We had a few ups and downs this season, it's nice to end on a positive note. The Women's AC's were at Hobart in upstate New York. We stayed at Women's skipper Eliza Burnes' aunt's home. Aunt Grace took wonderful care of us. Hospitality like that makes the event special whether you win or not. But we came there to win and the women earned a close victory over "river rival" Harvard. Kaya Haig won "A" division with Kirsten Rufleth crewing the first ten and Sue Bohlen finishing off the last four. We were in the lead for most of the regatta but we faltered, and a charging Harvard team jumped into a two point lead going into the last "B" set. It was put up or shut up time. Harvard has a great team, coached by alumnus Mike O'Connor BU 89'. Mike and assistant coach Bern Noack had done an excellent job bringing along Harvard's B division. Add that to the talents of Margaret Gill and you have one powerful team. We had a tough row to hoe. Eliza Burnes with crew Ginna Thomson were up to the task as they finished 4th to Harvard's 6th in the first race of the set. Tie game, one race to go. They way I figured it, we had put in a great effort all weekend and I was not going to be disappointed. No matter what, I was going to enjoy this last race. Besides I'm on the sidelines, there's nothing more I can do. We dropped the hammer, slammed Harvard on the last tack to the windward finish and pulled out a third. Our gas kept Harvard moving slow and an insurance boat slipped in between us. We later dropped another point due to a protest to account for the three point margin of victory. Now that's fun.
We sailed in light and baffling breeze on saturday and then came the big show on Sunday. It started with scattered fan puffs dropping over the bluff with lots of small holes in between (talk about an education on velocity headers). It grew to big fan puffs where getting caught on the outside wind-up was painful (talk about velocity lifts. Calling lay lines was so tough. So much was lost on getting to them too early. It took a while, but we finally kept our mark approaches a little closer to the vest and it paid off big time in the last set of the event).
Then it evolved into pure nukin'. There were dead soldiers dropping left and right. White back whales scattered the course. BU were casualties once in each division, but we got up quick and keep on sailing. Things calmed down for the last "B" races to set the stage for a great finish. Way to go BUDS!
We had a few ups and downs this season, it's nice to end on a positive note. The Women's AC's were at Hobart in upstate New York. We stayed at Women's skipper Eliza Burnes' aunt's home. Aunt Grace took wonderful care of us. Hospitality like that makes the event special whether you win or not. But we came there to win and the women earned a close victory over "river rival" Harvard. Kaya Haig won "A" division with Kirsten Rufleth crewing the first ten and Sue Bohlen finishing off the last four. We were in the lead for most of the regatta but we faltered, and a charging Harvard team jumped into a two point lead going into the last "B" set. It was put up or shut up time. Harvard has a great team, coached by alumnus Mike O'Connor BU 89'. Mike and assistant coach Bern Noack had done an excellent job bringing along Harvard's B division. Add that to the talents of Margaret Gill and you have one powerful team. We had a tough row to hoe. Eliza Burnes with crew Ginna Thomson were up to the task as they finished 4th to Harvard's 6th in the first race of the set. Tie game, one race to go. They way I figured it, we had put in a great effort all weekend and I was not going to be disappointed. No matter what, I was going to enjoy this last race. Besides I'm on the sidelines, there's nothing more I can do. We dropped the hammer, slammed Harvard on the last tack to the windward finish and pulled out a third. Our gas kept Harvard moving slow and an insurance boat slipped in between us. We later dropped another point due to a protest to account for the three point margin of victory. Now that's fun.
We sailed in light and baffling breeze on saturday and then came the big show on Sunday. It started with scattered fan puffs dropping over the bluff with lots of small holes in between (talk about an education on velocity headers). It grew to big fan puffs where getting caught on the outside wind-up was painful (talk about velocity lifts. Calling lay lines was so tough. So much was lost on getting to them too early. It took a while, but we finally kept our mark approaches a little closer to the vest and it paid off big time in the last set of the event).
Then it evolved into pure nukin'. There were dead soldiers dropping left and right. White back whales scattered the course. BU were casualties once in each division, but we got up quick and keep on sailing. Things calmed down for the last "B" races to set the stage for a great finish. Way to go BUDS!