Jesuit Open

All 18 teams arrived on time for the regatta and were treated to a delicious breakfast of Bagels, Cream Cheese and OJ from H&H Bagels on Second Avenue in Manhattan. Following the Roll Call of teams, they were also treated to a stirring rendition of our National Anthem by Metropolitan Opera singer and bass/baritone Ned Hanlon, appropriately a Jesuit product (Regis H.S. '02) for the occasion.

Racing started at 9:45 AM with w4 courses. 1A & 2A were completed in a building breeze and steady rain. By the time, Race 1B started, the wind was blowing a steady 15 - 20 mph from the south with higher gusts and building seas. Near the end of the race, 3'-4' rollers were sweeping across Long Island Sound; the wind had increased and gusts were over 30 mph. Six boats capsized, four after finishing and it took close to an hour to get all boats and crews safely back to shore. Conditions continued to deteriorate and the decision was made to postpone the regatta until Sunday morning.

Sunday’s forecast was for westerly breezes of 8-10 mph rotating to WSW in the afternoon. The weather folks were correct with direction but at least initially were off with velocity as the wind was blowing 15-18 mph upon the start of racing. It decelerated to 8-10 mph after a couple of hours and maintained that strength until 2:40 PM when the Race Committee was attempting to get in one more race in each division, and the breeze dropped to 4-5 mph trumping that effort. As it was, a total of 12 races was run on W-4 courses with St. Mary’s College emerging victorious with a one-point win over Navy. St. Mary’s name will be added to the Jesuit Cup Trophy, which was inaugurated in 1955 and which is maintained in the Vincent T. Lombardi Memorial Center on Fordham’s Rose Hill campus.

Following the regatta, sailors enjoyed a slice of cheesecake, Zagat’s rated as #1 in New York City, from S&S Bakery in the Bronx.

Conditions were very challenging on both days resulting in one B Division team withdrawing from the competition and another team departing prematurely. But Sunday was a spectacularly sunny day for sailing in Long Island Sound and Eastchester Bay with the glorious NYC skyline as a backdrop.

Kudos to the Fordham & Columbia volunteer sailors, who did an outstanding job dealing with a number of issues over the weekend, and, we are grateful to USMMA and SUNY Maritime for providing additional safety boats and hearing protests on Sunday.

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.