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Women's Intersectional at
Charleston
College of Charleston
February 10-11, 2001
We started off our spring season on a good note this weekend. You're
never sure what to expect when you haven't practiced, much less raced in
three and a half months and your skipppers are adjusting to sailing with
different crews. Then there's the travel factor. A seventeen hour
drive down, five bodies w/gear, in one cramped car. Hey, it builds
character. Anyway, this was such an important event because it was our
warm-up. In this case we would be warming-up in 420's in mostly strong
breeze with a nukin' current (nothing like a little spice to life). We
needed this to prepare us for the Navy Women's which is up next and the
rest of the busy spring season. Practice was the first goal but I also
had faith we would make a little noise and remind the college sailing
world that this is the same team that finished third at nationals last
year and our current ranking 15th is in no way an accurate
representation of the talent on this team.
The final tabulation for the Charleston Women's left us in second place,
20 points back of Old Dominion. You can skip down past my rambling play
by play to get scores.
-----
Day one:
We had gotten over the long drive
down and seemed ready to sail
although the crews appeared a tad more pysched than the skippers. Kaya
Haig and freshman Marissa White looked fairly good in the first set.
Their straightline speed was apparent right off but we were caught a bit
to far to the side, on the outside of a wind-up and had to sail a little
extra distance. We moved past a few boats and managed a third. It
was
basically de-ja vu in the second race and we came off the water with a
3,3. Not a bad start but we were looking forward to improving on it.
To be expected, their tacks were inconsistent, although their gybes
looked great, as did the speed. The current was a big factor.
Charleston is known to have it rip. This weekend it got a little help
from a full moon and was sweeping the fleet up the beat at a 3 1/2 knot
clip. If you worked the left side of the beat, you needed to tack to
port long before you were halfway up the beat or you overstood. We
found it was best to make a hitch to port early and to approach the mark
on
starboard tack where it was easier to judge the layline. Actually, we
didn't come to this conclusion until after Eliza Burnes and Christine
Retlev's had finished their first set. Again, the Buds looked very fast
through the water. I was also in awe of how well Eliza and Christine's
boathandling looked from tack one. But our speed was once again
hampered by sailing extra distance. I don't blame them, it was foreign
to them to have such a ripping current "setting" them that far past
the
weather mark. Eliza and Christine had played the left side of the beat
and tacked back long before they were in the corner or on the layline
(so we thought) but had to reach back to the buoy before being sweep
past it and lost some boats that were positioned to the middle or
right. Once again we worked the rest of the race in style and laid down
another pair of threes.
Four races, 12 points, we could work with that.
Kaya's third race featured another look at tremendrous speed that
was hampered by poor position on the first leg (ie. longer distance and
disturbed air) but she kept plugging away and ground back to finish
fourth. Next was the first of too many mishaps that proved to be our
nemensis; allowing a 3 plus current to sweep us into the mark. Kaya and
Marissa were working on a nice race and were in second when they went to
round the leeward mark for the last beat. Kaya spent the next couple of
minutes trying to get the anchor line off her rudder but the current was
just too strong. It might have been quicker to remove the rudder but
eventualy she got free. Watching her grind down boats that were half a
beat in front of her and finish ninth was truely impressive. When Kaya
got in off the water I agreed with her first statement "sometimes Brad,
you just have to laugh". You can bet Coach had encouraged leaving a
wide berth around the buoys but this wasn't a time for I told you so.
It was a much more tempting time for that the very next race, when Eliza
was in third and hit the leeward mark, dropping to eleveth. Hey, I knew
there'd be mistakes this weekend, it does the team no good for me to
freak out about them during the event. But inside, ouch it hurt.
