The Aftermath

Here is a great film put together by Shane Donaldson of the Communications Department at URI and his Co-workers. He was responsible for organizing the interviews and sending us over to France with two Flip HD cameras. The film will be used to represent the school and the sailing team. GO RHODY!

Monday Morning Tactician

Good morning sports fans.

The jet lag is wearing off and our lower backs are realigning after a long day of travel back to the United States of America. I could tell that we all felt a sense of relief to be home but for me it also solidified the end of a great run. Being part of the process of building the 2009 URI World Cup Racing Team has been one of the highlights in my young life. The opportunity to train and lead a group of motivated young sailors into battle has been an incredible learning experience that will transcend the race track in Marseilles France. It effects how we all look at our education, our personal lives and how we interact with scociety as a whole. The support we have recieved from friends, family, the sailing community and our sponsors only provides more motivation in whatever endeavors lie ahead of us. After six months of fundraising, theorizing about the Student Yachting World Cup and finally making the dream of competing in it a reality, one would think we are ready for a nice long nap. Believe me, I thought about it.

Our dreams of an easy Rhode Island hibernation are quickly dashed however by the opportunity and desire to make the trek to the US Naval Academy for the 2009 Kennedy Cup Trophy. We are excited to get back in the ring this weekend and battle some exceptional collegiate big boat teams for the chance at representing the United States in 2010 at the Student Yachting World Cup. We are taking a core group from this years World Cup effort and mixing in several new faces. Growth and development never take a holiday, they don't even take a day off, so it is always important for URI Sailing to bring new talent and energy into the mix.

We leave on Thursday night and have our eyes set forward on the new task at hand. We can only look to the past six months for inspiration and energy. Not to what we could have or should have done. We learned so much about our team, the event and URI Sailing's ability to leave it all out on the water that we can hold our heads high as we pursue our next goal. We are going to sail with that same poise and determination this weekend and will be reporting from Annapolis as the action takes place.

Stay tuned...

Day 6

Day 6 is the last day of the regatta. Results are very close, leaving Team USA on the outside looking in. We knew that we had moves to make, and wanted to leave everything on the race course. With 2 W/L races, we had the opportunity to move up the rankings.

Race 14 started in a light easterly. We started three boats from the pin, back from the line, but with speed. We held our lane to the left, tacking out in a slight left shift. We were tacked on by the Czechs, forcing us back out to the left. We tacked on port layline, in pressure and with pace. We rounded the windward mark in 6th, behind the Czechs, Irish (Cork), France (Audencia), but beating the Swiss. We held on starboard before being the first to gybe out on a nice right shift in pressure. The pressure across the course was dying, and we did an incredible job of staying in pressure and keeping boatspeed, allowing us to sail into third place just before the leeward mark. The race committee shortened the course to finish at the leeward mark. We kept pace on, while the Italians and the French Audencia team, in a gybing duel, parked up before the finish, allowing us to pass them and finish first. Audencia finished 2nd, and the Italians 3rd.

Race Committee hoisted the AP flag at 11am, and said they would send us in at noon if the breeze did not fill. When 12pm rolled around, the Bay of Marseille was still glass, and we were sent in, ending the Student Yachting World Cup 2009.

We were pleased with our performance this week. There will always be second guessing about where we could've pick up a point or two, but that is always the case with any event. We left everything on the race course, especially with the bullet in the last race.

Team URI/USA would like to thank everyone who made this event possible for us. Everyone who supported our campaign, in any manner large or small, had an impact, and helped us to our 4th place finish.

Student Yachting World Cup 2009, Final Results (14 races scored)

1. Italy -- 24 pts
2. Czech Republic -- 45 pts
3. France (Audencia) -- 48 pts
4. USA -- 49 pts
5. Ireland (Cork) -- 49 pts
6. Switzerland -- 52 pts
7. England -- 69 pts
   
8. Scotland -- 83 pts
   
9. Wales -- 89 pts
   
10. Ireland (Limerick) -- 108 pts
    
11. France (Ecole Polytechnique) -- 108 pts
    
12. Japan -- 120pts

Thanks again from Team URI/USA, and look for us to qualify again for the Student Yachting World Cup at the Kennedy Cup this coming weekend in Annapolis, Maryland.

Day 5

Sorry for the Thursday post on Friday, but the night race last night made for a long night.

Day 5 started out with a W/Lx2 and an inshore race, followed by a 2 hour break and the night race.
Race 11 was started in a 6-10kt northerly. Off the start, we leveraged to the right, with more pressure and angle than boats on the left. Halfway up the beat, the left filled in with a huge left angle. We were hung out to dry on the right, and had to claw our way back to the mark. We rounded in 8th, close behind Ireland. Down the run, we were able to pass the Irish and close on the 6 boats ahead. In the first half of the second beat, we picked off 3 more boats, but were forced to the left, with right pressure. We lost 5 boats in the second half of the beat, and rounded the windward mark in 10th, and held that position to the finish.

Race 12 was a 20 mile inshore race, which had us racing south, down the coast of Marseille. We won the start at the boat, hitting the line at full pace, while the other boats were caught downspeed in a left shift. We rounded the short windward mark in first, 30 yards ahead of the Italians. We then broad reached Cape Croisette, gybed around the cape, and headed to Ile de Riou, surfing waves in 15kts of breeze. We held our lead around Riou, and all the way upwind back towards Marseille. In the last 2 miles to the finish, the breeze dropped from 15kts to 4-8kts, slowing the entire fleet. On the long port tack to the finish, the French team from Audencia caught pressure and went from 5th to first. We held onto 2nd.

Going into the night race, we were tied for 3rd with Ireland (Cork) with 40 points, 2 points from the Czechs in 2nd. Only 6 points seperated 2nd place from 6th, so the racing was very close

Race 13 was the night race, and the course had us rounding the Frioul Island twice, first to starboard, then back around to port. Off the start, we were slow, and had to bail to the right, and were 7th around the windward mark. We had a poor spinnaker set, and dropped a lane on the tight right to the cardinal marks Carnoubier and Sourdaras. We were rolled by 2 teams, dropping us to 9th. Up the beat along the Frioul islands, we caught 1 boat, but lost 2 at the top end of the island, due to the massive wind shadows of the island. On the run along the north side of the islands, we caught 1 boat, and we held on to 8th as we rounded Carnoubier and Souradas to go back around the islands to port. On the beat, we passed the Irish team from Limerick, and held 7th around the islands, back to the finish at Carnoubier. However, soon after we thought we had finished, the Race Committee came over the radio and said that they were in the wrong position for the finish. This meant that we would be scored for our position rounding Carnoubier and Sourdaras, which was an 8th, instead of 7th.

