TERRIFIC WEEKEND FOR WOMEN & COED SAILING TEAMS

[joesunfish]

At the Women’s Middle Atlantic (MAISA) Fall Conference Championship, the top seven teams qualify to advance to the Women’s Atlantic Coast Championship at Brown University in Rhode Island next weekend. Our Lady Rams placed seventh and qualified for this prestigious event, which because most of the top teams are in one of the three Eastern conferences, is second only to the Women’s National Championship in terms of competition.

Ryann Hall ’11 & Emma Pfohman ’13 represented Fordham in A Division while Amanda Tooker ’11 & Samantha Zimmer ’12 sailed B Division and Sarah McKay ’12 served as “Sixth man” and cheerleader-in-chief. Among the 45 teams in MAISA, only about a third can field a women’s Sailing team but those that do are very competitive. Only five of the 10 varsity teams and four of the club teams in MAISA entered this competition. Because Fordham doesn’t have the depth of personnel that the top varsity teams do, our gals are an integral part of our coed team. This was the only Women’s competition, which we entered this fall, so our Lady Rams did a terrific job, particularly placing among the top five in five of the 18 races sailed.

The regatta was hosted by Old Dominion University on the Elizabeth River in Norfolk, Virginia. It was a beautiful sunny day with winds ranging from the south at 4-12 knots.

 RESULTS (* = varsity team)

1. Hobart & William Smith – 48 points *
2. Old Dominion – 59 *
3. St. Mary’s – 64 *
4. Georgetown – 73 *
5. Navy – 81 *
6. U/Penn - 95
7. Fordham – 110
8. Cornell – 125
9. Drexel - 155

Meanwhile, our Coed team was participating in the MAISA Club Teams' Championship at Ocean County College in Toms River, NJ. With five of our best crews racing at Old Dominion, we jerry-rigged a team of four different skippers and four different crews, and provided needed regatta experience for three new sailors...soph Elizabeth Wegmann and frosh Bridget Dalton & Alex Wiggins. We had no idea where we would place and although we won this event last year, we were not disappointed with our second place finish this weekend. While it looks as if we edged third place Virginia by one point, in fact it wasn't that close as a disqualification for breaking one of the Racing Rules of Sailing resulted in 17 points being added to our team score. Without that mishap, Fordham would have had 116 points because we had finished second in the race in which we were disqualified.

On Saturday, Joe Turchiano '11 & Alex Wiggins '13 teamed up in A Division while Alex Sachs '12 and Bridget Dalton '13, sailing her first college regatta, raced in B Division. On Sunday, Graham Gardner '11 & Mary Wachowicz '10 substituted for Joe & Alex in A Division while Carl Shorett '10 & Elizabeth Wegmann '12 did the same for Alex & Bridget in B Division. Mateusz Plaza '12 served as "Sixth man" on both days.

Winds were light all weekend blowing 5-9 knots from the southwest on Saturday and 3-6 knots from the west on Sunday.

RESULTS

1. U/Penn - 74 points
2. Fordham - 133
3. Virginia - 134
4. Ocean County I - 164
5. Ocean County II - 201
6. George Washington - 226
7. William & Mary - 271
8. Villanova - 281
9. Columbia - 284
10. Queens U. (Canada) - 288
11. Cornell - 289
12. Drexel - 318
13. American - 337
14. Loyola - 346
15. Virginia Tech - 347
16. Princeton - 365
17. Monmouth - 365
18. Maryland - 368

Next weekend, our Coed team will be racing in the Atlantic Coast Tournament at Cornell while our Women's team will be competing in the Atlantic Coast Women's Championship at Brown.