Nov 3, 2021 @ 16:51:25 EDT
Racing got off to a slow start at the McGill Cup this morning when sailors arrived to no-wind conditions. With the wind forecast calling for a SE winds to slowly pick up throughout the day races were postponed onshore. Around 12:00, a light SE breeze began to fill in, at which point A-fleet hit the dock. The name of the game was finding the puffs as sailors had to seek out the sweet spots in the light 3-5 knot breeze. Additionally, they had to account for the strong (1-2 knot) currents that were running perpendicular to the wind.
Mid-way through A-fleet's 2nd race, wind conditions slowly began to deteriorate. Following a short standby between fleets, races were called off for the remainder of the day around 2:30.
This morning sailors were greeted with conditions in stark contrast to yesterday's heat and light winds at the McGill Cup. A chilly 7 Canadian degree temperature coupled with very, very windy conditions awaited our sailors. A weather station at a neighboring yacht club, in a more sheltered area registered sustained winds of 23 knots with gusts regularly surpassing 30 knots. A peak of 35 knots was registered around the time we hit the water.
In a desperate attempt to get a series off and not throw in the towel we decided to give it a shot. With a strong emphasis on safety and extra crash boats on hand, we cautiously sent B-fleet out and instructed them to return to shore if they were uncomfortable with the conditions. Within 10 minutes of passing the breakwater, only 1 boat remained on the water and it was truly survival conditions. Upwind sailing was painfully slow in the large swells and no boat ventured an attempt at downwind sailing or gybing.
A shout out to the MiddleBury College team, the only remaining boat. Making the best of an unfortunate situation, with our blessing, Middlebury did the only thing one can do in such strong winds and had one of the fastest reaching sessions I've ever witnessed on a 420. We struggled to keep up in our safety boats.
Ultimately with the forecast calling for the winds to not only hold, but even build yet further until the evening, races were called following our morning attempt. Unfortunately we were unable to get a series off.
A BIG thank you to all teams who made the effort the join us north of the border. Sorry about the winds - please come back to Canada, we don't bite!
| School | Team | A | TOT | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  | Middlebury College | Panthers | 3 | 3 | ||
| 2 |  | Worcester Polytechnic Institute | Worcester Polytech | 4 | 4 | ||
| 3 |  | McGill University | Redbirds | 5 | 5 | ||
| 4 |  | University of Connecticut | Huskies | 8 | 8 |
The following chart shows the relative rank of the teams as of the race indicated. Note that the races are ordered by number, then division, which may not represent the order in which the races were actually sailed.
The first place team as of a given race will always be at the top of the chart. The spacing from one team to the next shows relative gains/losses made from one race to the next. You may hover over the data points to display the total score as of that race.