Eliza
showed some jets in the next race and nailed down a third. At that
point I figured we had gotten our mistakes out early and I was ready to
settle back and watch our great boatspeed be matched with better
positioning and a climb up the standings. Kaya responded with a 3,2 and
Eliza responded with a 2,oops (a less than desirable start and a tough
case of catchup as she tried to get back too, much too quickly, and
could only manage 8th). Kaya's last set of the day was a 3,8 and again
we got caught with an inconsistent performance due to difficult and
unfamiliar conditions. Eliza's next race found her once again reeling
from a tough early going due to a foul and resulting donuts, but this
time she methodically ground down boats without "overloading the risk
basket" and finished a "better than it sounds" seventh. She
was awful
fast that race and I was just hoping she realized it. She did, and
after she crushed the fleet with a big lead bullet she hit the dock
first and exclaimed "after that seventh, I could tell how fast I was,
and I knew I could nail one". Day One ended with us in fourth place,
close to third and second but 20 points out of first. You had to give
ODU for being ready to sail and being fairly strong in all wind
conditions with heavy current (the breezed eased towards the end of the
day but the current was hitting slack so they were able to get the last
set off).
Day Two feature more of the same from Kaya, never really breaking free
and showcasing her speed. What I liked about Kaya's attitude is that
she didn't let the downs get to her and have frustation set in. The
first race of the day she hit the right side, most went left and boy did
it ever swing left. Kaya had all she could do just to climb back to
tenth. The next race she played the left side nicely, she was tailing
the first place boat on the rounding of the second beat but hit the mark
and had to settle for a fourth. Her first race of her last set (3
races) was tough because the breeze was dying with scattered,
unpredictable puffs and the current was still ripping. We just couldn't
get a good read on things and got caught in a few random holes and got a
ninth. We did a little better and dropped to sixth the next race, and
then did a little better and finished the day with a third. Kaya and I
have enough confidence in her abilities not let an early season regatta
performance that doesn't fire on all cylinders bother us.
And now I turn to Eliza and Christines's performance. Awesome. You
had
to be there. A first set of 2,1 followed by the last three of 1,5,1.
These ladies won four of the last six races and moved their team from
fourth to second overall. They finish 3rd in their division, 2 points
out of second and 9 points behind the low point B skipper from Stanford
(it's a nine point swing on Stanford when we get swept into the buoy on
the last turning mark of the third race). The best part was the final
race. BU was tied for third with Stanford and one point behind Brown
when Eliza and Christine sailed through the pack on the first beat into
what looked like a solid third, but what a minute, it looks like
second... hold on, we're punching into first... and extending! First to
the buoys, first to finish.
I'm one regatta into the spring season and I can hardly stand the
excitement!
I have never even seen sailboats
racing in that much current,
nevermind being in those conditions myself. If it wasn't for the
accomodating breeze it wouldn't have been possible. At times the boats
were in slow motion or on "pause" as they bucked the current. We
also
had some reaches that seemed to be over in seconds as 420's on a plane
got power boosted. I think the funniest thing was watching boats making
180 turns aroung buoys and heading up-current. It reminded me of
greyhounds on
the race track spinning out on a tight turn, skidding and then slowly
gaining footing and building back their momentum. Comical at times.
Rarely did the boats ever go where they were actually pointed and it
made an interesting game to figure out the best angle of attack. We hit
three bouys (rafting up on two ocassions) and got forced one foul in
those wacky conditions. Those mishaps cost us more than the 20 points we
lost by and we can live with that. I feel very satisfied that our
mission was accomplished. It's a keeper in my book.
-Coach
-----------------
Charleston Women's Spring
College of Charleston
February 10-11, 2001
REGATTA HIGHLIGHTS: 26 races were completed over the past weekend,
today began with sun and the temperature eventually hit 55. The breeze
was
great 10-14 knots with puffs to 18.
