Duplin Women's Team Race

With the ice thawing on Mystic just a few days before the weekend and this being the first day of the season that any of our boats were sailed, there was a short delay to begin the day while we resolved a couple previously undiscovered breakdowns/repairs.

In spite of the delays, the Upper Mystic Lake delivered with sunny skies and a spectacular 5-15 knot breeze ranging from NNW to NNE, which allowed for the entire 10-team round robin to be completed by about 4:30. Three protests/redresses were filed, all of which had the potential to result in re-sails, which prohibited rolling into the eight-team 2nd round robin before the hearings were resolved.

A breakdown from RWU for a taped FJ jib pin coming out resulted in a re-sail in race 6 between RWU and Tufts, with RWU winning the re-sail in a 2-3-4. A breakdown from Tufts for a 420 jib halyard failure resulted in a re-sail in race 24 between Tufts and MIT, with Tufts winning the re-sail in a 1-2-5. A protest/redress from Harvard was disallowed.

Many thanks to our umpires, Julia Reynolds, Moose McClintock, and Taylor Eastman, for their hard work. A huge thanks to all the Jumbos for their perserverence through a long day on the water. Especially to Lilah Parker '26 for helping resolve breakdowns expeditiously, Jack Poynter '29 and Crue Ziskind '29 for manning the RC boat all day, and to Maria Skouloudi '27, Walter McFarland '29, and Ella Hecker '29 for braving the finish boat all day.

After the re-sails, five teams remain tied atop the leaderboard with a 6-3 record with Tufts and Harvard just one win behind. Racing will resume tomorrow with the first race of the top eight(race 46) starting at 10:00 AM (all FJs). The round of eight will be followed by a top six or a final four if time allows.

Another beautiful day on the Mystic. After an overnight breeze switch, competitors arrived to a crisp 8-12 knot southerly coming over the spillway from the lower Mystic Lake. Racing began at 10:15 with the first race of the top eight, which was completed around 1:45 PM. Another jib quick pin failure resulted in a re-sail at the end of the round between Tufts and MIT. The results of the re-sail did not change the original score.

After the re-sail was complete, teams and coaches headed out on the water with the attempt to squeeze in a no-rotation final-four. The rotation was amended so that the first race of the round would serve as a sailoff for 3rd between Tufts and RWU in the event that the final four could not be completed. The breeze lightened up significantly around 2:40 during the 2nd race of the round, at which point it became apparent that a final four was no longer possible and racing was called for the day.

Many thanks again to our umpires Julia Reynolds, Moose McClintock, and Taylor Eastman for weathering a decidedly colder day. The same goes to the Jumbo RC squad of Jack Poynter '29, Crue Ziskind '29, Maria Skouloudi '27, Walter McFarland '29, Lilah Parker '26, and Ella Hecker '29. A special shout out to Coach Norfleet (that's me) for sacrificing life and limb to save a brand new drone just as it crashed into the water and was about to sink.

Congrats to Yale on another women's team race victory this season. We will see you all in three weeks when we host the Legler Trophy, by which point all 420 issues should be resolved.