Student Yachting World Cup, Results through Day 5 (13 races)

1. Italy -- 21pts
2. Czech Republic -- 39pts
3. Ireland (Cork) -- 45pts
4. France (Audencia) -- 46pts
5. Switzerland -- 47pts
6. USA -- 48pts
7. England -- 58
8. Scotland -- 73pts
9. Wales -- 82pts
10. Ireland (Limerick) -- 96pts
11. France (Ecole Polytechnique) -- 102pts
12. Japan -- 112pts

Friday's forecast is very light out of the east. The regatta is capped at 15 races, so only two races tomorrow.

Day 4

Wednesday is moving day. After a postponement ashore until 1230pm, the fleet headed out to the Bay of Marseille for a W/Lx2 and an inshore race in a westerly that built from 4-7kts to a solid 8-12 by the end of the inshore race.

Race 9 of the event was a W/Lx2 with 0.7nm legs. We started pin third, with the intention of playing the left side of the course, which had more consistent pressure than the right. We had a decent start, but we were pinched off by the French Audencia team, who was OCS but did not return to the line. After a tack to port, we were leading to the right side. We rounded the windward mark in third, behind Scotland and Italy. Down the run, we showed superior boatspeed compared to the Scottish, and were able to soak low inside of them and beat them to the gybe on to port layline for the leeward mark. After rounding the leeward mark in 2nd, we played the left, covering most of the fleet. The defending champions, Cork Institute of Technology (Ireland) got to our right and caught a favorable shift, while the Scottish and Swiss, who were to our left, caught a bit of a shear and all three teams passed us, dropping us to fifth around the windward mark. We were closely followed by the second Irish team from the University of Limerick and the Welsh from the University of Cardiff. Down the run, our superior boatspeed enabled us to pull away from the Welsh and Irish, soaking low across their bows, while getting to the inside of Swiss and Scottish. We simultaneously gybed with the Swiss and Scottish on the port layline for the leeward mark, obtaining overlap and mark room. We passed both teams at the leeward mark, putting us in third behind the Italians and Irish from Cork.

Race 10 was an inshore race. From the starting line, we beat to a short (o.3nm) windward mark, then had a tight spinnaker reach to the cardinal markers of Carnoubier and Sourdaras. Afterwards, we headed back upwind, keeping the Frioul islands to our left. We set the spinnaker again after rounding Ilot Tiboulen and had a run down the backside of the Frioul islands to a finish. Because the beat was so short, we wanted to start at the boat, and either control the fleet to port layline, or tack out and establish ourselves early on starboard layline. After a poor start, we tacked to the right early. Our plan paid off slightly, as we rounded the windward mark in fifth, behind the English, French (Audencia), Czechs, and Irish (Cork). Positions stayed the same on the reach. We had a poor mark rounding, and lost lanes to the Swiss, who passed us. On the long beat up the islands, we played the shore, passing the Swiss in the last third, although we lost the Italians, who have an extra gear no one else seems to have (they had rounded the leeward mark in 8th, and by the next spinnaker set, they were up to 3rd). On the backside of the island, we were able to soak low, inside the leading pack, and beat them to a gybe. For the first 2/3 of the run, we were able to power reach in a good right pressure, passing 3 boats, getting up to 3rd place. In the last third of the race, the breeze lifted, enabling the Italians to reach under us, passing us just before the finish. We held off the French and the Irish, and finished fourth.

We were pleased with our performance today, as we were able to prove to everyone (including ourselves) that we are contenders for a podium finish. We still need to improve in our starting and in our upwind legs. If we can, we will be able to make plays up the scoreboard.

Student Yachting World Cup, Results after Day 4 (with 10 races, 8 scored)

1. Italy -- 11 pts
2. Czech Republic -- 29 pts
3. Ireland (Cork) -- 30 pts
4. USA -- 31 pts
5. Switzerland -- 35 pts
6. France (Audencia) -- 35 pts
7. England --4o pts
8. Scotland -- 50 pts
9. Ireland (Limerick) -- 64 pts
10. Wales -- 64 pts
11. Franch (Ecole Polytechnique) -- 70 pts
12. Japan -- 81 pts

The forecast for Thursday looks to be the best so far this week. With a potential for 3 races, including the rescheduled night race, we are looking to make more gains on the leaders.


Good night,

Team URI/USA

Day 3

Apologies for the late post.

The third day of SYWoC 2009 started out extremely light, with a residual harbor hurricane filling from the east. After a postponement of about an hour and a half, which featured an international water fight, the breeze filled in from the west at about 4-6 knots. Racing started around noon, with a W/L and an inshore race on the schedule

Race 7 was a W/L x2, with 0.7nm legs. We decided to work the left, and started pin third. Off the start, we rumbled, pinching off the French Ecole Polytechnique team. We were the left most boat, and tacked on layline, in a slight left shift. The right, however, paid off, and after ducking two boats, we rounded the windward mark in seventh. After a close run, in which we attempted to attack boats ahead, we gained inside overlap on the English team, but gave it way with a poor leeward mark rounding. On the second upwind leg, we played the middle left, taking advantage of pressure that the right did not have, and closed in on the Swiss team. We attacked again downwind, but we were unable to create an overlap at the second leeward mark, and made no passes on the reach to the finish. Team USA finished 7th.

Race 8 was an inshore race, round Ilot Tiboulen to port, then reaching along the north side of the Frioul Islands, before finishing at the Canoubier cardinal mark. We were forced to the right after the start, and had to fight our way back to the left. In the last third of the beat to Tiboulen, we played it as if we were racing J24's, short tacking the shore, looking for the left shift. We closed on the leaders, but were unable to make the pass. On the downwind leg, we again played the shore, but lost to the boats offshore, who had just a bit more pressure. We made gains back, though, on the tight reach to Canoubier, as we were able to roll two teams who ran out of pressure, and passed the Swiss who were caught too low for the reach to the finish. We finished 6th.

