Traverse Area High School Sailing

TRAVERSE AREA HIGH SCHOOL GREAT NORTH CHAMPIONSHIP

2009-05-25T20:01:00.000-07:00

Memorial Day on Boardman Lake saw the last regatta of the season for the Traverse Area High School Race Team. This regatta was for bragging rights for the the area schools racing as high school teams from Glen lake/Suttons Bay/Interlochen, Traverse City Central and Traverse City West, 16 sailors in all! The teams consisted of two JY15's and a Laser from each school.

The weather was perfect but the winds were variable, with one race seeing a 180 degree windshift! Our Great PRO, Eric, worked hard all day to keep the race course squared and the races challenging, many thanks go to him for his hard work today.

After nine races, only 1 point separated each of the teams with the Glen lake/Suttons Bay/Interlochen team coming in first overall and taking home the trophy! The complete results are on the TACS Website.

Congratulations to all the sailors and parents for a great first season!

Chicago Team Regatta

2009-05-19T21:56:00.000-07:00

Day 1:
As the sailors woke up Saturday morning they were greeted with mild temps, slight haze and good breeze. The team regatta format allowed us to split into two teams representing Traverse City. Both TC teams started the regatta in the second round allowing for a chance to sit at the lakeshore and watch the first round sailors duke it out on the course. This team format is rather new for our sailors, so getting a chance to watch helped Coach Pete explain the course and some team racing tactics before they got started for the day. Eventually it came time to suit up and hit the water. Both teams got in their boats and made their way out of Belmont Harbor and took to the big lake. The two TC teams broke down like this. TC1--Eric-Abigail, Andy-Elle & Jack-Sam C TC2--Anna-Sam S, Ben-Jess & Abby-Shannon.

The breeze started out of the west making for flat water and puffy conditions. The fresh puffs seemed to be coming from the right side so defending that side paid off well, also making this an ideal set up for the spectators on shore. Both teams took a race to get acquainted to the team racing format and digital N course. But they soon settled in and excelled. Both teams showed that they are contenders in their district with some impressive team racing tactics.

The round robin format allows for the top two teams from group B to move up to the A group and the bottom two in the A group to move down to the B group. TC 1ended up with an impressive 4-1 record to lead the B division and excelled up to the A group. After a short delay and a quick lunch the sailors headed back out of the harbor and were greeted with an increasing breeze that was now hinting more northerly, bringing in more swells and chop. It was starting to get later in the afternoon so they decided to only have the A group take to the water. The B group is set to start off first thing in the am. TC 1 sailed impressive in the afternoon capping off the afternoon with an impressive win over New Trier to end the day.

The kids are all a little wind burnt, sun burnt and exhausted from all the intense sailing. Despite the red faces and tired bodies, they still had some energy to hang out some other sailors for the evening. The boys are stating with the MacAdam family an the girls are with the Hamilton family, both up in Winnetka and Wilmette. It was a fun filled evening for all as they got to meet some new friends from Minnesota and New Trier. After a little pleading from Coach Pete he was finally able to pry them away from their friends and shuttle them all back to their houses by the 11:00 curfew.

Tomorrow looks to be nice. Lighter winds and Temps in the 60's. Let hope the sailors get some rest and are fresh for the new day.

Day 2:
Day two brought much lighter winds and more sun. The wind today started out if the north east and slowly shifted south. Team two started the day out first and the crowed started to build on the seawall as the day got underway. The challenge today was to try and figure out the waves as they rolled across Lake Michigan and then bounced off the seawall. The teams did well today and TC 2 ended their heat with a strong win as abby managed to pull a sneaky gybe right at the finish to cross the line second behind Anna. Anna sailed a great regatta this weekend. Each race she got more and more comfortable in the boat and lead almost each race at one point, she even hung in to take the gun at the finish of a few races.

We had a nice break in the day and enjoyed a tasty lunch. We ended the day with both teams battling out on the water. The wind now was almost due south and the wave action was only getting worse. The teams started getting used to it and TC1 had an impressive last heat. They won all four of their first races taking the 1 & 2 spot on a couple of them. It came down to the last race of the day and the team truly gave it their all. They came up just short of winning all five but finished the day with an impressive 4-1 record.
Back on shore there were smiles all around despite the tired bodies. As everyone got all packed up it was now time to say good bye to Chicago and make the long trek back home.
All the parents were quite impressed with the progress the team has made and this team regatta is just what they needed to get them acquainted with this different racing format.

