Women's National Team Race Invitational

Sailors were welcomed to the very first national women's team racing invitational tournament by MIT Director of Athletics Julie Soriero. Two full round robins were sailed in nice 4-8 knot Westerly breeze which faded and became a nice Easterly seabreeze for the last flight of round 2. Tomorrow's racing will begin with a tiebreak race between MIT and USF for the last spot in the top 4 and then a double round for the top 4 and bottom 3 respectively.

Races were fully umpired by a great team of mostly former NEISA women's sailors which included Chief umpire Kelsey Wheeler, Paula Grassberger, Abby Preston, Amina Brown, Johanna Kincaid, Scott Booth, and Jeff Dusek. MIT Sailing Master Fran Charles was PRO and ran the signal boat with assistance from MIT alums and undergrads Hanna Vincent, James Pierre-Bueno, Sharon Chen, Thatcher Chamberlain, Alex Bost, and Meredith Julian. Alison Jolly served as the ICSA Rep.

Absolute glass kept everyone ashore until about 1245. A light SSE breeze was just barely enough to get the gold and silver rounds going. Eventually the breeze turned off again and forced a couple of races to be abandoned and re-sailed. The final flights were held in a gorgeous 12 knot west wind.

Lots of fun had by all competitors and congrats to the BU Terriers for coming from behind to win the regatta. Coach Schreyer started the swim fest and became victim soon thereafter by all of the BU sailors who wrestled him to the edge of the dock and tossed him in.

Many thanks to our very generous team of all lady umpires for giving up there weekend to help start this positive movement of a team race championship for women. Special kudos to USF for making the trip to join a tough field of New England competitors.

Franny Charles, MIT Sailing Master