After a two hour break on shore, the Race Committee attempted to run the night race, a SYWoC staple. The twelve teams got geared up for a 19 mile race, which had us round the Frioul islands, first to starboard, then back around to port, before finishing outside of Vieux Port. The wind, however, was not on the same plan, and soon after Race Committee took up station, the bay glassed off. After a 15 minute postponement, the RC sent the teams in for an early evening. The night race has been rescheduled for Thursday night.

The day was just one of those days. We didn't seem to have our boatspeed, we seemed to lose ground on every tactical call, and when we did make gains, we would just not quite get enough to make the pass. With 3 days of racing left, we know we have to really push ourselves to be absolutely perfect in order to make gains.

Student Yachting World Cup, Results after Day 3

1. Italy -- 15 pts
2. Czech Republic -- 27 pts
3. Ireland (Cork) -- 28 pts
4. France (Audencia) --30 pts
5. USA -- 31 pts
6. Switzerland -- 32 pts
7. England -- 39 pts
8. Scotland -- 46 pts
9. Ireland (Limerick) -- 55 pts
10. Wales -- 59 pts
11. France (Ecole Polytechnique) -- 62 pts
12. Japan -- 72 pts
    

Day 2

Epic conditions at the Student Yachting World Cup. Temperatures hovering around 70 degrees, cloudless, sunny skies and a solid NNW breeze between 8 and 15 knots provided for great racing. Race Committee scheduled three races, starting off with an inshore race, as the breeze was forecasted to die as the day went on.

Race 1 (4th of the event) was a 9 mile inshore course around the Frioul Islands. Our gameplan for the start and first beat was to start pin third and work the left side, which had better pressure. We lost our lane soon after the start, and bailed to the right. We hooked up with a nice righty pressure and tacked on layline, rolling over the French Audencia team, and rounded second behind Team Italy. Our run to the cardinal marks Canoubier and Sourdaras was stellar, and we pulled away from the third place team and closed on the Italians. The tight beam reach down the south side of the island featured multiple spinnaker douses and sets, and the top two spots stayed the same, while the Swiss took over third. On the short beat to Ilot Tiboulen, the Italians pulled away, while the Swiss gained on us, before a perfect lee-bow tack gave us a bit of breathing room for the final broad reach to the finish. The Italian team finished first, Team USA second, and the Swiss third. We were very pleased with our boat handling for the race, while we needed to focus on dialing in our upwind trim and starts.

Race 2 was a W/L twice around with 1nm legs. Again we wanted to start pin third and work the left, but our lane closed off immediately after the start and we were forced to bail right. Our boatspeed, along with a slight right shift, allowed us to round the windward mark in fourth, just behind Team England. We nailed the spinnaker set and immediately rolled the English, and had our sights set on the French in second. We closed slightly down the run. Up the second beat, the fleet split, with the two leaders heading to the left, and the boats close behind heading right. We played the beat defensively, choosing to stick with the boats behind, only attacking the lead of the top two boats in the last third of the beat. We took a bit more out of the French team's lead, and held position down the run, finishing third.

Race 3 was again a W/L x2 with 1nm legs. Our gameplan was the same as the first two races - start pin third and play the left. We started 4 boats up from the pin, and finally crushed the start. We rolled the boats to our left, minus the Czechs, while pinching off the U. of Limerick (Ireland) team, and closing significant gauge with the Swiss and Italian teams to windward of us, causing them to tack and head right. We caught a left shift and tacked, basically on layline, beating all boats to our right and we were only behind the Czechs. The shift fell out, allowing the Italians and Swiss to catch back up. We wanted to win the race at the windward mark, and so we attempted to lee-bow the Italians, only to find out that they were shy on layline, which put us even further from layline, with only about 30 yards to the windward mark. After a big duck and an aggressive call to tack inside the Italians, who had also ducked the Swiss, we compounded the already bad situation by hitting the windward mark. We did our penalty turn on the offset leg, which dropped us from fourth to tenth. Down the run, we gybed inside early, catching pressure and a right shift, allowing us to claw back into eighth around the leeward mark. On the second beat, we played the right-hand side of the course, while the boats ahead of us tacked and headed left. We caught a few positive shifts, passing three boats before the windward mark. We made more plays down the second run, catching right up to French and Czechs, but couldn't pass them on the short reach to the finish.

The last race taught us a valuable lesson for the racing against the teams here. We need to rely on our boatspeed in tight situations, in order to capitalize on the mistakes of other team, while minimizing our own mistakes. The learning curve at this event is very steep and we still have room for lots of improvement in every aspect of our racing.

Student Yachting World Cup - Overall Results [Drops are in ()]

1. Italy -- 8 - 1- (9) - 1 - 1 - 2 = 13
2. Switzerland -- (OCS 13) - 4 - 4 - 3 - 6 -1 = 18
3. France (Audencia) -- 2 - (10) - 3 - 8 - 2 - 3 = 18
4. USA -- (OCS 13) - 2 - 7 - 2 - 3 - 5 = 19
5. Ireland (Cork) -- (7) - 5 - 2 - 4 - 4 - 6 = 21
6. Czech Republic -- 5 - 6 - 1 - 6 - (9) - 4 = 22
7. England -- 1 - (11) - 6 - 5 - 7 - 8 = 27
8. Scotland -- 3 - 8 - (10) - 7 - 5 - 7 = 30
9. Ireland (Limerick) -- 9 - 3 - 5 - (12) - 8 - 9 = 34
10. France (EP) -- 6 - 7 - (11) - 11 - 10 - 11 = 45
11. Wales -- 10 - 9 - 8 - 9 - (12) - 10 = 46
12. Japan -- 4 - 12 - 12 - 10 - 11 - 12 = 61

Tomorrow's conditions are looking very light, between 0 and 6 knots. We shall see how the forecasts hold up to reality. The night race is scheduled for tomorrow night.


Team URI/USA

Day 1, Student Yachting World Cup

Day 1 of the 2009 Student Yachting World Cup brought clear, sunny skies, and warm temperatures around 70. The team was eager to finally get on the water and compete, as we all wanted to see how we would fair against the best collegiate keelboat teams in the world. With 3 windward/leeward races (with offsets and single leeward mark) and one inshore race scheduled, the 12 teams from 10 countries docked out and headed to the racing area located about outside of Marseille's Vieux (Old) Port.

