GENERAL UPDATES
As we approach the spring season, the Wisconsin Sailing Team has been hard at work preparing for upcoming regattas. To do this, our sailors have been staying sharp with dryland training and chalk talks, ensuring we’re in top form once we hit the water. Dryland training has been a mix of strength and endurance workouts designed to build core stability and agility. Meanwhile, our weekly chalk talks have been a great opportunity to refine our racing strategies, improve teamwork, and brush up on the finer points of team racing.
The women’s team and keelboat team kicked off the season at their first regattas respectively! They faced tough competition, with the keelboat team going to SCOR and the women's to ODU, but they put on a strong performance and gained valuable early-season experience. This event set a great tone for the rest of the season, and we’re excited to see what we can accomplish in the rest of the spring season!
SAILING PHOTOGRAPHY
We’re looking to enhance our media presence by getting a team camera to document our races, training, and team moments. If you have an old camera you’d be willing to donate, or if you know someone who does, we’d love to hear from you! Additionally, if you have any media or content creation advice, we’d greatly appreciate your insights. Reach out to us at nnewman2@wisc.edu if you have any advice or suggestions to help us make this happen!
REGATTA REPORTS
SOUTHERN COLLEGIATE OFFSHORE REGATTA @ CAROLINA YACHT CLUB
SCOR, or the Southern Collegiate Offshore Regatta, is one of the few keelboat regattas in the spring. While it is a relatively new event, it has quickly gained traction as one of the most sought after regattas in the draft. This is not surprising, because who wouldn't want to go play in the sun for a weekend in lovely Charleston in the midst of a frozen February. This year team Wisco was in a Melges 32, one of the most physically demanding and fastest sport boats available. We knew we had our work cut out for us as this relatively small 32 foot boat demands a crew of 8 people! We left Madison on Thursday and drove through the night. The road trip was long but when we stepped out of the car and slid the flip flops on, we knew it was worth the effort. On friday we spent the afternoon cleaning the boat and practicing maneuvers. We were lucky to have a helpful safety officer that was a recent alum from URI, safe to say he shared our enthusiasm for fun first sailing. It was light to medium winds which was great for practice. Thankfully, we were able to take our time and step through each move slowly to get our bearings for the rest of the weekend
Saturday was the first day of racing. It was much windier than the practice day, with winds in the 13-16 knot range. It was a good thing we had 8 people because the Melges 32 was POWERED UP. They sailed us in what seemed to be a commercial crabbing field as every 20 seconds there was a crab pot floating by ready to ruin your race. We experienced a little bit of everything on Saturday - we were fast, we were slow, we were flipped over, and once we were even trapped in a crab pot string! Saturday was a long day of racing and everyone looked as though they had just emerged from an alligator wrestle, but despite all that, spirits were high!
Sunday was a little lighter than Saturday with winds ranging from about 9 to 13 knots. We started the day with two classic buoy races, but for the last race of the event, the race committee treated us with a mid distance race. We got to race all around the bay on mile plus long beats. This was majority of the teams highlight of the event, as we were able to just tweak and fine tune the boat and make it go as fast as possible. After racing was finished on Sunday, we headed to the dock and put the boat away. We are thankful for the college of Charleston and Carolina Yacht Club for hosting us and we hope to be back next year!
ODU SPRING WOMEN'S TEAM RACE @ OLD DOMINION
Mary Castellini ('25), Kerstin Hyer ('25), Marissa Tegeder ('25), Jenna Princing ('28), Penelope Whiteside ('28), Katherine Ahlquist ('28) and Caitlin Costello ('28) travelled to Norfolk, Virginia this weekend to compete at the ODU Women's Team Race Regatta. This weekend was the Honey Bader's first time back on the water since the fall season and was a great warm up for spring break. The Honey Badgers enjoyed the 70 degree weather on the Saturday, which was a beautiful contrast from the long and cold Madison winters. The Sunday in Norfolk felt much closer to home with a maximum air temperature of 40 degrees. The wind this weekend was between 15 and 20 knots for the majority of the time, creating a fast and exciting racing environment. Our Honey Badgers brought intensity and high spirits to the competition to brave the high winds and the sub 40 degree weather. This event was the first collegiate team racing event for Jenna, Penelope, Katherine and Caitlin which brought lots of opportunities to learn. Growth in team racing skills could be seen throughout the weekend as the races got closer and closer towards the end of the event. The highlight of the weekend was winning the final race with the 1-2 combination against Fordham! A special shoutout goes to the Tegeder Family who sponsored the Honey Badger's stay at the Sheraton Norfolk Waterside Hotel, which provided a comfortable and rest-filled stay. Additionally, we would like to shoutout Lars Alquist for sponsoring the Honey Badger's Friday night dinner at Grain, where they all enjoyed tacos to fuel their racing for the weekend!
SAILOR OF THE MONTH
Finn Tait
Our sailor of the month is Finn Tait! Finn is a senior skipper from Minneapolis, Minnesota and is a majoring in mechanical engineering!
Finn started sailing through sailing summer camps at the Minneapolis Sailing Center. He started in Optis when he was young but continued on to racing 420s around the twin cities. Once he reached high school, he founded his high school’s sailing team and was the captain of that team until he graduated. He also spent a large amount of time racing Ensigns on Bde Maka Ska as well as working as a sailing instructor and later a race coach.
His most memorable sailing experiences come from sailing with the Wisconsin Offshore Team where they have managed to compete at the highest levels of college keelboat sailing. Though the racing was always the focus, the people on the offshore team truly made these regattas memorable and spending time bonding and working in perfect unison is something that he will always remember and strive to once again achieve. From managing to getting second at Kennedy Cup his junior year to sailing on a Melges 32, J-105, J-109, and many other boats all in one season, the skills and experiences he will take away from being on the offshore team will stay with him as he moves on to sailing after college.
Finn has been on the sailing team board for three years now, serving for two years as a regatta coordinator where he was able to plan many great events, including two national qualifiers. He wants to thank all of the wonderful race officials and other volunteers that have helped the team and the conference thrive and demonstrate everyone's sailing abilities. As a club team, the only way we are able to survive is with the generous help of volunteers and donors and he will be forever grateful for everyone that helps this team continue to prosper.
In his senior year, he moved up to being the captain of the team. As captain, he has mainly focused on pushing the team to grow and pushing to be a better organized and efficiently run entity. These changes helped lead to one of the largest recruiting years in recent history with the team's size vastly increasing and the formation of an extremely dedicated freshman class that will continue to push the team forward in the years to come.
As his time on the sailing team and as a captain draws to a close, he hopes to end out his year as captain strong, with an incredible Spring Break training trip to Miami and hopes of continuing to push the team to be as competitive as it can be, while not losing the community and friendly environment that sets the team apart. He also hopes to set the team up well for the coming years and help facilitate a smooth transition of leadership so that the team can continue to prosper and grow.
Since Finn took a co-op in Junior year, he is not graduating this spring, but he looks forward to working as an engineer and hopefully using his degree to make a positive impact on the world around him!
Go Go Finn!
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!