Nittany Lion Open

This past Friday, October 25th, Nate Pettit, Matthias Chia, Julia, Hurley, Christina Atterbury, and I caravanned westward for the Nittany Lion Open hosted by Penn State.

After five and half hours of driving, we arrived at the Atterbury household in Johnston, PA. With open arms, we starving sailors embraced a feast of chicken and gravy replete with mashed potatoes, stuffing, spaghetti squash, and carrots (to stave off scurvy!). Full and thankful, we enjoyed playing board games and eating decadent homemade cookies before turning in for the night.

In the morning, we awoke to sub-30 degree temperatures. After driving to Lake Glendale, we braced ourselves for a windy, wet, and cold day.

The first A-division rotation brought breeze around 15 knots gusting to 20+ knots. In the first set, Christina and I finished 2nd and 1st in the ten boat fleet.

The B-division rotation proved challenging for Matthias and Julia, who, after capsizing around the gybe mark and enjoying an extended swim in frigid water, were thankful to find dry clothes waiting onshore.

The second A-division saw Nate Pettit skipper a 3rd place finish as I crewed for him. After completing the race, which saw five out of the ten boats sailing upright, Penn State ended the regatta early.

A huge thank you goes to the Atterbury family for housing us; for preparing us dinner, breakfast, and lunch; and for making us feel welcome! And, of course, thank you to the Penn sailors who, despite difficult and frustrating conditions, were among the few to say “no” when asked if they wanted to call the regatta!

Fair winds,

Joe Farned ’17

Central Fall #2

This past weekend, Maxwell Ryder, Steven Ho, Joe Farned, and I drove down to Chestertown Maryland for the Central Fall #2 regatta, hosted by Washington College. While most competing teams hailed from Maryland or Virginia, Philadelphia was well represented at the event, with teams from Drexel, Villanova, and Penn.

We arrived to the event a bit later than Coach Jack desired, but the first races ended up being delayed, as we waited for the wind to settle into the bay. Joe and I, having never sailed together before, used the time to practice a few tacks. After 11, we set out for the first race. The wind was shifty, and the current was strong, but we sailed a few good races. As a new sailor, this was a great opportunity for me to learn a lot. With a lot of help from Joe and Coach Jack, I left day 1 feeling much more confident and knowledgeable. Steven and Max, although described as sailing a ‘very heavy boat,’ did equally well. We concluded day 1 in 11th place with high hopes for the next day. After some Mexican food and a few rounds of virtual training on SailX, we all hit the sack.

Day 2 brought pleasant weather and overall lighter, but still shifty, winds. We were able to begin racing much sooner. Both teams performed more consistently on the second day, and we were able to finish in 8th place. Overall, it was great weekend, and I am thankful that I could take part.

Check out our results here – http://scores.collegesailing.org/f13/central-fall-2/

-Christina Atterbury ‘15

North Fall #2

The story of last weekend’s regatta actually begins on Thursday night when Jack Swikart emailed Pati Andrade, Mac Agnese, Catie Hopkins, and myself saying that we could no longer attend the Captain Hurst Bowl at Dartmouth as we had intended because there had been a mistake in the scheduling. Instead, Jack arranged for us to compete in the North Fall 2 Regatta hosted by SUNY Maritime College in NY.

On our way to the Swikarts’ home in New Jersey on Friday, we celebrated our shortened car drive by stopping at a New Jersey movie theater to see the recently released (and very intense) Captain Phillips. After a quick dinner at a Chili’s restaurant we arrived at Swikarts and headed to bed.

After fighting through miles of traffic the next morning, we finally arrived at SUNY, only to find very light wind conditions. A Fleet was sent out in an attempt to start the regatta, but the RC soon called the sailors in again without getting off a race. We proceeded to wait out a 2-hour wind delay in the chilly fall air before the wind finally filled in from the South East to a light breeze.

Pati and Jack started us off in A division with a solid first set getting two 3rds. Mac and Catie followed suit winning two 3rds of their own, the beginning of a very consistent day. The afternoon continued, with A team getting in a total of six races, while B team only fit in four. The day ended with Penn in 2nd place. After returning to the Swikart’s house and enjoying some delicious soul food, the team headed to bed.

Sunday dawned a little colder and a little windier than Saturday, with the breeze moving from 8 to 12 knots throughout the day. We arrived at SUNY early and quickly rigged before sending Mac and Catie out to start us off with a 1st and 3rd. Jack and I then took to the water, before Catie and Mac went out again. The colder breeze continued to pick up, and the tide completely changed direction for the last few races (at on point dragging the gate buoys with it). Despite these added difficulties, Penn continued to sail well, finishing the regatta in 3rd place with 99 points, 6 points behind the 2nd place team. The team then packed up and headed back to campus – enjoying a fantastic birthday cookie-cake on the way.

A huge thank you goes out to the Swikart family who not only graciously hosted us on incredibly short notice, but did so when they already had a high school sailing team staying at their home as well. We really appreciated their warm hospitality.

For full results, please look here: http://scores.collegesailing.org/f13/north-fall-2/

Cary Kane ‘17

SMC Fall Intersectional

Last weekend, Jack Swikart, Mac Agnese, Pati Andrade, Catie Hopkins and myself travelled to St. Mary’s for the SMC Fall Intersectional. Eighteen teams participated from all different conferences, many schools travelling several hours to attend this regatta. We knew this was going to be a tough one, but we went to bed at the La Quinta Hotel on Friday night feeling positive and ready.

We woke up Saturday morning excited for the day of sailing ahead. We were the first team to arrive at the St. Mary’s boathouse, and we took advantage of this time by getting into the competitive mindset and making sure we were all ready for the coming races. Mac and Catie started off in B Division in 420’s while Jack and Pati began the day doing what they do best: A Division FJ’s. It immediately became clear that conditions were tough, the northwesterly breeze coming off the land made finicky puffs and hard-to-predict shifts the name of the game. Despite these hardships, Mac and Jack made the best of it and finished out Friday in ninth place. We ended the day feeling good about having broken the top ten and celebrated with a Bloomin’ Onion at Outback Steakhouse.

The next morning, we felt ready for the six races left in the regatta. Sunday was a bit more difficult, however, the breeze was as tough as ever and a couple of races didn’t go our way. We ended up in twelfth overall and headed back to Philadelphia knowing we had seen tough competition. We were, however, excited to continue our hard work and feel very good going into the next few weekends.

Full results can be found here: http://scores.collegesailing.org/f13/smc-fall-interconference/

Meaghan Harding ‘16