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The end of the 2011-2012 season has sadly come to a close.  However, there is much to look back upon in a great year for the Sailing Association at UVA.  Here is a quick recap:

-Membership is up and many new members are excited and enthusiastic to come back and be a bigger part of the club next year.

-Two brand new safety boats were purchased this semester, and will be up and running for the fall semester.  These new safety boats will replace the old ones and are a huge step for the club.

-We had our best racing year in school history.  UVA finished 3rd in the MAISA Team Race Qualifier (top 2 qualify for MAISA Team Race Championships), and 9th in the MAISA Fleet Race National Qualifier (top 8 qualify).  The racing program is right on the verge of competing at nationals and hopes to accomplish this next year as the level of talent is on the rise.  Much of our success can be attributed to our Coach KC Fullmer, to whom a special thanks goes out.

-There has been an increase in prospective students visiting the university and looking to sail for the team and be part of the club.  This is great news and is very exciting for the future!

This great year could not have been accomplished without the help of our alumni, faculty, friends and family.  Thanks go out to all of those who have supported us over the past year – we truly do appreciate it.

Special thanks go out to our dedicated 4th years who will be graduating.  Their hard work and dedication is why our club is so successful.

I know we are all looking forward to next season already, it should be a great year!

This year, the America’s Trophy (MAISA annual Championship and qualifier for the national semi-finals) was held at Hobart William Smith Colleges in Geneva NY.  It was a far excursion for the team but UVA sent it’s top 8 racers prepared for any breeze conditions.  Gordon Wolcott, having suffered a broken collarbone just three weeks prior to the event made the trip being optimistic that he would be able to sail if the wind was light.  Before the start of racing on Saturday Gordon gave it “the good old college try”  and after completing just one tack his shoulder said no and he was out for the rest of the weekend.  Teddy Stokes stepped into his place and sailed A division sailing all weekend with Ellen Hubbard.  Chris Stessing sailed B fleet with Alex Brenin and Hannah Varden.  James Hasset and Madeline Gill stood by all weekend and waited for the breeze to pick up with no avail.  Nevertheless they were good sports about it and supported the team in every way they could.  A special thanks goes out to Madeline Gill who just finished her collegiate sailing career.  She was an incredible asset to UVA sailing for four years and helped turn our program in the right direction.  Thank you Madeline.

UVA sailed extremely well and finished the best it ever has at the qualifier.  Unfortunately they came up just 3 points short, finishing 9th behind Cornell.  As the top 8 teams qualified, Virginia was the first team out.  It was a demoralizing defeat as UVA was in 8th place and qualifying the entire event, up until the last race.  Credit goes to the B skipper of Cornell who finished the regatta with a 1, 2 finish to propel the Big Red to qualifying.  Even though it was a tough way to end the season, this caps off the best season UVA sailing has seen and the best America’s Trophy finish in the history of the team.  We are excited about the bright future we have for next season.

Full results and the regatta write-up can be found here.

Congratulations to our skippers Dan Burkert and Matthew Parker and our crews Heather Lee and Erick Chiroles for third place finish in this weekend’s 2-on-2 at William and Mary. We want to thank William and Mary for hosting a wonderful weekend. We also want to thank our own Madeline Gill for making a special appearance as skipper, with crew Matthew Parker, in our 6th race.

Regatta Report via William and Mary:

• Team’s were greeted on Saturday morning by a north westerly breeze of 5-10 mph on the James River. A digital N course was used and a full round robin of 15 races was completed before teams broke for lunch, which was provided to all by W&M Sailing. The breeze held steady for most of the afternoon as a second round robin was completed. As a third round robin began, the wind became very shifty and it became difficult to maintain a proper course. Racing was halted around 4:30pm for the day.
• Sunday started with a short delay as we waited for the wind to fill in and stabilize in direction. The Third round robin was completed in a building breeze, bringing the regatta to a close after a total of 45 races. Four protests we heard on Sunday concerning the final race between Hampton University and William and Mary. Two were disallowed. One resulted in a DSQ for William and Mary. One resulted in a DSQ for Hampton University.

Final scores:

Hampton 13-1; W&M 12-2; UVA 6-9; CNU 5-10; Princeton 4-11; Salisbury 4-11

This past weekend was the MAISA South Spring Qualifier at William & Mary.  The top three teams qualified for the America’s Trophy up at Hobart William & Smith Colleges, which is the quarterfinal for the National Championship of fleet racing.  The top 8 boats from there will move on.

UVA had large margins of victory in both A and B fleets, even with their top skipper being out temporarily due to injury.  Chris Stessing sailing with Alex Brenin all weekend won A while Madeline Gill sailing with Hannah Varden and Ellen Hubbard won B fleet.  Only six races were completed in trying conditions, the full results can be seen on techscore.

This year UVA boasted the best team race team the club has ever seen.  After practicing down in Norfolk over Spring break and racing in a few early season team Race Regattas, the team of Gordon Wolcott, Teddy Stokes, Chris Stessing (Skippers) and Madeline Gill, Ellen Hubbard, Alex Brenin, Hannah Varden, and James Hassett (crews) made the journey up to King’s Point to try and qualify for the MAISA Team Race Championships.  Unfortunately, UVA came up one race short finishing with an 11-3 record and in third place overall with the top two qualifying.  It was a tough regatta to swallow finishing behind Cornell (13-1) and Washington College (12-2).

The full results and rotations can be found here.

Great news from the front, this past weekend our team not only qualified for the America’s Trophy at St. Mary’s College but also placed FIRST out of the eight teams competing for slots at the Trophy. Conditions were treacherous the first day but calmed down on Sunday.

The sailors who competed were Gordon Wolcott and Linda Codega in A fleet, and Chris Stessing and Amanda Pinckney in B fleet. Thanks must also go out to Madeline Gill who came to support the team, Eddie Wolcott, who also supported the team and especially to K.C. Fullmer who came out to help the sailors and act as our coach for the weekend.

Congratulations to the MVP of the weekend, Gordon Wolcott, who sailed a nearly perfect regatta with all firsts but for single second place – the best finisher overall in the entire regatta.

Currently this only displays the first day of racing, but the top three remained the same for the second day.

http://scores.collegesailing.info/s11/maisa-south-spring-qualifier/full-scores