Team Race Qualifiers @ Wisco

This weekend 7 of us headed to UW Madison to compete at Team Race Qualifiers. Saturday was a windy day, with an average of about 20-25 mph wind. The weather went from sunny to hailing more times than once and the temperatures were crazy cold. Despite all these factors the race committee got two full rotations in. The team performed very well (but definitely could have benefitted from some more alternates to save energy). Considering Brady, Matt and I have never practiced team racing together we were able to pull very strong moves and hold our own. Our shining moment was our unexpected win over Wisconsin in the first set- it was looking pretty rough at the first mark as we were holding a 2-3-6. KK and I were in the back getting battled by Wisco's two trailing boats, and despite our turtle from a squall and a quick team racing move, the boys were able to pull a 1-2, so all we had to do was right our boat and finish. With some effort and a lot of cheering we got the boat up and beat Wisconsin!

That little highlight was just one of the MANY awesome things that the team was able to put together this weekend. At the end of the first day we were tied with Northwestern for 2nd (the final qualifying spot for Nationals). Unfortunately, there was no wind on Sunday- virtually opposite conditions from Saturday- not allowing a sail off between the two of us moving to the next tie breaker (whichever team beat the other more times) which went to Northwestern.

Though we didn't qualify, we were very proud of our performance and look forward to improving for next year! Job well done to Matt, Braden, Allison, Natalie, Kate, KK and Emma- may your muscles recover quickly.

Happy Sailing

Allison Prange
Vice Commodore
Midwest Collegiate Sailing Association
E: pran0024@umn.edu
P: 262.323.1718

More coverage can be found on Sailgroove!
http://www.sailgroove.org/videos/coverage/view/237054-msca-team-race-qualifiers