A B TOT
1. Old Dominion Univ 49 46
95
2. Boston University 67 48
115
3. Stanford
78 39 117
4. Brown
46 73 119
5. Washington College 65 74 139
6. Georgetown
75 65 140
7. Charleston
65 95 160
8. Eckerd
77 86 163
9. UC Santa Barbara 107 83
190
10. Univ of Rhode Island 99 125 224
11. Univ of South Florid 147 143 290
12. Florida
160 147 307
13. Tennessee
159 164 323
A division
TOT
1. Brown
46 Whitney Besse '03
Megan Wood '03
2. Old Dominion Univ 49 Sally Barkow
'02
Allison Calderbank '02
3. Charleston
65 Roseanne Monti
mia colarusso '04
4. Washington College 65 Kate Sheahan
'01
Jessica Koenig '01
5. Boston University 67 Kaya Haig 01
Marissa White 04
6. Georgetown
75 Mimi Elliot '03
Shilly Wentworth '03
7. Eckerd
77 sarah hardy '02
magaly falcoff '04
8. Stanford
78 Heather Porter '01
Sarah Zvkevman '03
9. Univ of Rhode Island 99 Katherine Bradford
'02
Hildreth Penman '03
10. UC Santa Barbara 107 Lindsey Buchanan
'04
Jessica Nash
11. Univ of South Florid 147 Sandra Singleton '04
Melissa Hall '02
12. Tennessee
159 Peyton Howard '03
Becca Ware '04
13. Florida
160 Maya Dobrzeniecka '03
Carshenah Jefferson '03
B Division
1. Stanford
39 Sally Madsen '01
Vanessa Lujan '01
2. Old Dominion Univ 46 Corrie
Clement '03
Megan Bartley '03
3. Boston University 48 Eliza Burnes
02
Christine Retlv 01
4. Georgetown
65 Elizabeth Sampson '03
Eliza Ryan '04
5. Brown
73 Emma Lichtenstein '03
Marisa Ihara '03
6. Washington College 74 Meg Nichols
'03
Lellie Fluke '01
7. UC Santa Barbara 83 Jessica
Clayton '04
Heather Mc Casland '04
8. Eckerd
86 Theresa Wincrantz '04
Becca Thomas '04
9. Charleston
95 Peg Martschink '04 Jeanne Herman "04
Emily Qualey '04 Kristen Fehsenfeld'03
10. Univ of Rhode Island 125 Holly Brockway '01
Julie Batcho '01
11. Univ of South Florid 143 Ali Deese '02
Jesse Futch '01
12. Florida
147 Courtney Cooper '01
Gina Evans '03
13. Tennessee
164 Jen Nalle '01
Lisa Jesse '01
TOP SEVEN
1
ODU A 1 1 6 2
4 5 4 5 4 9
3 3 2 49
B 2 1 1
9 4 4 2 2 4
3 5 7 2 46
3 5
12 23 31 40 46 53 61 73 81
91 95 95
2
BU A 3 3 4 9
3 2 3 8 10 4 9
6 3 67
B 3 3 11
3 2 8 7 1 2
1 1 5 1 48
6 12 27
39 44 54 64 73 85 90 100 111 115 115
3
Stan A 9 6 2 7
8 1 2 4 9 6 10
8 6 78
B 1 5 2
6 1 1 3 4 1
5 3 4 3 39
10 21 25
38 47 49 54 62 72 83 96 108 117
117
4
Brown A 6 4 1 1 5
7 5 2 1 1 4
5 4 46
B 4 10 6
1 7 7 1 3 7
7 9 6 5 73
10 24 31 33
45 59 65 70 78 86 99 110 119 119
5
Wash A 10 9 5 4 9
4 8 1 2 2 2
4 5 65
B 6 2 5
7 3 2 6 10 10 10
4 1 8 74
16 27 37 48
60 66 80 91 103 115 121 126 139 139
6
Gtown A 7 8 3 8 DSQ
6 1 3 6 3 6
2 7 75
B 7 8 4
4 10 6 4 5 3 2
6 2 4 65
14 30 37 49
74 86 91 99 108 113 125 129 140 140
7
Charl A 2 5 7 3 2
8 10 7 8 10 1 1
1 65
B 9 7 7
8 8 3 10 9 8 9
8 3 6 95
11 23 37 48
58 69 89 105 121 140 149 153 160 160
WINNING TEAM : Old Dominion Univ
Sally Barkow '02
Allison Calderbank '02
Corrie Clement '03
Megan Bartley '03