This weekend, our sailing abilities, strength, and Cy Thompson's leadership skills were all put to the test on Saturday morning. Cy Thompson, Kelly Stannard, Alec Anderson, Alex Rudkin, and myself (all heading to Coast Guard Academy for the Danmark Trophy), and Andrew Tamblyn, Dan Goldman, Connor Needham, and Tyler Wilson (headed to the Conn College Invitational at Conn College), wearily piled ourselves into the van and started the journey down to Connecticut. After making a much needed dunks stop we were on our way.
When we arrived at the Danmark, there was about 5 knots of wind and we were told it would continue to die out throughout the day. Sure enough by about 3 in the afternoon the wind was beginning to die down. B Division ended up only getting in seven races, while A Division sailed eight. At the end of day one, Cy Thompson and Kelly Stannard were in sixth in A division, and Alec Anderson and Sophie Bellacosa were in fifth in B division.
We knew Sunday was going to be a tough day with the wind speeds up and the competition becoming more crucial. After a restful Saturday night, we all awoke alert and ready for Sunday's racing. When we got to Coast Guard Academy, all we really wanted to do was hide in the warm van or at least we wished that we had as many base layers and sweatshirts and sweatpants as the cool BC sailors with all their new Under Armour gear. It was about 50 degrees when we got to Coast Guard and about 10 knots, so we bundled up and headed out to the race course. Alec and I began the day with a 13 (which we slowly began to forget happened throughout the day), then got a 1, 3, 1, 4 after that.
At this point the wind was gusting at some points to about 20-25 knots so I was switched out for heavy air crew Alex Rudkin to save the day. Cy and Kelly hadn’t been handling the breeze very well (probably due to Kelly’s short stature and lack of hiking ability in the heavy winds), so I was quickly substituted back into A Division to sail with Cy. While Alec and Alex continued to struggle with their next few races, but ended the last race with a solid 6th, Cy and I picked up our game to get a 1, 2, 1, 4 for our last four races.
Overall at the Danmark trophy, our team finished second. This was a huge accomplishment and we were all very proud of the way we conducted ourselves throughout the weekend, especially since we had to coaches to give us wonderful advice. Cy Thompson really showed his true leadership abilities as he rallied us each morning and helped wind us down at night. Also a special thank you to the freshmen Alex and Connor for performing their duties with getting lunches and cleaning the vans.
Also congratulations to Cameron Pimentel and Bianca Rom who finished an astounding six 1st place finishes on Sunday at the smith trophy at MIT, and went on to win A division. Good work Cam and Bianca!
And also congrats to our coaches Amanda Callahan and Colin Merrick for finishing first at the Hinman Trophy in Seattle, Washington!
- Sophie Bellacosa
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