Day 1 of ICSA/Laser Performance Singlehanded Nationals Complete, Chicago
Yacht Club
Martha Pitt
Thirty-six of college's best Laser sailors arrived at Chicago Yacht
Club's Belmont Station to compete in the LaserPerformance Men's and
Women's Singlehanded National Championships. The morning began with a
registration and check in to receive boat assignments and equipment.
After a welcome and competitors' meeting, the sailors hit the water to
practice a bit before the first race scheduled to begin at noon. The
heavy easterly breeze that had been cranking all Thursday had calmed
down significantly by the morning, but the waves that they had churned
up were still a huge factor all morning and early afternoon. The waves
roll directly into the city's shore wall creating what many locals refer
to as the "washing machine effect" as they bounce off back out towards
the lake in all directions. These sloppy conditions are particularly
challenging for sailors who are used to the more regular waves seen on
the ocean.
While the waves made conditions challenging, and
certainly gave the coaches something to think about while rocking away
on the large designated coach boat, the racing commenced right on time.
The men in the full rig division kicked off the day, which began in 5-6
knots from the ENE. The eager sailors forced a general recall right off
the bat while fighting for the pin, but soon settled down and racing got
underway. The breeze dropped down to around 4 knots for the second race
as the wind shifted left, opposite of what forecasters had expected for
the day. By races three and four, the wind was back up to 7-9 knots,
allowing the racers to get out on the rail and start working the boats
through the waves upwind. As the wind shifted further left, the waves
had calmed down a bit, but remained choppy and confused for the entirety
of the day.
Expecting far better conditions over the next few days,
the race committee called the racing after four races in each fleet,
ending a short but productive day of racing at 230pm. Christopher Stocke
from USF and Cam Cullman '13 from Yale are leading the Men's, tied with
15 points, followed by Brown's Colin Smith '13 with 22 and Wisconsin's
Joe Kutschenreuter with 28. On the Women's side, Mary Hall '15 from
Navy leads with 16 points, followed closely by Corey Hall '12 of College
of Charleston with 17. Anne Haeger '12 from BC, who has won this event
twice in the past three years, is close behind with 19 points, followed
by Yale's Emily Billing '13 with 20. With pretty inconsistent racing
across the board, expect to see many lead changes as we go into the next
two days!
Information on the event, including competitors, results, and Twitter
updates can be found at 2011singlehanded.collegesailing.info
Martha Pitt
Director of Sailing
Chicago Yacht Club
(o) 312-861-7777
(c) 312-714-7789
www.chicagoyachtclub.org/sailingschool
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