Coach Pete could not be prouder of how well each sailor did this weekend. Now that we have this team racing experience under our belt, the competition had better watch out, here comes the TC teams!!!

1st Annual "Togaratta" at Boardman Lake

2009-05-03T19:59:00.000-07:00

The first annual "Togaratta" was held on Boardman Lake today, The NOR specified that Togas were to be worn and fun was to be had and the racers obeyed those instructions to the tee! Togas were worn over lifejackets and wetsuits, the only restriction that the togas were not allowed to be deployed on the down wind legs!

Those taking home the crystal Toga Cups were:

1st - Andy & Coach Pete

2nd - Jack & Sam

3rd - Gus & Jesse

Congrats to all and thanks to the parents for the between race buffet!

Next regatta on Boardman Lake is Memorial Day, be there or be square!

Andy's Toga Sailing style:

Laurels for the victor!

Mallory Qualifiers at GPYC

2009-04-29T05:28:00.000-07:00

Traverse City's first regatta of the spring was the Mallory Qualifiers at Grosse Point Yacht Club (quite the place!. While this regatta wasn't our best performance, it provided exciting sailing (winds up to 27 knots), challenging conditions (fog & very light winds) and good fun for all. Many thanks go to the host family and also to Coach Pete for hard work on the safety boat!

Click here for some pictures from Phil Holt of the GP Sailing Team:

Click Here for a few more from Sunday.

Spring Sailing Starts on April 7th

2009-03-26T07:29:00.000-07:00

OK High School Sailors, time to put the skis and hockey equipment away and break out the ice chippers and snow shovels: TACS High School Sailing starts on April 7th at the Cornwell Sailing Center on Boardman Lake! Let's go sailing (don't forget the dry suits!

Team Traverse Wraps up the season at Chicago YC

2008-11-19T08:11:00.000-08:00

Five members of the Traverse City High School team competed in the Great Lakes Championship held at Chicago Yacht Club. In the season championship, each team was made up of 2 420 crews and a Laser. Our crews were Andy Wyncoop and Mike Bouzleyer in one 420 and Abby Branson and Jack Kerby-Miller in the other. The 420s were split into two fleets (A & B) with TC having a boat in each. The sailors were shuttled from the waarrrm yacht club to the boats for each start.

Elle Rivard sailed in the Laser Radial class. Unlike her 420 companions, the Lasers stayed on the water all day (with a break for lunch).

As you might guess the conditions were challenging with temps in the 3o's and wind gusts in the 20's. Saturday saw the wind gusting 15-20 out of the NW which resulted in very strange wind conditions on the race course as wind blew around the skyscrapers shadowing the course. With the cold temps and a few minutes pent in the harbor water, the team was more than glad to get back to the hot tub at the hotel that night!

Sunday's racing saw colder temps but steadier wind from the WSW at 10-15. Still, improved winds lead to more crowded mark roundings and a huge deadspot to the leeward of the "bunch". Clear air was imperative to any success!

As of this writing the final results have not been posted but the prelims showed that out of 30 teams competing team TC placed 14th. Pretty respectable for our first year competing. Even better was the attitude of the team exemplified by the comment "We came here to win it all..".

So congratulations to the Sailors and Coach Ferris for completng the first season of competition of the Traverse City High School Sailing Team. We'll get them next year!

