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