After a short postponement, Race 1 (W/L twice around) was started in a 5 to 8 knot SSW breeze. The Rhody Rams started at the pin, blasting off to the left side of the course. After catching a slight left-hand shift with pressure, we rounded the windward mark 60 yards ahead of the defending World Champions, the Cork Institute of Technology (Ireland). We chose to gybe quickly after the set, as we felt there was more breeze on the right, and the Irish chose to hold on starboard. We gybed above layline to the leeward mark, in pressure, which enabled us to soak to layline, still holding on to first. The breeze on the left totally shutoff, enabling the Swiss and English to climb into the top three. Race Committee shortened the course and the race was finished at the leeward mark, where we found out that we had been over early and scored OCS, along with Team Switzerland. After the initial disappointment of the 13 point OCS, we shook the first race, as we were very happy with our boat speed compared to the other teams.

Before Race 2 (W/L twice around) could be started, there was another short postponement, with the breeze dying, shifting hard left to ESE, and picking back up to 4-6kts. Just before the gun, the breeze shifted significantly to the right, causing the fleet to stack up at the boat end of the line. Because of this stack up, we were 15 seconds late to the line, but still in the top 8 off the line. The first beat was very right favored, and we were able to hold our lane and boat-speed past teams, rounding the windward mark in fifth place. We again chose to gybe quickly after the offset mark and head to the right side of the course, where we found more pressure than those who went left. After gybing back onto starboard, we caught a slight left hand shift, and with the boats on the left coming back on starboard, we made gains, vying with Team Italy for first place. The Race Committee again chose to shorten the course, finishing at the leeward mark. We gybed for the finish, on top of Team Italy, who came out of the left. Team Italy crossed the line mere feet ahead of us, giving us a hard earned 2nd.

Race 3 (W/L once around) was started in the same light SE breeze as Race 2. We started on the pin third of the line, as we felt the left side had better pressure. After being pinched off by the French team from Audencia, we bailed to the right, where we found a right shift and pressure, allowing us to round the windward mark in a very close 7th place. We chose to gybe quickly, heading left. After catching a slight pressure, we gybed, heading back towards the middle of the course, back in the top three. We were gybed on by the Irish team from the University of Limerick, and we gybed back on to port for clear air, gybing back on layline to the leeward mark. Fate did not smile on us, as the breeze lifted, shifting right, which dropped us back to 7th place for the finish.

Despite the "alphabet soup" finish in the first race, and a disappointing finish in the last race, we are still happy with the day. We know what our strengths are (boat-speed and boat-handling) and we know what our weakness are (starts), so we are looking to improve. The results are very tight, and with 5 more days of racing, we are confident that we can move up the scoreboard.


Student Yachting World Cup - Results, Day 1

1. Czech Republic 5 - 6 - 1 = 12
2. Ireland (Cork) 7 - 5 - 2 = 14
3. France (Audencia) 2 - 10 - 3 = 15
4. Ireland (Limerick) 9 - 3 - 5 = 17
5. England 1 - 11 - 6 = 18
6. Italy 8 - 1 - 9 = 18
7. Scotland 3 - 8 - 10 = 21
8. Switzerland OCS(13) - 4 - 4 = 21
9. USA OCS (13) - 2 - 7 = 22
10. France (EP) 6 - 7 - 11 = 24
11. Wales 10 - 9 - 8 = 27
12. Japan 4 - 12 - 12 = 28

Tomorrow's forecast is light again, out of the N-NW, between 0 and 10 knots.


Goodnight,

Team URI/USA

practice!

The Student Yachting World Cup officially opened today with registration and practice. The process of checking in, registering, weighing in and paying fees took up most of the morning and dragged on a bit longer than the team had wished it would. Following registration thier was a detailed skippers meeting, going over the necessary information regarding the boats, courses and the expecations of the race committee. Once the skippers meeting was over, thier were several delays implemented to allow the winds to settle a bit before the teams took to the water.

When the time did come to leave the dock, Team USA was first out with a single reef and a small jib. The team spent some time refining tacks and hiking the boat to it's maximum speed. The winds continued to be strong and the team was forced to battle against the short steep chop that the Med is known for.

With it being a practice day, we were able to carry both our coach and alternate onboard, allowing everyone to get a good idea of the boat, it's performance and where improvements could be made.

In all, there were only a few minor improvements to be made only building confidence for the team as they progress into tomorrow's first day of racing.

GO RHODY!

Picture 1: Downwind sailing in breeze with a reefed main and the small jib.

Picture 2: A close duck for the swiss at mark 1.

Picture 3: Lauren getting doused pre tack.

Picture 4: Surfing waves back towards Marseille.

(Sorry no video posts today. Slow internet at the hotel and large HD video files are making it tough to post. All pictures are low quality screen captures of video taken by the team, showing how great the action really was!)

Mistral forever...

Yet again, way too much wind to go sailing. We are very glad we didn't have to deliver today. The wind here seems to come from everywhere and anywhere. The boat has been completely worked over at this point since we haven't been able to sail. The boat now sits on the event dock in Marseille and several of the other teams started to show up today. A slideshow will soon be up of the pictures taken of the trip to date. Slow internet at the hotel is a bit of a prohibiting factor for the blog but will not stop us. Tomorrow is the opening ceremony, and stir fry is for dinner tonight at the kitchenette in room 004. (Below) Where Westy spends all his time.

Finally..

Thursday morning brought attempt #3 at our delivery of the Grand Surprise from Camargue to Marseille.

The breeze was out of the east, ranging between 15 and 35 knots, with a couple of squalls blowing through with heavy rain and gusts up to 45kts. The seas were about 3 to 4 meters, having built after several days of a steady SE breeze. We left the marina in Camargue at about 930am, under full main and our big headsail. After only an hour or so of sailing, the breeze built and we went to the first reef, and soon afterwards, the second. When the first squall line was approaching while we were off the the Rhone River (which marked the approximate halfway point in our journey), we decided to change to our Solent jib. This was a smart decision, as the breeze quickly picked up to 45kts, with heavy rain. After more squalls and a consistently building breeze, we finally arrived in Marseille at about 10pm.

Today was our first time sailing the Grand Surprise, and we learned a great many things about how to sail the boat. We are eager to get back to work tomorrow morning, and with a Mistral forecasted for Friday, we should be able to apply the things we learned today to our practice tomorrow and on Saturday, before the regatta starts on Sunday.

Pictures and videos from our first five days will be uploaded tomorrow, so please stay tuned.


Bonsoir,

Team URI/USA

Sailing Anarchy

Check out Sailing Anarchy for the article on URI Sailing/Team USA!

