COED
On the weekend of September 14th and 15th, Seamus Hendrickson ('26), Cal Lutton ('26), David Tofer ('25), Ryan Tatelbaum ('25), Marley Barrett ('27), and Finn Tait ('25) opened up the Fall 2024 Keelboat season aboard J105 Kinship. The squad left Madison early Friday afternoon for a short drive to Chicago and got in some key practice time on the boat focusing in on the maneuvers that would help win the corners of the course. After a productive practice session the squad met up with the Women's birth, sailing aboard T10 Tango, for some burgers before heading back to team alumni Tina Dombrowski's home.
The conditions Saturday morning were light with a 5-7 knot westerly coming off the shore of Chigaco with significant shifts coming down the 2 nm W4 course. The light air challenged the teams maneuvers requiring expert control of the spinnaker through gybes and solid boat handling to keep boatspeed up. The Columbia Yacht Club Race Committee was able to get off four races. At the end of racing on Saturday the squad sat in second, 4 points behind the Naval Academy on board J105 Peregrine, and 1 point ahead of the University of Rhode Island on board J105 Powers of Two. After a solid day of racing, we enjoyed a regatta BBQ provided by Columbia Yacht Club. The team headed back to the house and prepared for moving day on Sunday.
Sunday saw testy conditions to start, with heavy rain and winds of 15 knots gusting 27 out of the Southeast. The race committee quickly got racing off under the E flag, indicating no spinnakers for the first race requiring teams to sail wing on wing downwind - similar to 420's and FJ's. The Badgers rounded the first upwind in first and displayed their ingenuity by bringing out the boat hook to use as a wisker pole, with other teams following suit. The badgers aboard Kinship got their first win of the regatta and pulled even with Navy going into what would be the final race of the regatta. Throughout the first race wind levels declined to under the 15 knot limit allowing Race Committee to lower the E flag and racing got underway once again. The Badgers put together a fantastic race with lead of the race flipping between the University of Chicago and the Badgers, all the way up to the finish line, with the Naval Academy finishing in 3rd behind the Badgers giving the team the lead of the regatta! Racing then went into postponement as wind levels dropped below 1 knot with the rain still coming down. The lack of wind and unrelenting rain didn't ruin the mood of all the competitors as, flybys of the picture boat and a few backflips prompted race committee to end racing for the regatta, confirming the Wisconsin Badgers aboard Kinship as champions of the GLIOR J105 Division!
After a great regatta everyone sailing this weekend for Wisconsin at GLIOR would like to give a big thank you to the Dombrowski's for letting us stay in their home for the weekend and a big thank you to the Lutton's for preparing Kinship and allowing us to race on it this weekend.
WOMEN’S
Sydney Mandell ('26), Dylan Gorman ('25), Carmen Lineer ('26), Erin McDonagh ('28), Maddy Netzer ('26), and Jackie Ruggeri ('27) spent the weekend competing in the heart of Chicago at Columbia Yacht Club. They had a fantastic time on the water together and improved a ton throughout the weekend. They competed in the Tartan 10 fleet with 7 other boats. The first day of the regatta was extremely light and variable. Despite the conditions, the fleet was able to complete four races. The second day was quite opposite the first, with a pouring rainstorm that did not end. The breeze in the first race was around 14 knots with gusts up to the high teens, and spinnakers were unfortunately not allowed. A second race was started, but abandoned due to a wind shift from the west to the south. Once the course was reset, the women competed in the last race of the event. We would like to say a huge thank you to Tina Dombrowski for hosting the team, as well as to Dylan Gorman, and others, for fighting to get a boat for us to sail. We also would like to thank Charlie Childs and Jonathan Thickens for sailing the boat with us! We learned a ton from this event and cannot wait for the rest of the season!