2018 SAISA-MAISA SailPack Women's Regatta

Saturday morning greeted sailors from SAISA and MAISA with calm waters on Lake Crabtree, but after a nice opening ceremony - a ton of bagels and coffee - and the skippers meeting the breeze started to fill in nicely. First races began around 10:15AM with a light westerly rolling down the lake. South Carolina's A-fleet sailors Sarah DeLoach and Grace O'Hare came out of the gate fast taking the lead in the division after the first two races, followed closely by the Lady Bulls of the University of South Florida's Lila Vandenbroek and Carolina Perez-Rovira and the home-team NC State's second squad Red Terror of Katie Richardson and Erin Oliver, leaving a three-way tie at the first rotation. After the first two races, the wind died down for about 20 minutes and the Race Committee considered a delay, but as B-fleet took to the water, the wind filled back in and racing resumed.

Dialing in a bullet in their first collegiate race, USF's Chloe Sweeting and Lexi Foos kept the Lady Bulls in the overall regatta lead fending off a challenge by NC State's first squad Wolfpack's Anna Carlson and Natalie Leger who tied up the division after two races and UNC-Chapel Hill's Lady Tar Heels not far behind. Despite sunny skies, warm temperatures, and no clouds, the light and shifty wind continued to be a challenge and the RC was vigilant to keep the course squared and the right length for conditions. As the second A-fleet set began, USF began to pull away from the Gamecocks with a 1-2 set while Carolina Cassedy and Christine Catherman of Duke began their ascent. In what would be the final set of the day, B-fleet USF and USC continued to jockey back and forth for the division lead, scoring 1-3, 3-1 respectively, while Duke's B-fleet of Julia Dworetzky and Grace Travers continued the Blue Devils' rally.

In the end, however, the Lady Bulls from USF held on to the lead with USC close behind. On the final race of the day Duke passed the host NC State Wolfpack for the final podium spot. Congratulations to the Lady Bulls on their win, and thanks to all of the participating women for a great day of racing in shifty and challenging conditions. Special thanks to the Greater Raleigh Sports Alliance (www.visitraleigh.com/sports-event-planners/) who welcomed all of our visiting competitors with awesome gift bags, hospitality, and local goodies Thanks, also to all of the NC State sailors who helped put on a great event on shore and on the water, and Sailors for the Sea for their support of our sustainability efforts in certifying the 2018 SailPack Women's Intercollegiate Regatta as a Clean Regatta!

Photos from the event can be found online at: http://bit.ly/SailPackWomens18Photos.

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.