April Regatta Recaps
J70 @ US Coast Guard
Seamus Hendrickson (‘26), Cal Lutton (‘26), Quinn Kaiser (‘26), and Paige Kurtenbach (‘26) traveled to New London, Connecticut, to compete in the J70 Invite #3 hosted by the Coast Guard Academy on the Thames River. Over two long days of racing, the team worked hard to score a solid 5th place out of 9 competitors.
The Badgers arrived early on Friday and attended a practice day offered by the Coast Guard Academy, where they honed in their maneuvers (focusing mainly on sets and douses and downwind maneuvers) in preparation for the weekend. The team enjoyed some classic East Coast bagels on Saturday morning before showing up to the Thames for the first day of racing. Day 1 saw good conditions, with 10-15 knots of breeze from the North, gusting up to 25 knots by the end of the day. The Badgers got a feel for the Thames by the end of Day 1, adjusting to the current solid present, and were able to score three top-3 finishes. Day 2 began with a strong 15-25 knot breeze from the North, dying down as the day continued. The Badgers continued to fight strong currents and heavy breeze and managed to get a competitive 1st place finish for the final race, leaving them in high spirits for the long drive home.
The team would like to thank the Ruggieri family for allowing them to stay in their Hartford, CT, home for the weekend. This allowed the team to cook a hearty homemade dinner on Saturday night and have cozy beds to return to after three long days of sailing!!
MCSA Open Team and Fleet Race Championship @ Grosse Point
Gavin Dempsey ('26), Ellie Murphy ('24), Marley Barrett ('27), Carter Harms ('27), Mary Castellini ('25), Carmen Lineer ('26), Charlie Herrick ('26), and Kerstin Hyer ('25) attended the MCSA Open Fleet and Team Race Qualifier. Team racing was on Friday, with fleet on Saturday and Sunday. Friday was an absolute ripper, with significant wind, waves, and snowflakes out of the north. Beautiful Grosse Pointe, Michigan, gave us every condition possible throughout the weekend, from sunny and 65 degrees to putting our hands in our mouths between races to keep them warm enough to feel the sheets. Team racing was a banger of a day, where the team went undefeated in the round robin and 3/1 in the top 4, securing first place and a berth to the ICSA Open Team Race National Championship. Saturday and Sunday consisted of competitive fleet racing. Charlie Herrick and Kerstin Hyer secured a first place in A division, while Gavin Dempsey, Mary Castellini, Ellie Murphy, and Carmen Lineer duked it out in B for third place. The team earned first place overall and a berth to the ICSA Open Fleet Race Nationals. A very special thank you to the Kimmel family for their generosity and for welcoming us to their home for the weekend. The snacks, dinner, and comfy beds significantly contributed to our victory.
MCSA Women's Fleet and Team Race Championship @ Wisconsin
The Wisconsin Sailing Team Honey Badgers competed at the MCSA Women's Fleet and Team Race Championship on April 12th, 13th and 14th. Mary Castellini ('25), Carmen Lineer ('26), Marissa Tegeder ('25), Lauren Salmi ('26), Nicole Guiliani ('24), Sydney Mandell ('26), Dylan Gorman ('25), Paige Kurtenbach ('27) and Jackie Ruggieri ('27) represented the team sailing an exciting regatta out on Lake Mendota. The Friday racing conditions were intense, with Northwest winds up to 20 knots, but that did not stop our honey badgers from taking home the MCSA Team Racing Championship! Saturday in Madison boasted beautiful weather, with an offshore breeze of winds ranging from 4 to 12 knots all day. Sailors Mary Castellini ('25), Carmen Lineer ('26), and Paige Kurtenbach ('27) represented Wisconsin in the A Division. Northwestern's A Division remained in contention until the last set, but our honey badgers consistently performed throughout the day and won the A Division. Sailors Marissa Tegeder ('25), Lauren Salmi ('26), Jackie Ruggieri ('27), and Dylan Gorman ('25) also won the B Division with an outstanding 12-point gap! The Wisconsin Women's Team took home the fleet and team racing MSCA championships for the first time in history! Thanks to our team regatta coordinators, umpires, judges, and PROs Noah Janssen and Doug Wake for running an extremely efficient regatta.
Big Ten Team Race @ Michigan
Big 10 team race was a great team race regatta hosted by the University of Michigan at baseline lake! We sent out the dream team of Adam Prickhart (’27), Sydney Mandell (’26), Dylan Gorman (’25), Mary Daniels (’24), Nicole Guliani (’24), and Seamus Hendrickson (’26). It was a pretty chilly April weekend but the conditions were optimal--blowing a consistent 10-15 knots throughout the entire weekend. The first day, we managed to hammer out two round robins where we went 7-1! It was a great Saturday of racing and we voted to race more on Sunday. Day 2 also had wonderful racing conditions where we completed a third round robin ending the regatta with a 10-2 record. We came in first overall and had a great time in Michigan!
BDC @ Harvard
Carter Harms ('27), Thomas Erickson ('24), Nigel Yu ('27), Jackie Ruggieri ('27), Charlie Herrick ('26), Kerstin Hyer ('25), Marissa Tegeder ('25) traveled to Boston to compete at a 3 division regatta called BDC on the Charles river hosted by Harvard University. Charlie and Kerstin were the A skipper and crew, Marissa and Carter were the B skipper and crew, Jackie and Thomas were the C skipper and crew, and Nigel was the alternate for the C division. On day two, all three divisions sailed the entire regatta with a C-division rotation. Day 1 consisted of a couple of multiple races, helping the whole roster get back into the competitive sphere of racing since Spring break. The key was getting off the line in a clear lane and continuing with boat handling skills upwind. Even though powerful East Coast schools competed at this regatta, the Wisconsin sailing team persevered. It pushed for spots behind, coming in with close races, and Marissa even pulled out a three against these schools in the B division. The second day consisted of more racing with more wind present, around 8 knots upwards of 12, building throughout the day. Throughout the day, ensuring where you were positioned in the fleet was vital, as the skyscrapers around the river would create massive lifts or lulls that would affect anyone in these spots. It was crucial to differentiate when the wind coming over would be a big lift or an enormous knock. Going around the windward mark and keeping track of the leeward marks were essential to maintaining a proper course involving jumping between different puffs to push through the pack. Thank you, Crimson Sailing Academy (Harvard Sailing), for hosting the event!
