Atlantic Coast Women's Championship

Competitors arrived to a chilly but sunny morning and a fleet of shiny new TURBO FJ's. After rigging, the competitors had a moment of silence to honor former MIT women's sailing coach Stu Nelson who passed away earlier this week. Stu was the first women's sailing coach in the country and inspired students at MIT for 38 years with his wit, positive attitude, and boundless enthusiasm. Stu also helped organize women's racing in New England and throughout the country.

Racing for the Women's Atlantic Coast Championship was held in a brisk 4-8 knot North-Westerly breeze. A division sailed races 1-8 in fireflies on an outer trap for odd races and outer "plus"traps for even races while B division sailed TURBO FJ's in inner traps (odd races) and inner "pluses" (even races). After race 8, fleets switched and fireflies continued sailing outer traps and TURBO FJ's sailed inner traps for the last 2 races.

Thanks to judges Jeff Dusek and Kerry Sullivan who heard 2 protests(2 DSQ's and 1 redress granted. Races were run by MIT coaches Fran Charles, Mike Kalin, Matt Lindblad assisted by BU Sailing coach Stan Schreyer who was gracious enough to volunteer his time to help. Many volunteers from the MIT sailing team assisted on the water and ashore, Jorlyn Le Garrec, Chloe Lepert, Robyn Lesh, Jordan Ladd, Pavlina Karafillis, Paige Omura, Lisa Suhkarev-Chuyan, Greta Farrell, Ty Ingram, and Zack Hall. Dockmaster Wally Corwin handled breakdowns on the dock.

Navy leads with Dartmouth and BC close behind.

A fickle and cold, light SW wind greeted the sailors on day two of the women's ACC. Temps remained in the low 40s and skies finally cleared late in the afternoon. Winds were in the 3-4 knot range with large holes before finally settling down and building steadily to a SWerly at 8-10 knots for the final set. Fireflies continued with outer loop trapezoids while Turbo FJs sailed inner loops.

Many thanks to the jury of John Pratt, Jeff Dusek and Kerry Sullivan for hearing the lone protest resulting in one DSQ.

Thanks to the Beavers sailing team that volunteered in the cold to help with all aspects of running the races. Also thanks to Stan Schreyer for his on-water support and Wally Corwin for helping the dock run smoothly. Mike Kalin and Fran Charles started races and shifted marks in the shifty winds.

Congratulations to Navy for a dominant weekend, winning both Co-ed and Women's ACC -- well done!

A big shout out to Paul Zimmerman and Ben Parker of Whitecap Composites for delivering the wonderful fleet of Turbo FJs to our docks in time for the event. The boats were lively, responsive and great fun to sail; the Beavers are looking forward to many years of fantastic sailing in the new fleet.

Ben was shooting photos for the regatta that he posted here:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.851953344836001.1073741834.196220440409298&type=3

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.851955524835783.1073741835.196220440409298&type=3

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.