On Thursday afternoon, five sailors departed Madison and began their long road trip to Long Island, New York to compete in the 2019 Admiral’s Cup at the United State Merchant Marine Academy. Charlie Kutschenreuter (’19), Olivia Staruck (’20), Peter Sauer (’20), Christian Spencer (’22), and Will Huerth (’19) felt very spacious in the Enterprise Suburban they were driving for the weekend, and many laughs were had on their cross country road trip. Sunday evening, they finally arrived at CJ and Kimball Bocklet’s house on Long Island (parents of Wisco Sailing alum Charles Bocklet), and most of the sailors settled into bed while Will Huerth went to LaGuardia Airport to pick up Maggie Houtz (’19), the 6th member of the squad.
Saturday morning, in the midst of torrential downpour, we left the Bocklet’s early in order to pick up our coach for the weekend, Claire Dennis, at her train stop. Then, we headed to the site and settled in for a long postponement while the Race Committee waited for the wind and rain to calm down. After about two hours and only a slight decrease in wind, the RC decided to send the sailors out on the water to see what would happen in the 20-35 MPH breeze. It made for an exciting morning for our heavy crews, a fair amount of carnage on the race course, and lots of entertainment for Claire and our light crews, Maggie and Olivia. Steadily, over the course of the day, the wind piped down to around 15-20, and the race committee was able to complete 8 races in each division (with Christian and Will getting a 4th in the last race!).
On Sunday, the sailors arrived to the site to see beautiful sunshine over the water and a gorgeous 7-10 MPH breeze. Maggie and Olivia subbed in for Will and Peter, and all the sailors hit the water to complete 8 more races in each division. Over the course of the weekend, we enjoyed sailing in such a competitive fleet and felt as though we were really getting dialed in in both the 420 and the FJ. We can’t wait to take the lessons we learned at Admiral’s Cup and put them to the test at Coed Qual’s this upcoming weekend. HUGE shout-out to Claire Dennis for taking the time to coach us this weekend, and for sticking with us through our race losses and our race wins. You are the best! Also, the biggest thank you goes out to CJ and Kimball Bocklet for letting us stay at their beautiful home over Easter weekend, and providing us with meals and snacks throughout the regatta! We couldn’t do what we do without the kindness of members of our community, and we are truly grateful. Go Go Wisco!