This past weekend, Caroline Garth, Max Ryder, Nina Kaledin and I traveled across the state of New Jersey to Toms River for the Ocean County College Spring Open. It was my first regatta so I was really excited to get out on the water on Saturday. After a hearty meal at the Garth household and a good night’s sleep, we were ready to go on Saturday morning.

On Saturday the regatta began with winds from the NW at around 17 mph. Caroline skippered A Division with Nina crewing while Max skippered B Division with me in as his crew. During our first B Division set, the winds increased to 24 mph with gusts up to 30 mph, so after only 2 sets, the races were cancelled for the rest of the day because of the high winds and multiple capsizes in both fleets. Max and I were unfortunately in one of the boats that flipped!

On Sunday, the conditions were much more tame, with winds out of the West around 7 mph. We were able to get much more racing done than we did on Saturday, with both A and B Divisions getting off 8 races before the wind died in the middle of the day. Though it filled back in just before the deadline, the races were cancelled after a total of 5 sets between the two days.

Overall we finished sixth out of the 9 teams, just barely missing out on 5th by one point to Columbia. Both of our boats were able to crack the top 5 in races over the course of the event, and we learned and improved a lot.

A special thanks to the Garth family for hosting the team at their home this weekend, as well as helping us arrange our transportation to and from the venue! I’m very excited to go to more regattas in the future.

Regards,

Cruz Vargas ’15