Many thanks to our friend Matt Cohen (www.cohenphotography.com) for both writing the article and providing the picture of us on the Farr 30 'Team Bold" during the Sail For Hope race.

Blown Out

Our first attempt at the Camargue-Marseille delivery today was blown out, with winds reaching Force 7 on the Beaufort scale (40mph) and waves up to 4 meters high. With these conditions, it was impossible for us to even leave the dock, so we spent our time getting used to the layout of the Grand Surprise, as well as tackling a mounting work list.

The forecast for Wednesday is looking much more promising, so we are planning to complete the delivery tomorrow.

Au revoir,

Team URI/USA

Bonjour!

Ah France.

After a long night/day's worth of traveling, we found our destination safe and sound, but only after a couple of unexpected detours along the way (for the "cultural experience"). Tonight will be spent at the Hotel Parc Euromedecine in Montpelier. Tomorrow morning we will head to Port Camargue, about 40 minutes away, to pick up the Grand Surprise that we are delivering from Camargue back to Marseille for the SYWoC organizing committee. The 60nm trip should take between 10 and 12 hours, hopefully a little quicker with a forecasted breeze out of the SSW at 20-25kts with gusts higher. We are all eager to get into the Grand Surprise for the first time and see what the beast is really like.

That's all for now. Stay tuned for more updates, pictures, and videos from our first few days here in France.

Team Makes Scuttlebutt Photos Of The Week

These two gems made it into Sailing Scuttlebutt's Photos of the Week for last week. For the article check the link:
http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/09/1016/
Photos from Photoboat.com

Great Pics From Larchmont

Great Shots of Day 1 at Larchmont from Photo Boat

http://www.photoboatgallery.com/lightbox/index/category/gallery%7C2009%20Storm%20Trysail%20Intercollegiate%20Regatta%7CLora%20Ann/start/0/Lora-Ann.html

Sail For Hope Photos

See this and other photos from Sail For Hope at http://www.cohenphotography.com/ under the 'latest" tab

Big Weekend at Larchmont For the Rams

This weekend the Worlds Team travelled down to Larchmont Yacht Club to compete in the 2009 Storm Trysail Intercollegiate Regatta. Many of us did this event last year and had such a great time that we had to make it back for round 2. Having placed second overall last year at this event, we decided that we could not settle for anything less than first. For the second year in a row we sailed with Rich du Moulin on his Express 37 Lora Ann.

The first day of sailing was an exiting one on Long Island Sound. We saw a strong cold breeze out of the northwest. The breeze started in the morning at about 6kts which quickly built to a solid 16-22kts with gusts up to 26kts. The Rams handled the breeze well and managed 3 bullets.

The second day of racing was much lighter and extreme shifts gave us some scares but patience and teamwork prevailed and today ended with 3 more bullets. Results put us first in class (1st of 4) and first overall (1st of 40) winning the Hoffman Trophy.

Results Can be found at: http://www.yachtscoring.com/emenu.cfm?eID=302

Pictures from the Sail For Hope can be found at: http://www.cohenphotography.com/ under "Latest"

Rams 5th in Division at Sail For Hope

The Rams participated in the Sail For Hope Regatta around Jamestown on saturday. Despite the unpleasant weather, the Rams made the best of it. With a great start at the boat, the Farr 30 had a tough time making it upwind against the much bigger boats in its class. As soon as the boat hit the tip of Beavertail it took off down the West passage tight reaching the lenght of the island. Rhody rounded the northern end of Jamestown in very good position but lost it upwind on some bad shifts. A great regatta for a great cause and thank you to North Sails Rep, Mike Coe, who was on the boat coaching for the weekend.

Results:http://www.sailnewport.org/npt/c/cnt/down/sfhpdf2.pdf

Practice video...more to come

Some Footage from a light air practice last Thursday. This film was taken and edited by Carl but URI has expressed an interest in filming and doing a series of articles about the team. This past sunday we had someone from URI out filming our practice. More details to come but hopefully we will be providing daily video updates from France! Available right here on the blog.

Light Air Practice from URI Sailing on Vimeo.

Practice Day 2 with Coach Charlie Enright

9/29/09

Charlie Enright of North Sails RI came to spend the afternoon coaching us on the Farr 30. Most of the time was spent doing laps between two marks between Goat Island and Rose Island. The breeze hovered between 15-20kts for most of the practice which was awesome because we have had no Farr 30 experience in these conditions. The weather allowed us to hammer out a ton of gybes, tacks, sets, and douses in conditions that we were not used to. Charlie, like Tom, emphasized the importance of anticipation and communication. We anticipate sailing with charlie again possibly next week.

Subscribe Via Email!

Want to stay filled in on all the SYWC action but don't want to mess with one of those silly feeds. Now you can by filling your email address in on the right side of the page. Practice updates will happen almost daily, and once we get to France all of our results, etc. will be sent right to your email.

Current Sponsors

More will be up soon!

Practice Day 1 with Coaches Tom Burnham and Mike Campbell

Today we were lucky enough to have alum and pro sailor Tom Burnham join us for our time on the water. The conditions were challenging for our first Farr 30 practice but there is no trial better than one by fire. Although todays practice was a short one, we have a better idea of where we are and definately of where we need to be. Tom has been to several Student Yachting World Cups and was full of logistical advice as well as sailing advice. Mike Campbell, who did the SYWC in 2004, was on board trimming main and giving other coaching tips from his experience in France. Both will definately be great resources to bounce ideas off of in the weeks leading up to our trip. The URI World Cup Team which includes our team Advisors and all of our support at the University have worked really hard to afford the Sailing Team practice time on the water. With three weeks to go we are out there and ready to tackle the next hurdles on our quest for the World Cup.

Team USA practicing in Newport Harbor

The URI World Cup Team will be out in Newport Harbor practicing on the Farr 30 TeamBOLD all week leading up to the Sail For Hope Regatta (Oct. 3) out of Sail Newport. Look for us out there every day of the week except thursdays between tomorrow and October 14. Practice reports will be published here on the blog. Video of practices with our guest coaches will be published here and on YouTube. STAY POSTED!

SAIL FOR HOPE: http://www.sailnewport.org/npt/m/_general/07sfhhome.asp

AYC Fall Series

Last weekend Jeremy, Westy, and Scott, and Jesse made the trek down to Rye, NY for the first weekend of the American Yacht Club Fall Series Regatta. Jeremy, Westy, and Scott helped sail Marc Glimcher's J122 Catapult into 1st place in IRC 40. Jesse sailed with Steve and Heidi Benjamin on their newly aquired After Midnight.

