Another season has come and gone, and I know we are all anxiously awaiting the day when Cappy gives us the go-ahead for our first practice (though the ice has hardly frozen yet). Until then, let’s revel in the past a bit and review the highlights of the great season we had.
The second weekend of the season the team was able to put two teams together to sail at Davis Cup in Iowa while at the same time sending a team to Sloops in Michigan. It has been a goal of ours to increase the depth of our team and show our strength on big weekends like that. It has been really exciting to see the team grow to that level, and it is a trend we hope to continue into the future.
Next, we hosted Streufert Team Race Regatta. Thanks to the help of our many volunteers (that’s you guys!) we ran a seamless regatta and were able to win back the title, making the weekend even sweeter. Shortly after, the team headed to Milwaukee to sail in Single-handed Qualifiers, sending four guys and two girls. Minnesota had a great weekend, as I am sure you read, qualifying our Matt Thompson and St. Thomas’s Charlie Igo for Nationals in Texas. They each performed strongly and represented the MCSA well.
The next accomplishment I can speak to more personally, and am particularly excited about. It was another weekend in which we were able to send teams to two different events, one being Sail Sheboygan (a new match race regatta, run in Sonars), the other being Women’s in Madison. While women’s qualifiers are not until Spring, this was a decent test of our competition. After a recent history of “curses” at women’s regattas, we were able to walk away with a win; finally living up to the potential I know we have.
Soon after, we were able to reemphasize Minnesota’s strength. At the Tommie Cup Minnesota placed all four of their teams at the top, with St. Thomas winning, UMN Maroon in second, UMN Gold in third and UMN Women in fourth. Again, this showed the extreme depth of our team, and our very promising future.
To wrap up the season, we competed in Area West, with one of our top skippers (Thompson) away at Nationals. Despite this cut, we were able to hold our own, in one of the closest competitions I can remember, and ended up placing second over Northwestern in a tie breaker, with St. Thomas trailing by only a point. The team also sailed in the classic Timme Angsten Regatta at the Chicago Yacht Club. We placed third, behind Wisconsin and St. Thomas, providing a good end to the season. After such a successful season, we can only look forward to what the team can accomplish in spring, with three major qualifiers to prepare for.
With a new year, many changes come to the team, including a new board. This week we elected our new leaders, retiring a few of our past board members. A big thanks to Nick Hovland, Amberose Kramer and Carolyn Vanous for everything they have done for the team. I look forward to serving on the board again in the coming year. The new leaders are as follows:
Commodore: Tom Cramer
Vice Commodore: Allison Prange
Secretary: KK Wilson
Treasurer: Brady Solum
Safety and Facilities Coordinator: Natalie Sinn
Captains: Matt Thompson, KK Wilson, Katie Berning
This coming spring we will be running two regattas: Women’s Qualifiers and the Gopher Invite. Look for more updates in the New Year. Until then, happy sailing!
