Drexel Open

When a major weather system is coming through your regatta weekend, you can count on it being interesting... Saturday morning broke with a stiff southerly breeze blowing over the Delaware River. In advance of a cold front winds started out of the south around 10kts as A division took the water for a 1000 start. Eight teams sailed out of Corinthian Yacht club, with Army electing to keep their B division on shore as conditions built. The wind shifted SW as the day wore on. Several pre-start capsizes delayed racing a bit in the winds building into the mid-teens. Lunch was provided by Drexel's team as sailors were on their off rotations. The wind stabilized at 14 knots, strong but sailable, and races went on until 5:30 with great conditions allowing for 10 races in both divisions. At times teams were frustrated by the strong Delaware current at the starts, but the sailors prevailed with the wind conditions clearly stronger then the current for this edition of the Drexel Open. No protests or breakdowns were recored on Saturday.

With the front through the night before the sun faded and the winds cranked up Sunday morning as the sailors prepared to go out. Highs were only in the low 60s for the day. The conditions were bound to be difficult, the wind was oscillating though about 40 degrees from West to NW and with small unpredictable rain squalls about it was bound to create tough conditions for the sailors. A brief clinic on capsize recovery was offered by Drexel Sailing's President, Jeff Proko. The day started at 1000 for Race 11A. We had a tough day on the RC boat having to put out a lot of scope to hold anchor, with the wind and current pushing us about we did the best we could to keep the line fair if not square, thanks for the teams dealing with the difficult conditions. Speaking of difficult conditions each division was out for a brief squall, with light rain, but plenty of wind. Most teams did an excellent job sailing in heavy air. Winds were recorded in the high teens in the squalls but the gusts were occasionally higher. We had fewer capsized than observed in the lighter winds before! Two full rotations were completed before we called it a regatta as conditions were deteriorating around 1400. One breakdown was awarded to Ocean County College in Race 13A after they lost a jib block during the race.

Just for fun: We broadcasted about half the starts live on Facebook, some of the shaky cam footage is still up on Drexel Sailing's page.

-Craig Priniski Coach, Drexel Sailing Team

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.