The 36th Lynne Marchiando Trophy

A brutally cold day with snow, rain, icing and breeze out of the NE and trending into the NNE. The Lynne Marchiando Trophy had a late report time but still managed to get in 58 races during the afternoon.

Many, many thanks to the team of NEISA alumni umpires led by Jeff Dusek and a plethora of MIT Sailing Team members switching out of the finish boat as their fingers and toes went numb. Detailed lists of all volunteers will follow tomorrow. Hugh Dougherty along with Steven Duncan ran the FJ line today. MIT Coaches Matt Lindblad and Mike Kalin shuttled substitutes out, swapped in finish line personnel and ran a coach boat.

Top half from today's rounds will be in a championship fleet and bottom half will be in consolation. Tomorrow will bring records forward from teams which teams have already sailed against and then teams will sail against teams which they have not yet met. Then, a complete round of seven flights on two race courses will be sailed.

-Franny Charles, MIT Sailing Master

Clearing skies with a NNW breeze at 5-10 held most of the day on the balmy Charles River for the final day of sailing. A completion round was sailed for both silver and gold with 4 flights in each against teams they had not yet met. Then a full round of 7 flights against all teams in their division. Total races sailed was 144 with each team sailing in 18 flights of races.

Dartmouth Big Green sailed away from a very tough field only losing twice on the last weekend of competition before the Fowle Trophy for the New England Championships next week at Tufts.

Hosting an event with two fleets of 24 colored FJs and 24 colored Fireflies was a monumental task that was a success only because of the huge number of volunteers. Umpires who braved the cold on Saturday and invoked instantaneous judging all weekend long were headed by Jeff Dusek. Thanks go out to Kelsey Wheeler, Sam Madden, Alec Ruiz Ramon, Will Bailey, Colin Smith, John Moulthrop, Solomon Tarlin, and Kate Wysocki.

MIT Sailors kept the scoring updated and took turns freezing to death on Saturday in the finish boats were- Stephen Duncan, Fiona McKellar, Connor Chung, Sara Caso, James Peraire-Bueno, Thacher Chamberlain, John Piotti, Tiffany Xi, Brooke McGoldrick, David Alfonso, Marcus Abate, Jorlyn LeGareck, Noa Yoder, Julia Cho, and Hugh Dougherty. Coaches Matt Lindblad and Mike Kalin did a monumental effort in keeping everything organized throughout the event.

The regatta's success is a great tribute to former MIT Varsity sailor Lynne Marchiando from the class of 1985.

Franny Charles, MIT Sailing Master