Spring Break Recap
This past week, the Wisconsin Sailing Team traveled to sunny St. Petersburg, Florida, for our spring training trip! Eckerd College was so generous in hosting us; we could not be more grateful to them for letting us use their boats and facilities! We would also like to give a massive shoutout to Reed Weston ('23), who flew in for the week to help coach us. It was great to have him back in the Wisconsin Sailing family and learn from the advice that he has. His obvious love for the sport and his skilled expertise helped us through the week. And, of course, our coach, Ian Beckley, for guiding us seamlessly through this week with his inquisitive knowledge and kind, focused teaching.
This week, our team focused heavily on shaking off the cobwebs from winter break, working extensively on our Team Racing skills and refining our Fleet Racing. The team spent about 6 hours on the water every day, usually working on boat handling in the morning and running some Fleet and Team races in the afternoons. The breeze was ON almost every day, which helped our crews work on our heavy air crewing and challenged our skippers to refine their maneuvers.
Also, our offshore team had a fantastic opportunity to sail keelboats on Wednesday. Sailing out of the St. Pete Sailing Center, the morning was spent learning to rig these boats and acclimate to the new boats. The sea breeze filled in nicely in the afternoon, which made for a nice sail with spectacular views of St. Pete and Downtown Tampa. Thank you to the boat owners, Mike Schroff, Dave Hammet, Abby Brown, Chris Morrison, and the St. Pete Yacht Club for being so generous to let us use their boats and facilities, and to our keelboat captain Dylan Gorman ('25), who took extensive time planning to make sure this would all be possible!
In addition to plenty of sailing, we took advantage of everything that Florida had to offer us. We spent some time on the beach, and Dylan Gorman's ('25) family was kind enough to let us hang out at their house and have a nice day on their boat. Thank you to the Gorman family for your generous hospitality and for letting us have such a fun day! So much was learned this week, and so much fun was had! Thank you to our secretary, Sydney Mandell ('26), for planning such a fantastic trip, and once again, a huge thank you to Eckerd College for letting us use their facilities all week. We could not be more grateful!
March Regatta Reports
The Honey Badgers Mary Castellini (‘25), Carmen Lineer (‘26), Marissa Tegeder (‘25), Lauren Salmi (‘26), Jackie Ruggieri (‘27), and Paige Kurtenbach (‘27) traveled to Virginia to kick off their season (and Women’s History Month) in the Old Dominion University Women's Team Race.
The first day of racing started late to avoid a morning rainstorm, but they still managed to complete 2 round robins (10 races). The breeze in the morning was around 12 mph out of the north, but by the end of the day had shifted to the east, and dropped in velocity throughout the day. The focus of the day was shaking off the winter boat-handling rust, and dialing up the boatspeed. The Honey Badgers quickly got up to speed and took two wins on the day, with valuable lessons learned from multiple other competitive races.
The second day was sunny with lighter winds around 6-9 mph out of the west, which shifted and lightened to the east by the end of the day. 5 races were completed, with an emphasis placed on well-timed boat maneuvers in the lighter winds. The starts were tough, but the sailors were able to be competitive through upwind maneuvers.
Overall, a ton of progress was made throughout the event and the Honey Badgers feel good about their momentum going into the beginning of the spring season!
The most enormous thank you goes out to Julie Wilson for helping the Honey Badgers have a safe and comfortable place to stay. It makes a huge difference when our teams can have a good rest going into competitive events.
GARNER TULLIS
On the weekend of March 2nd and 3rd, the Wisconsin Sailing Team competed in the Garner-Tullis Team Race, hosted by Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana. Calvin Lutton (‘26), Nigel Yu (’27), Quinn Kaiser (’26), Carter Harms (’27), Charlie Herrick (’26), and Emma Komis (’26) finished tied for fourth of eight teams on a 7-7 record.
The competition took place on the brackish waters of Lake Ponchatrain. Saturday saw light and shifty breeze under melancholic gray skies. Sunday was sunnier, with wind ranging from feeble to 8 or so knots.
While off the water, the team explored New Orleans’ historic French Quarter, enjoying the city’s delicious cuisine and rich musical heritage.
We would like to express our gratitude to Patty and Chad Dickson for housing the team in their Memphis home on the drive down. We would also like to thank James Dickson and Bob, Theresa, Becky, and Charlotte Biwer for showing up to cheer on the team in New Orleans.
This weekend was an excellent start for a spring sailing season, showing great promise. We feel that a few factors further reinforce this. First, none of the sailors representing Wisconsin had sailed a dingy since last fall, and all the competition at this event hailed from warm-weather schools practicing already. Furthermore, for some, this was their first time sailing in a team racing regatta or competing in FJs. Overall, the team feels that this weekend represents a solid performance and the potential to accomplish more extraordinary things very soon.
Upcoming April Events
We are now in full swing of the 2024 Spring Season! This weekend, we send our sailors to the MCSA Team and Fleet Race Championship event in Grosse Point, Michigan! We also have our first J70 event of the season, hosted by Coast Guard. We will also host the MCSA Women's Championship Regatta and an exciting Dinghy Event hosted by Harvard University. More information on the rosters for these regattas and a recap of each event will be found in next month's newsletter.
Alumni Regatta
Our annual Alumni Regatta will be hosted this year on June 8th! We enjoy bringing our alumni back to sail an exciting event every year, have a banquet, and hang out! It is an excellent way for current Wisconsin sailors to meet the people who carried the Wisco Sailing banner before them and bring together people from all generations. Our alumni liaison, Sophie Lusty ('24), has worked tirelessly in planning a fun event with merch, great food, and lots of sailing on the beautiful Lake Mendota! More information will follow in the coming months!
If you would be interested in sailing at our alumni regatta, please fill out this form below!
Sailor of the Month: Sydney Mandell!
This month's sailor of the month is Sydney Mandell, a sophomore skipper and the Secretary of our team! She is an Environmental Engineering major pursuing a certificate in International Engineering.
Sydney grew up in Chicago and learned to sail at the Judd Goldman Sailing Center on Lake Michigan. In high school, she sailed out of Columbia Sailing School. She was the captain of her high school team, which helped her discover her love for leadership and made her want to be on board.
Her favorite part of the team is the bond that everyone shares through the love of the sport. She is so grateful to the team for bringing her friends she may not have met. Her favorite regatta so far has been the USF Women's Team Race, which took place at the beginning of the spring season last year! She was very excited to be out of the cold Wisconsin waters and work on her team racing abilities!
As the team secretary, Sydney planned our annual spring training trip this year. She was delighted with how the trip turned out and said that the most rewarding part was seeing everything come together and everyone enjoy themselves. She pushed herself as a leader, and her hard work paid off. She (along with the rest of the team) enjoyed spending the week in St. Petersburg, Florida, and was so grateful to Eckerd for hosting us. She hopes to be involved in planning more spring break trips in the coming years and can't wait to see what next year has in store.
The Wisconsin Sailing Team 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: