ICSA LaserPerformance Singlehanded Nationals, Day 3 - BC's Haeger and
Yale's Cullman Dominate Racing
Everyone showed up to Chicago Yacht Club this morning
expecting to see some big breeze, and that is exactly what they got!
Though the morning temperatures were pleasantly warm in the upper 50s,
the breeze started around 15 knots while the sailors were rigging, gusts
up into the 20s, and only continued to build through the morning. By
the time race 15 got underway at 930, the breeze was up around 20 knots
from the south. Luckily, the southerly breeze had made the waves a
little more easy to manage, but the building wind added new challenges
for the tough sailors. By mid-race, the wind was building up into the
mid-high 20s, gusts hitting over 30, and the racers were focused more on
keeping their boats upright than anything. Quickly the fleet spread out
as boats were flipping across the course, both upwind and downwind. For
the judges and safety boats monitoring the race course, many exciting
death rolls and wipeouts characterized the race. Once the race was
finished, though many hoped that the sailors could stay out, it was
decided that the conditions were getting a little too extreme for the
majority of this talented fleet to handle, and the boats were sent in
for an onshore postponement. The race committee remained out on the
water to monitor the conditions in hopes of being able to finish the
eighteen races, but by 1230, with the wind even stronger than before,
they decided to call the event.
On the women's course, Boston College senior Annie
Haeger kept her commanding lead through the last race, finishing third
in the race despite two capsizes. Haeger, now a three-time ICSA Women's
Singlehanded Champion having won the event her freshman and sophomore
year as well, again demonstrated her remarkable Laser sailing abilities
and won the regatta with only thirty-four points, winning nine out of
the fifteen races in a range of conditions. Claire Dennis, a junior from
Yale University and last year's champion at this event, also sailed a
great regatta and finished in second place with sixty-nine points.
Claire showed her dominance in breeze today winning the only race
sailed. Yale teammate Emily Billing rounded out the top three with
seventy-seven points, and surviving the race today with a second place
finish.
The Yale team and coaches must be thrilled with their
success both on the women's and men's courses as another of their
juniors, Cam Cullman won the men's side in commanding fashion, ending
the regatta with an impressive win in the epic race today. Though the
men's leaders were far less consistent than the women, Cullman was able
to extend his lead throughout the event, finishing with fifty-seven
points over USF's Christopher Stocke's eighty-four. Stocke I'm sure was
hoping for racing to be done for the day after the one race, as he won
the tie breaker with Charleston Cougar Zeke Horowitz, who also had
eighty-four points. Horowitz was leading Stocke by one point going into
the day, but Stocke's second place finish in the final race over
Horowitz's third tied the pair up, and put Stocke ahead on a
head-to-head tie breaker.
Though conditions today put the race committee a few
races short of running a full regatta, quality racing throughout the
weekend in all kinds of conditions allowed the best sailors to shine
across the board. PRO Erik Schneider and APRO Frank Ustach along with
the rest of the race committee did a wonderful job getting off lots of
races. Chief Judge Pat Healy along with the rest of the judges weathered
the wind and waves to help facilitate fair sailing throughout the event.
Mark Mitchell and the members of the Northwestern sailing team made the
on land logistics run smoothly so that racing could start on time.
Chicago Yacht Club was delighted to host such a fantastic event for the
best college Laser sailors in the country, and congratulate all of the
competitors for some great racing.
Martha Pitt
Sailing School Director, Chicago Yacht Club
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