Team Traverse's adventures at the Lake Forest Halloween Regatta

2008-10-26T18:58:00.000-07:00

This weekend’s adventure began Friday afternoon, when the sailors had to prove their dedication to the team by skipping school (and an epic Central/West football game) to arrive in Lake Forest at a reasonable hour. An auspicious omen indicated that the weekend was destined for greatness: Cap’n Gus managed to paint both himself and his backpack by sitting on a rock. Needless to say, the team was awed by our leader’s remarkable talent.
Torrents of rain marked the trip, much as the toll booth guard rails marked Cap’n Gus’s hull. Many hours of driving and many more bad jokes later, the team arrived in Lake Forest at the beautiful abode of the Moore family, where we were reunited with Haley Moore and Katie Smacktree, both honorary team members. Everyone enjoyed some pizza, followed by team bonding over “The Breakfast Club.”
The Lake Forest regatta was highly unusual: the wind blew! At first, we were somewhat perplexed by this previously unknown concept of ‘racing sailboats,’ but we managed to puzzle out the correct approach, until the wind really confused us by exceeding 15 mph. We had been under the impression wind was only allowed to blow at practice and in movies, but kindly individuals corrected this TC urban legend.
Prior to actually racing, a costume contest was held in anticipation of Halloween. We were well represented, with Anna and Abby B both participating as a biohazard containment unit and Opti sailor, respectively. Anna won the ‘Most Original’ costume award, which was accompanied
Over in the Laser department, El Capitano, Abby Skibowski, Elle, and Anna were excited to see that the Lake Forest club had provided them with targets to practice with in the form of small children in Optis. Cap’n Gus proved why he is the captain by bagging one, a feat none of the girls was able match. The other sailors were openly intimidated by the TACS squad, who were all appropriately labeled with caution tape. The races went well, with Cap’n Gus smashing his competition and the girls holding on despite Anna’s broken traveler and the unfriendly wind. Elle and Abby raced well but eventually succumbed to the weather and headed in early; Anna followed not long after when her attempted repair job failed. As Cap’n Gus was (and remains) ridiculously hard core, he stuck out another race to secure his first-place standing.
Not far away on the 420 course, Abby Branson and Andy were sharing a boat. Andy likened the experience to ‘taking a cold shower while shredding $100 bills,’ as it is cold, wet, and hard on pricey equipment. Neither person was familiar with the workings of the mysterious 420 (now extinct in Northern Michigan) so they sank two of them by way of introduction. Despite these difficulties, the dynamic duo didn’t let this deter them from doing their darndest to destroy their competition, successfully securing a solid 18th place out of 21 vessels.
Following sailing, the team took a break to dry out before going out to dinner under the supervision of late-arrival Coach Andy. After a delicious meal involving large quantities of meat, we toured Lake Forest on foot before returning to the Moore household to watch “The Princess Bride.”
Sunday arrived gorgeously sunny, but the wind was a little too excited about the prospect of pushing people around the lake and blew 25 mph. In light of the frequent hull inversions of the previous afternoon, the race officials decided not to send us all out to sail. Instead, everyone packed up and relaxed with Halloween candy and sub sandwiches while waiting for awards. Cap’n Gus procured the team’s only hardware, a festive Halloween-themed trophy. Celebrating his success, the team headed back toward Traverse City.
We were not yet done, however. Disappointed that we had had no time on the water Sunday, the team decided to remedy this lack with some alternative methods of ‘boating.’ The Sal, also known as Mrs. Rivard and Goddess of Getting the Team and its Stuff from Traverse City to Somewhere Else, took pity on her shorebound sailors and kindly hydroplaned both car and trailer on the way north to assuage their cravings. After that was taken care of, the remainder of the trip passed with no greater incident than some brief wardrobe malfunctions from Andy and Abby. All in all, it was a spectacular weekend and well worth everything.

- Anna Frick, team sarcasm provider and traveling correspondent

A break from light air sailing

2008-10-19T17:00:00.000-07:00

After three light air regattas in a row I thought this video might show you about sailing lasers and in this case 470s & 420's in a breeze.

Enjoy!

Team Traverse races at the Talbot Regatta & Junior Olympic Regatta

2008-10-13T08:07:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the slow updates but the Traverse Area Sailing team has been busy (and keeping us busy) attending the Jimmy Talbot Memorial Regatta on Oct 4-5 in Chicago and then USailing's Junior Olympic event in Holland this last weekend.

The Talbot gave us the first opportunity to sail 420's in competition with 4 sailors teaming up to race in two boats: (Eric & Elle Rivard in one and Gus Stauber and Abby Skibowski in the other). The conditions continued to be light and variable (where'd all the fall wind go?) and while the results might have been dissapointing to the sailors, we had great participation and the chance to start racing in 2 person boats.