Boat Show A Sucess!

A BIG thanks to the URI Foundation for sharing a booth with us at the Newport International Boat Show. We are almost completely out of shirts. ONLY 30 LEFT! The inventory includes about 15 XL's and 15 XXL's and maybe like 2 Mediums. Get them while they last...

The 2009 Newport International Boatshow is starting this week! The URI World Cup Team will be represented at the URI Foundation tent located in Tent C. Come check us out and pick up a T-Shirt. All proceeds from shirt sales at the boat show will go to support the 2009 campaign for the World Cup in Marseille, France

http://www.newportboatshow.com/

Sloops Team Qualifies for Sloop New Englands

Jesse, Scott, Alex and Westy travelled up to Maine Marritime Academy in Castine, ME this weekend for the Phil Harman Cup. The boats used are MMA's fleet of Colgate 26's. Placing top 5 in this event qualifies the team for Sloop New Englands. The team was in 5th place going into the second day after some rough starts on day one. Luckily the boys were able to pull into 4th place at the end of day 2, just one point out of 3rd.

Sailors at the NYYC Invitational Cup

Starting Tuesday, Sept. 15 the NYYC will be holding its first ever Invitational Cup in the NYYC Swan 42. Nineteen of the top yacht clubs from 14 countries will be in attendance. Carl and Jesse had the opportunity to whitness the diversity of an event organized similar to the SYWoC by practicing prior to the regatta.

Jesse spent an afternoon on Arethusa, the NYYC boat driven by Phil Lotz, tuning up. Ken Read, Puma Skipper and Lotz's tactician, was aboard during the session and provided lots of good insight about upwind and downwind tuning.

Carl spent the weekend practicing on the Hoss with the Yacht Club de France. This talented group included former Olympian and Americas Cup Helmsman, Bruno Troublé, who is also in charge of the Louis Vuitton Cup. Others included tactician Henri Samuel, a 16-year veteran of the French National Team, and mainsheet trimmer Pierre Le Maout, a Formula 40 world champion. Carl had a great international experaince in Newport and said "It was very cool to coach such experienced sailors on how to sail a Swan 42, because none of them had stepped onboard one before saturday and I had spent all summer sailing them." Hopefully the French taught him a few things about Marseille in exchange.

WORLD CUP T-SHIRTS ARE HERE

The first shipment of World Cup T-Shirts are available! Find any of the world cup sailors around campus to pick yours up. $12 for Students and $15 for Adults. If you don't live around URI and want a t-shirt email sywc2009@gmail.com we could probably hook you up.

Rams get the Farr 30 "TeamBOLD" to practice on

Nelson Stephenson has stepped up and donated his Farr 30 TeamBOLD for us to practice on for the fall. The boat is in great shape and recently was brought up to Sail Newport from its home in Connecticut and put together by Carl, Jesse and Nelson. This boat will be a great tool for training on because it is put together much like the Grand Suprise 32s that we will be racing in France. with end for end jibing, tiller, and open cockpit this boat is about the closest thing to a Grand Supprise 32 that can be found in the US. We hope to have many practices with guest coaches, which will appear on the blog. The only event that we plan on doing is the Sail For Hope regatta on Oct. 3

Sail For Hope


http://208.106.141.167/npt/m/_general/07sfhhome.asp
Sail Newport
http://www.sailnewport.org

Thank You To Our Sponsors!

The 2009 URI World Cup Racing team would like to thank all of the sponsors that we have secured this summer!

Rema Tip Top http://www.rematiptop.com/

Musto Performance www.musto.com/

Anarchy Eyewear www.anarchyeyewear.com/

Harken www.harkenstore.com/

Two Day Practice on Beneteau 36.7 "Crocodile"

We sailed two really solid days on Crocodile, a Benateau 36.7 owned by Bruce Dawson in Wickford, RI. He graciously loaned us the boat for two days of training.

DAY ONE focused on the crew work with an emphasis on repitition and building consistency. Many of us hadn't been sailing symetrical boats all summer and needed a day to get the moves down. We broke the day into three different sessions starting with everyone in their normal positions, then crew rotation, then back to regular positions. The crew rotation was intended to make everyone aware of how all of the positions affected each oter. Joe Mello came onboard to help coach.

DAY TWO was off to a slower start due to the breeze and lingering soreness from the previous days caning but as the sea breeze began to fill around one o'clock the "Crocodile" jumped to life. We were fortunate enough to have Rome Kirby trimming main and giving insight about maneuvers. We saw 12-16 knots on the west passage and used every bit of it as we drilled "set-gybes", "mexicans", gybes and tacks. Team dinners after each day let us unwind from the time on the water and soak up everything that we learned each day.


A great experience and THANK YOU to Bruce Dawson for making it possible.

Summer Recap

The summer months certainly have flown by for everyone associated with Team URI/USA, who have been hard at work securing finances and gear sponsorships, as well as practicing as much as possible for the World Cup.

On the organizational end of things, Musto, makers of high-end performance sailing gear, is now a sponsor of Team URI/USA. Thanks to the efforts of team advisor Art Tuveson, along with others, the team with be decked out in matching Musto foul weather gear. In other sponsorship news, Harken is sponsoring the team for footwear and gear bags, and Anarchy Sunglasses is outfitting the World Cup team with quality eyewear. Thanks again to Art and all those who made these sponsorships possible.

Now for the sailing. Team URI/USA has been hard at work practicing for the upcoming World Cup. Since the end of classes back in May (which seems like just yesterday), the team has been sailing all over New England and both East and West Coasts.

Here is a partial list of dates, events, and finishes that have featured members of Team URI/USA:

May 16/17 - Melges 32 East Coast Champs - Jesse Fielding (trim) and Scott Millard (mast) onboard Ninkasi (3rd of 7 boats), Alex Baittinger (pit) onboard Q (1st of 7 boats)

May 22/23 - STC Block Island Race - Alex Baittinger (bow/trim) onboard the X-41 Sarah (2nd of 10 in IRC 40)

June 5 - NYYC Leukemia Cup - Westy Barlow (bow) onboard the Swan 42 Mustang (RAF), Lauren Gineo on Swan 42 Blazer, Alex Baittinger (trim) on the X-41 Sarah (2nd of 8, PHRF Class 1), and Scott Millard (mast) with Melges 32 Bronco (3rd of 8, PHRF Class 1)

June 12-14 - NYYC 155th Annual Regatta - Alex Baittinger (trim) onboard X-41 Sarah (6th of 13, IRC 3), Westy Barlow (bow) on Swan 42 Mustang (8th of 15), Jeremy Henry (bow) on Blazer (11th of 15)

June 13-14 - Invitational Regatta for the Hoag Cup - Jesse Fielding (mast) on SC70 Pyewacket (1st of 8)

June 21-26 - Block Island Race Week - Jesse Fielding (mast) on Tripp 41 High Noon (3rd of 11, IRC 40A), Carl Merrill (mast) on Swan 42 Daring (5th of 14).

