NEISA Women's Team Race Championship - Legler

Teams arrived to a fresh 10-20 knot NNW breeze and racing got underway shortly after 11:00 AM. The breeze throughout the morning saw everything from due West to due North but primarily settling around NNW with racing running smoothly. After a brief delay in the early afternoon to reconfigure around a big shift left, racing continued without much interruption through the first round, which was complete just before 4:00 PM. One race from the first round between URI and Brown was re-sailed due to a hounds shackle splitting in two, which allowed teams a brief break before starting the round of 8. There was no change to the original result in the re-sail, which left a six way tie atop the leaderboard to conclude the first round. Racing resumed promptly in the round of 8, getting exactly halfway through the round before the 6:00 cutoff.

A huge thanks to everyone for their tireless work through an unrelenting pace of racing. Coach Emmet Smith was nonstop keeping the course square and handling a few minor boat issues in the limited spare time. Many thanks to Celia Byrne '24 for holding down the start boat all day and Addie Straub '24 for a brief appearance on the start board before jet setting to Copenhagen. Additionally, Jumbos Wyatt Bischoff '27, Ben Mueller '26, Cody Lamoreux '27, Maria Skouloudi '27, Grant Schmidt '28, and Ella Hecker '29 held things down in the finish boat, start boat, on land for breakdown duty, and occasionally on the mark boat. And last but not least on the list, another huge thanks to the umpire crew: Chief Umpire Will Bailey, Kelsey Wheeler Abigayle Konys, Taylor Eastman, Zach Shapiro, Hank Bailey, Abby Cook, Patrick Mulcahy, and Brielle Willoughby.

That's all for the long list of thank you's. We will see everyone at 9:30 tomorrow morning with the intent to get started racing ASAP. The preferred format (if conditions allow) calls for completion of the round of 8 followed by a top 6 to close out the event. Here's to hoping the forecast turns out better than expected and we can get through at least the top 8 and either a top 6 or final 4!

Teams arrived to a completely glassed off upper Mystic and a forecast calling for no breeze until the early afternoon. Miraculously, the forecast direction of ESE began filling at just over 5 knots just before 10:00. After setting the course to see if the breeze would stick, racing got underway at 10:30. Many races throughout the morning were abandoned as the breeze would phase in for anywhere from 5-20 minutes at a time. The pace of racing was slow but the round of 8 was completed just before 3:00. At that point, it became clear that there was no longer time for a top 6 so teams were sent out for a no rotation final 4. The breeze built to it's best of the day for the start of the final 4 with about 6-12 knots and a fairly steady breeze that required minimal mark movement, which allowed the round to be completed just after 4:00.

Congratulations to Yale on winning the 5th edition of the NEISA Women's Team Race Championship, it's 3rd running as the Legler Trophy in honor of the late great Ken Legler. Brown and Tufts round out the podium. Congrats to all the NEISA teams on an incredibly competitive regular season!

A huge thanks again to everyone for their hard work this weekend. Coach Emmet Smith kept the course square through a very active and shifty first half of the day. Thanks Celia Byrne '24 for coming back to serve as PRO. Additionally, Jumbos Sean Beaver '27, Thomas Mazzeo '26, Crue Ziskind '29, Pearse Dowd '29, Devon Owen '27, and Brayden Benesch held things down in the finish boat, start boat, and on land for breakdown duty. Thanks again to umpire crew: Chief Umpire Will Bailey, Kelsey Wheeler Abigayle Konys, Taylor Eastman, Zach Shapiro, Hank Bailey, Abby Cook, Patrick Mulcahy, and Brielle Willoughby.

Finally, a big thanks to Medford Boat Club, Roger Williams, and Peter Creedon from WBC for lending umpire boats for the weekend.