74th Professor Erwin Schell Trophy

Day one of the Schell trophy provided quintessential NEISA conditions: air temperature in the low forties, water temperature in the low fifties, light rain and mixed frozen precipitation in addition to eight-to-sixteen knots of breeze. Twelve hotly contested races were sailed around a long W4, which pivoted several times around a persistent right shift. As of report time Lake Champlain offered a weak northwesterly, which built and crept toward the northeast throughout the day, settling in to a sporting northeasterly in the mid-teens. Racing took place just outside of Burlington harbor, in the lee of North Beach and Lone Rock point in flat water and reliably shifty breeze. The battle for top-half finishes was fierce; fleets rounded bow to stern around nearly every mark. Sportsmanship seemed exemplary, and no protests were heard. Alas, there were no Champ sightings or lamprey attacks, but there's a lot of regatta left.

The fan was on 'high' this morning when competitors arrived at Lake Champlain Community Sailing for day two of the Schell. The forecast threatened a northerly gusting to thirty, and on the broad lake the threat was made good, but Burlington's North End provided just enough relief for exciting races in a very cold but sunny sixteen to twenty six knots. The gybe mark stayed on the bench today: eight races were sailed around Course 4. In what were nearly survival conditions the splits were a little longer, but the competition for the eight berths at ACCs stayed close.

Enthusiastic thanks go to the panel of alumni volunteers who served as judges, moved marks, sat on a cold and pitching signal boat, and made certain that all of the competitors stayed safe: Cam Chafee (RWU '12), Pete Hazelett (V '10), Dave Klebanoff (V '06), Alex Arnsten (V '12), Francis Meisenbach (V '14), Will Strehlow (V '09), as well as to Connor Aswad, Olin Davis, Morgan Fog, and to all of the Vermont Catamounts.

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.