ICSA Open Team Race Nationals @ MIT
On April 26th and 27th, Calvin Lutton ('26), Sam Spencer ('24), Gavin Dempsey ('26), Ellie Murphy ('24), Marley Barrett ('27), Carter Harms ('27), and Nigel Yu ('27) competed at the ICSA Open Team Race Nationals, hosted by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University in Boston, Massachusetts. The team traveled to the event by air, arriving the night before to ensure quality sleep. Conditions on Thursday were tantalizingly close to being sailable. Still, Boston's unique architecture created bizarre wind shifts, with the breeze often shifting more than 90 degrees and rendering the Charles River untraceable. It was not until 4 PM that the breeze settled into an Easterly direction with a velocity of about 5-10 knots. With Mother Nature's cooperation, the team could sail four races, with the day's final race completing after the sun had set. Friday saw similar conditions to Thursday evening, and the team completed the fifteen-race round-robin. After finishing racing on Friday, the team explored Boston's North End neighborhood and sampled its cuisine.
Although the team didn't have the desired results, spirits stayed high, and sailors felt proud to compete at such a prestigious event. They were improving as the event went on.
Special thanks to Sarah Spencer for helping drive the team to and from the airport, and congratulations to Roger Williams University for winning the event.
ICSA Women's Team Race Nationals @ Harvard
Mary Castellini (25), Carmen Lineer (26), Marissa Tegeder (25), Lauren Salmi (26), Jackie Ruggieri (27), Dylan Gorman(25), and Sydney Mandell (26) traveled to Boston, Massachusetts, to compete at the ICSA Women's Team Race Nationals, hosted by Harvard University on the Charles River. The team worked hard, learned a lot while sailing in round 1 of the regatta, and left with a 12th-place finish.
The Honey Badgers arrived early on Saturday and decided to explore Boston, get breakfast after their long drive, and watch the final 8 of the Open Team Race Nationals. Day 1 saw on-and-off conditions, with wind starting at 10-12 knots, shifting from the South to WSW, and settling in the South with 5-8 knots by the end of the day. The fleet shifted between the 420s and FJs, which was a nice change of pace. The Honey Badgers got a feel for the Charles by the end of Day 1 and learned a lot from racing against the top teams in the country. The competition was tough, but spirits were high, and the girls left after Day 1, proud of their hard work. For Day 2, the Honey Badgers returned to the Charles to watch some of the final six before starting the long drive home to Madison.
The team would like to thank Julianna Ruggieri, who served as their coach for the weekend and gave the team some great insights into team racing. The team would also like to thank Harvard for hosting and the umpires and judges who dedicated their entire weekend to the event and helped it run smoothly. The women are excited to return to Boston for the ICSA Women's Fleet Race Nationals in a few weeks!
SAILOR OF THE MONTH: Ellie Murphy!
Our Sailor of the Month for April is Senior Captain Ellie Murphy! She is an Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences major. She is from St. Paul, Minnesota but grew up sailing at Gull Lake Yacht Club in Brainerd, Minnesota. She has been on the team since she was a freshman, and it's been one of the best parts of her college experience. Over the last 4 years, she has been lucky enough to do lots of traveling for regattas, and her favorite venue is Kings Point; she loved sailing the Admirals Cup her sophomore year and the Open Fleet Race Nationals last year there. Although she loves dinghies, her favorite regatta, and one she has looked forward to every year, is GLIOR out of Columbia Yacht Club in Chicago. This year, she was able to be the captain of the team, which was so great and rewarding in many ways. She loved being able to give back her time to the team that has given her so much throughout college. Being a leader, especially on a student run team, is so rewarding because she knows that every achievement is because of a group of hardworking students who really care about the team and its success. So the best part about being captain was working with the student board and her co-captain, Nicole, to do their part to make the team better. As captain, she enjoyed planning spring break and nationals, leading team meetings, and getting to know all the new team members. She is excited to see how the team grows once she leaves, and can't wait to come back for alumni regattas in the future!
Nationals
This year, the Wisconsin Sailing Team qualified for all four main events of nationals: the Open and Women's Team Race and the Open and Women's Fleet Race. With team race nationals under our belt now, we have our sights set on Fleet Race nationals, which takes place back in Boston at the end of May!
Qualifying for Nationals is a great honor, as it is the culmination of a full year of hard work, growing, and learning together as sailors and teammates. As the Nationals get closer, there will be more information on our social media about how to support the team- financially or simply by watching the event. A full event summary will be found in next month's newsletter.
Alumni Regatta
Our annual alumni regatta will be hosted on June 8th! This event is one of our favorite ways to unite current and past team members for a weekend of sailing, fun, and camaraderie. There will be auction items, merch, a banquet, lots of sailing, and bonding activities! We hope everyone can attend; it will be a great weekend.
Endowment
Our Endowment fund is now LIVE on our website. As a club-run team, we have to organize much of the funds ourselves, and with your help, we aim to ensure the success of the Wisconsin Sailing Team for years to come. Linked below is the donation link and the Endowment Video: