schools in the Northwest District. We then helped the Northwest District to host these much-anticipated regattas in Oregon's beautiful (and oh so windy!) Columbia River Gorge.
The competition was fierce, the conditions challenging (to say the least) and
the company was excellent. The overall performance of the team was a bit less
than expected but there were certainly some high points! The University of Washington
finished 14th in Women's, 10th in Team racing, and 15th in Coeds (out of 18).
The first championship of the series is always Women's Fleet Racing. Unfortunately
for the Women's Regatta the Columbia River Gorge did not live up to its name.
The women saw three days of straight rain. The wind ranged from nothing to over
20 knots. On the second day of the event twelve (of the eighteen) boats were
capsized in a freak squall and only six boats completed that race. Yale University
won with Harvard and Navy close behind.
The Team Racing Regatta followed shortly after the women. Fortunately the Gorge
was beginning to live up to its reputation and the winds were very good. However
the sun still hadn't made an appearance but good racing was still had by all.
UW just missed the cutoff for the final eight (the top division). It all came
down to a tie breaking sail off race between the UW and University of Hawaii.
All eyes were on this final race of day two to see who would make it into the
final round. UW rounded the first mark in a 1,2,6 (a winning combination) against
Hawaii's 3,4,5 (a losing combination). The long downwind reach leg against the
current made it difficult to hold onto any lead. UW barely held onto their winning
combination around the leeward mark. A few uncaught wind shifts and some bad
tacks gave Hawaii the lead and they went on to win the race. Despite not making
it into the final eight, UW still placed higher in the Team Racing event than
any time in recent history. St. Mary's College of Maryland won with Hobart William
Smith and Dartmouth in second and third.
Finally for the last three days of the Championship (the Coed Fleet Racing North
Americans) the Gorge was out in full force. Sunscreen and spray gear was the
attire as the Gorge delivered blue sky and howling winds. Finishing 15th overall
was not quite as well as we had hoped but there were certainly good moments.
Skipper Chris Mordue and crew Heather Baird managed to get a 2nd and 3rd in
B division races, an incredible accomplishment sailing against one of the toughest
fleets in the country. Hawaii showed amazing boat speed and won the event by
a large margin, followed by Georgetown and Hobart William Smith.
The highlight of the entire event came during the All American Awards Ceremony
at Skamania lodge following the last day of racing. The All American Awards
are given out to Skippers and Crews at the end of each year. Being an All American
is the pinnacle of college sailing and only about forty people (twenty skippers,
twenty crews) receive this award each year. The award is given for outstanding
performance throughout the year at major college sailing regattas across the
country. The last time anyone received this award anywhere west of Chicago and
north of San Francisco was more than ten years ago. This year one of the recipients
of the All American Award was senior crew from The University of Washington,
Kim Kishi. Kim has been a dedicated member of the Racing team for four years.
She is an amazing crew and incredibly deserving of this award. This past year
Kim, sailing with skipper Brendan Fahey, finished very well in some major regattas.
Kim's regatta results and her incredible dedication to her team earned her a
well-deserved spot on the All American Team. This fall look in the WAC to see
Kim's award sitting right beside Charlie Mckee's, Carl Buchan's and other amazing
sailors that the UW has supported and helped to make great.
See you on the water!
WYC Rear Commodore Heather Baird and Brendan D. Fahey