Despite some of our previous regattas on the Charles River featuring minimal breeze and lousy weather, the most recent installment of Middlebury’s spring sailing season was significantly more enjoyable. With sunny skies and big breezes, the Panthers sent six sailors for a three-division regatta to the MIT Boathouse. The beautiful weather, assisted by a fresh Red Sox season, Bruins and Celtics playoff games, and a looming Marathon Monday, had the whole city of Boston buzzing. Fortunately for us, none of those major events coincided with the team’s sailing on the Charles.
The Oberg Trophy, hosted by Northeastern out of MIT’s infamous Wood Sailing Pavillion, featured three divisions of sailors from 11 schools. With all of the typical local schools attending the competition, the regatta would be far from easy. With decades of combined experience running races and regattas on the Charles River, the MIT coaching staff can manage large regattas incredibly efficiently. With Inner and Outer Trapezoids, the RC has doctored a system to simultaneously run two fleets on the same course.
Saturday’s conditions started sunny with light-ish breeze, but with gusts forecasted to increase to 25kts by 5pm, we knew the day would be a challenge. In A Fleet, Jade Forsberg sailed with Casey Astiz. B Fleet was sailed by Alex Baskin and Alden Cowap. Lexie Lessing and Emmet Byron rounded out the Panthers squad in the C division. Due to the consistently strong Southwest breeze, the race committee, headed by Northeastern Head coach Johnathan Farrar, was able to net eight races for each division on Saturday. The first race of C-fleet featured a general recall, thus allowing the RC to leave the I-flag flying for the remainder of the regatta. Being able to complete eight of the eleven races on Saturday meant a shorter race day for Sunday, giving the Panthers the opportunity to take a leisurely ride back to Middlebury.
Sunday’s race conditions were as breezy as the strongest gusts on Saturday, with gusts boasting above 30kts. With the wind still blasting from the southwest and temperatures approaching 80 degrees (and not that humid!), Easter Sunday was an incredible day for sailing on the Charles!
Despite a few strong races with mediocre finishes and a few great races with solid finishes, the team could not put together the complete regatta they had hoped for. Thanks to Jonathan and the Northeastern Husky staff for running a smooth regatta. Full scores and recap here.
The team travels to Providence for the Reed Trophy, the NEISA woman’s championship at Brown/Edgewood Yacht Club. Another group will be traveling to Sacred Heart University to compete in the Priddy, the Freshman Only championship. Wish the team luck! Thanks again for everyone’s continued support of the Middlebury Sailing Team. The team is entirely student run and fueled by the passion that the team members have for sailing. If you have any questions about the team or wish to assist with our fundraising efforts, feel free to reach out to us!
Go Midd!