July 5 - Marblehead to Halifax Ocean Race - Alex Baittinger (trim/bow/helm) on X-41 Sarah (1st of 15, IRC 2, 6th overall)

July 11-12 - Newport Regatta - Carl Merrill (mast) on Daring (5th of 7) ...

July 15-19 - Swan 42 U.S. National Championship - Carl Merrill (mast) on Daring (6th of 20), Westy Barlow (bow) on Mustang (8th of 20), Jeremy Henry (bow) on Blazer (13th of 20).

July XX-17 - Trans-Pacific Race - Jesse Fielding (mast) on the SC70 Pyewacket (3rd of 8, Div. 2, 5th overall)

August 21 - Ida Lewis Distance Race - Carl Merrill (trim), Westy Barlow (bow), and Scott Millard (trim) on Swan 42 Mustang (6th of 10, IRC), and Jesse Fielding (helm) on TP52 Decision (5th of 10, IRC)

August 26 - Atlantic National Campionship - Cedar Point YC - Jesse Fielding (Trim/Strategist) 1st Place

Come Check Out Our Booth

The SYWC Team was fortunate enough to get a booth at this spring's Boat Show in Newport, thanks to the URI Foundation. We're down in Tent A chatting it up with whoever stops by. If you just want to come and show your support by hanging out thats cool too but definatiely check it out. Its $5.00 to get into the show for Adults and children under 12 are FREE. We're only there until sunday!

For More INFO: http://www.newportspringboatshow.com/

Making an appearance at Melges 32 ECCs

SYWC Team Members Jesse Fielding, Scott Millard, and Alex Baittinger are at the Melges 32 East Coast Championship at American Yacht Club in Rye, NY this weekend. Jesse and Scott are on Ninkasi with legendary URI Sailing Coach Joey Mello and Alex is on Q. Should be some good practice in a very competitive 7 boat fleet.

To see results go to: http://yachtscoring.com/emenu.cfm?eID=259

Coming Soon To A Race Course Near You

Day 3 of Finals at URI. One of the best and worst times of the year. Everyone is stressed out and and mad about something, walking around campus like its "Dawn of the Dead" and they've all been bitten. Finals are arguably not fun for anyone but the end of finals means one thing for almost all of us on the team ..... Summer Sailing. Nothing could be better. This summer, members of the team will be scattered mostly across Narragansett Bay. We've got alot of great Regattas and Series that we're going to be involved in this summer and we'd love to get some more. Starting up in a week we have Jamestown YC PHRF on tuesday, Shields Fleet 9 on wednesday, and J24 Fleet 50 on thursday.

In Fleet 50 we were fortunate enough to have a J24 donated to us for the season. A HUGE Thank You to Kim and Scott Ferguson for giving us their boat, "Calculated Risk" for the season. Also, another HUGE thank you to North Sails for dontating a set of sails for us to use for the season. On April 30th we had a productive boat work day, knocking off last years barnacles and polishing it up. The boat was splashed on monday, and is now sitting on its mooring off Conanicut Yacht Club. May 14th can't come soon enough. Weekly Reports with Results to follow.....

Shields Fleet 9: http://www.shieldsfleet9.org/

J24 Fleet 50:http://www.j24fleet50.org/

Jamestown Yacht Club PHRF: http://www.jyc.org/RaceRslts/RaceRslts.htm

North Sails: http://www.northsailsod.com/class/j24/j24.html

MORNING LIGHT TODAY Free Admission!

Come to the new URI Bio Center today for this great movie.
Admission is now FREE! Donations will be accepted at the door.
With your donation you will get a raffle ticket that gives you a chance to win a ride on the team's J24.

Come Watch a Great Movie and Support Our Team!

Next Event, Morning Light Viewing

The URI World Cup Sailing Team is proud to present....

The presentation will include an introduction to the Worlds Team, discussion with Morning Light stars Jesse Fielding and Robbie Kane, and a special viewing of the entire film. The film is no longer in theaters and is not yet out on DVD, so here is your chance to see it with the stars of the film.

The admission is $5 for student ID, $15 for the genral public. All Proceeds will benefit the URI World Cup Racing Team and help send us to France. So come down, meet the team, support the team, and see one of the greatest sailing movies of this decade. If you want to get psyched about sailing this summer, there is no better way to do it.

Check out the Morning Light Trailer:

12 Metre "Golden Year" presentation a success!

Above: Team Captain, Jesse Fielding, introduces the team

The URI Worlds Sailing team would like to thank everyone that attended the 12m event "Golden Years" last night. Almost 85 people showed up to support the Worlds team and listen to 12 Metre Class President, Jan Slee, and Ameriacas Cup vetran Dyer Jones present the rich history of the 12 Metre Class and the "Golden Year" events that will be taking place across New England this summer. If you couldn't make it to this event you missed a great presentation but can make up for it by coming to our next event.

Special thanks to URI Foundation President, Glen Kerkian for hosting the event and Joy Lewis, Amy Porter, and Sharon Pavignano for the countless hours they put in to make this event happen.

For more information about the 12 Metre "Golden Year" events visit http://12worlds.snappages.com/

URI Student Senate awards World Cup Team $6,000 Loan

The University of Rhode Island Student Senate awarded financial assistance to three student organizations last night totaling $9,900. The URI Sailing Team received the majority of the funds with a $6,000 loan. Junior captain Jesse Fielding, who spoke on behalf of the team, said the money would go to defray a portion of the cost of competing in the Student Yachting World Cup in Marseille, France.