Andy Wyncoop and Abby Branson sailied the Laser Full Rig Class and

Anna Frick (in her first season of competition) sailed the Laser Radial Class.

After the regatta host families provided comfort food and great fun for our sailors, we owe them the greatest thanks!

These regattas drew much bigger crowds and consequently much higher level of competion! Tougher competition and tougher sailing conditions did nothing to dampen the spirits of the TC Sailors, good humor was evident everywhere!

This last week-end, 7 sailors, 4 parents, Coach Ferris all travelled to Macatawa Bay Yacht Club for the fall Junior Olympic event. This was a USSailing event (as opposed to MISSA) and was well atended. Holland is a cool place to visit, especially at this time of year! There were two opti fleets (the youngest sailor having just turned 8!), two Laser fleets and two 420 fleets.

The conditions early saturday were light to non-existant with lots of time for team strategy meetings and general relaxing on the race course.

After several false starts, two general recalls and the fleet returned to Lake Macatawa from Lake Michigan and suprise, suprise, there was 8 knots of breeze. The fleet quickly re-formed and we got two races in. Wind conditions in this land breeze were challenging as the breeze cycled from the right, then to the center of the course, then to the left. Good wind sense and some luck made the day

Sunday's racing started earlier in steady off-shore breezes and we got in 4 races before the bright sunny conditions caused enough on-shore thermal conditions to negate the breeze, cancelling the last race. But it was time to call it a day anyway. The TC sailors were steadily improving their standings each race with some of them competing for the top tier finishes.

2008-09-22T06:42:00.000-07:00

Traverse Team Takes Top Finishes at Culver Academy/Great Oaks Qualifier

September 21, 2008 -- Six high school students representing the Traverse Area Sailing Team traveled to Culver Academy, Ind., on the shores of Lake Maxinkuckee on Sept.19-21, to compete in the Great Oaks Qualifier. The two-day regatta hosted 11 regional high schools and representing 79 sailors. High school students sailed in one of three fleets including Laser full-rig, Laser radial and 420 boats. Team Traverse area competed in all three fleets.

“This weekend was a test of patience, as the northern sailors are obviously spoiled by steady winds and consistent conditions. I was pleasantly surprised with the outcome of the races under windless conditions to which we were unaccustomed,” said Coach Ben Ferris of Traverse Area Sailing Team.

Abby Branson, a junior at Suttons Bay High, with a race winner in the second of the four races, tied for second and in the tie-breaker was awarded third overall in the in the Laser full-rig series. In the four races making up the regatta, Branson placed 4,1,4,7 under extremely light wind conditions. All three fleets took to the waters on Sunday but were forced back to shore due to the lack of wind.
“Abby got a sweet trophy and is now 2-for-2 in this inaugural high school sailing season,” says TC West teammate Gus Stauber.

Stauber, a junior at TC West High also competing in the Laser full rig took fourth place in the regatta with one race coming in second place. In the other races, Stauber took 3, 5 and an 8.
“With a gift a little more wind, I had my bet on you winning the whole thing,” said TC West teammate Elle Rivard.

TC West freshmen sailors Rivard and Abigail Skibowski made their 420-race debut at the regatta placing 5, 13 and 11. Rivard skippered while Skibowski crewed in the largest fleet representing sixteen 420 vessels.
“I believe these ladies will have to be reckoned with the next time they meet competition on the water,” said teammate Andy Wynkoop. A TC Central junior, Wynkoop, received sixth overall in the Laser full rig fleet with scores in the four races of 6,4,7,3. “Andy was the entertainment force on the water in the mist of dead air,” Branson said.

In her first major regatta, Anna Frick, TC Central senior competed in the radial Laser fleet and showed she can be competitive with the individual race scores of 7,7,7,6.

“It’s really cool to be on a team with students from high schools all over the Grand Traverse area,” said teammate Skibowski.

Traverse Area Sailing Team, with its affiliation with Traverse Area Community Sailing (TACS), promotes athletic competition of the life-long sport of sailing for regional high school students and competes in regattas sectioned by the Inter-Scholastic Sailing Association.

