Becky Blank (October 7th & 8th, 2023)

Marley Barrett ('27), Carter Harms ('27), Thomas Erickson('24), and Nigel Yu ('27) traveled to Lake Michigan to compete in Becky Blank—hosted by northwestern university. Unfortunately, due to strong and high waves on day one, no official races were conducted on the first day. Instead, the team went to Chicken Shack. The second day had lighter winds and fewer waves, and races were conducted. Marley and Nigel skippered for the A and B fleets, respectively, and Carter and Thomas crewed (A,B). The conditions were shifty due to the offshore breeze and made for a left-hand favor at the start of the day. The more giant waves made for fun sailing, the more skippers could try upwind surfing techniques throughout the day. The A fleet did their two races before coming in for rotation. The B fleet went out to race as the wind began coming down, causing the PRO to call for 3 B races back to back to try to make the most of the wind we had left by cutting down on rotation time. They came back after 3 races for the next A rotation. The wind came back up, shifted North, and made for a brief 5-minute race before the PRO called it a day. Despite the shifty wind and shortened time spent on the water, the team had a great time sailing in the challenging conditions and milling around Evanston. The team extends our gratitude towards the Northwestern Sailing Team for housing us for the weekend and hosting a great regatta!