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!