Next up: Oct 4 - Talbott Regatta - Chicago Yacht Club, Chicago, IL

Our First High School Regatta - Grosse Isle Invitational

2008-09-08T07:48:00.000-07:00

Traverse Area High School Sailing team's first regatta is on the books and it was a great success! We had four sailors compete (Abby Branson (Sutton's bay), Eric Rivard & Abby Skibowski (TC - West) and Andy Wyncoop (TC-Central) and they brought home 4 trophies!

Eric, Abby B., and Andy took 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place respectively in the Laser Full Rig class and Abby S. took a 4th place trophy home in the Laser Radial class.

It was a very nice week-end, great location and venue, really wonderful hosts and good competition. A little more wind might of been helpful, but our sailors did pretty well in the light stuff anyway.

As this was our first high school regatta it was a great learning experience. For those that couldn't attend let me describe the week end. We drove down to Grosse Isle after school on Friday. The Coaches (Andy and Kevin) stayed on a boat at Grosse Isle Yacht Club supplied by a parent of one of the local families. We understand that this is the norm for High School regatta week ends: The sailors, parents and coaches are often provided accomodations by local families thus lowering the cost of the trip. The regatta fee was $50 per sailor and incuded breakfast and lunch Saturday & Sunday and dinner Saturday night.

We met at Grosse Isle Yacht Club Saturday morning to set up and launch the boats. As you might imagine with 10 Lasers and 20 or so 420's launching it was pretty crowded but the Grosse Isle folks had things pretty well organized and it went off without a hitch! The skipper's meeting was on the club lawn at 10:00 and we started racing shortly after that!

There were 4 classes racing: 420 "A" and "B", Laser Full Rig and Laser Radials. The 420 is the boat of choice for most of these regattas but we're told that all the regattas will haver Laser classes. In the Laser class there were 5 radials and 8 full rigs. The competition saturday was pretty good, Eric Rivard consistently placed well in the Full Rig Class and Grosse Isle sailor Peter Polgar dominating the Radial class. With the exception on Peter, there were many lead changes and some crowds at each mark rounding.

<- Eric rounding in a crowd!

<- Eric & Abby B on the upwind leg

<- Abby S and Andy on the 1st upwind leg

Lunch at the yacht club was great! Sailors came off the water at 12:00 took a very quick lunch and then it was back to the race course. There was a launch (not lunch) provided for the parents as a spectator boat so don't forget your camera and binocs for viewing the race!

The 1st day of racing ended around 4:00, clean up and storage took a while, but then ALL of the parents, coaches, and racers were invited to a pool party and dinner at a nearby home. What a great way to wind up the day's racing. Sailors, parents, siblings & coaches met, played vollyball, swam and just chatted well into the evening.

Many thanks to the parents of the Grosse isle team for hosting this great evening. In addition to hosting the pool party and dinner, the local parents housed all the sailors, provided housing (a 36' Tiara in this case) for the parents and then breakfast in the morning. Their hospitality was overwhelming!

Sunday's racing was held in light air, starting in a steady rain, but to paraphrase the great Badger Bob Johnson, It was great day for sailing!

In order to get folks home at a reasonable time, the schedule for Sunday's racing is shorter, the racing ended at 1:00, lunch and the awards ceremony followed and we were on the road by 3:00 PM.

I believe everybody had a great time, good racing, great venue & wonderful hospitality. All those attending are looking forward to the next regatta!

Coming Events for High School sailors!!

2008-05-23T19:18:00.000-07:00

There are several coming events for Traverse Area sailors of interest, check MidWest High Inter Scholastic Sailing (MWISSA) for a complete list, but our next planned regatta is the Great Oaks Qualifier at Culver Academy in Indiana.

The following regattas are those that we are considering attending, please let Jim or saly know which you would like to attend!

Sept 20 -Great Oaks Qualifier - Culver Academy
Oct 4 - Talbott Regatta - Chicago Yacht Club, Chicago, IL
Oct 11 - Junior Olympics - Macatawa Bay Yacht Club, Holland, MI
Oct 25 - Halloween Spectacular - Lake Forest, IL
Nov 15 - Great Lakes Championship - Chicago Yacht ClubChicago, IL