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

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!