To read more click the link below http://media.www.ramcigar.com/media/storage/paper366/news/2009/04/16/News/Uri-Sailing.Team.Aided.By.Senate.To.Compete.In.World.Cup-3713235.shtml

URI Sailing to host 12m "Golden Years" presentation

URI Sailing, recent winners of the US Collegiate Keelboat Championship, the Kennedy Cup, will host a presentation of "12 Metre Golden Year of Racing and the State of the 12 Metre Class" by Dyer Jones, three time America's Cup regatta director, and Jan Slee, president of the 12 Metre Class.

The presentation will be held at the University of Rhode Island Foundation on 79 Upper College Road, Kingston, RI, on Thursday, April 23rd.

The 2009 Team URI/USA will be introduced at 5pm, followed by the presentation at 6.

Refreshments will be served.

2009 Team URI/USA Roster

The 2009 World Cup Team Representing the University of Rhode Island and the United States has been announced.

The Team will include

Jesse Fielding

Alex Baittinger

Scott Millard

Liv Gunnarsson

Lauren Gineo

Carl Merrill

Weston Barlow

Jeremy Henry

This 29th edition of the event will be held in Marseille, France beginning October 24th 2009.

Stay tuned to URISailing.org and this blog for future updates

Kennedy Cup team recognised at halftime in the Ryan Center

On Tuesday, December 9, 2008 the members of the Kennedy Cup winning team from the URI Sailing Team were recognised at half court during halftime of the URI vs. UNH basketball game. Above (left to right): Jesse Fielding, Scott Millard, Robbie Kane, Jeremy Henry, Alex Baittinger, Carl Merrill, Westy Barlow, Nat Tingley, and Joey Mello (Coach)

URI Wins 2008-2009 Kennedy Cup

This past November, 9 members of the URI Sailing team traveled to the US Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland to compete for the US Collegiate Keelboat Championship, the prestigious Kennedy Cup. After three days of racing, the URI Sailing Team came away with first place, winning the 2008-2009 Kennedy Cup, and earning the URI Sailing team the right to represent the United States at the 2009 Student Yachting World Championships, held in Marseille, France, during the last week of October.

Congratulations to the team of:

Jesse Fielding
Alex Baittinger
Robbie Kane
Jeremy Henry
Scott Millard
Russ Miller
Carl Merrill
Westy Barlow
Nat Tingley

REGATTA HIGHLIGHTS:

Friday: The wind gods managed to crack a hint of a smile today and a zephyr of a seabreeze filled in sufficiently to allow 2 races in the 2008 Kennedy Cup at Navy. Ten crews are in Annapolis sailing aboard USNA's 44'sloops to contest the ICSA Big Boat National Championship. PRO Mark Murphy and his RC team patiently waited until the breeze settled in (settled may be a generous word here) then got off two races as the ebb got underway. Maine Maritime got off to a great start leading the first race wire to wire. KP had a strong showing finishing second but got disqualified for an incident at the start. Navy finished 3rd but moved up a notch with KP's misfortune. St. Mary's was next back. For race 2, NY Maritime bounced back from a tough first race to win #2 also leading all the way around. There were a number of place changes behind them as well as a few scrums and red flags. Coast Guard ended up being disqualified after finishing 4th dropping them at least 3 spots in the overall standings. Racing continues Saturday and Sunday with the winner earning the honor of representing the United States in the 2009 Student Yachting World Cup in France.

School Scores Pts.
1. St. Mary's 3,2 5
2. Maine Maritime 1,5 6
3. Navy 2,4 6
4. URI 5,3 8
5. NY Maritime 9,1 10
6. Mass Maritime 4,7 11
7. Cal Maritime 9,6 15
8. Coast Guard 6,11 17
9. Queens U 9,8 17
10. Kings Point 11,9 20

Saturday: The Naval Academy Sailing Squadron Race Committee ran 3 races today in the 2008 Kennedy Cup Series.

The first race started following a brief postponement in a patchy southwesterly and sporadic light rain. URI recovered quickly from a poor start opting to tack and duck most of the fleet. The move paid big as they led at the first weather mark by a large margin. They maintained position downwind but on the 2nd beat, they let Coast Guard and Navy get to the right where stronger veering breeze filled dropping them to 3rd at weather mark 2. Coast Guard held on to win while URI got back by Navy downwind for second. Fortunately, the flood current was along the downwind axis nursing all but Maine Maritime across the finish before the time limit expired.

Maine put their misfortune behind them and came out swinging in the second race of the day leading wire to wire by a good margin. Cal Maritime found their Mojo pulling off a second and Coast Guard stayed close with a 3rd. Meanwhile Friday leader St. Mary's struggled for the second race in a row and Navy carded a 6th. Conditions for the third race remained amazingly consistent albeit light with a course axis of 175 at 4-5 knots. URI had another outstanding race leading from start to finish for the bullet with Coast Guard second and Navy nipping Maine Maritime at the finish line for 3rd.

1. URI 5,3,2,4,1 15
2. USNA 2,4,3,6,3 18
3. Maine Maritime 1,5,10,1,4 21
4. Coast Guard 6,11,1,3,2 23
5. NY Maritime 8,1,4,5,8 26
6. St. Mary's 3,2,7,9,7 28
7. Cal Maritime 7,6,9,2,5 29
8. Mass Maritime 4,7,8,8,10 37
9. Queens University 9,8,6,7,9 39
10. Kings Point 11,9,5,10,6 41

Sunday: Racing got underway on time at 1030 this morning on the Chesapeake Bay with what appeared to be a solid post cold front westerly breeze and sunny skies. It was so nice that some competitors were still attired in shorts despite the calendar suggesting otherwise. Entering the day, URI led Navy by 3 points with Maine 3 back of Navy. Coast Guard lurked an additional 2 points back. For the first race of the day, both URI and Coast Guard found themselves buried at the start while Navy and Maine got away clean and to the left. Maine led Navy by a length at the first mark and extended slightly on the run. At this point the breeze began to falter with what appeared to be a southerly thermal attempting to establish. Navy worked left but got caught in a dead zone while Maine worked the right corner and approached the second weather mark apparently well ahead. However, the breeze began to shut down and the trailing boats closed the gap. Maine still led at the rounding while Navy had slipped to 5th. URI came blasting in from the right with a big right hand puff but was still in 7th with Coast Guard 9th. The leaders set and promptly sailed into a hole while Navy jibed into fresh breeze and did a huge end around to take the win. Coast Guard seized the same breeze and did the same to pass the fleet for a second. URI surgically picked their way down the run and managed to move up to 3rd while Maine suffered the most misfortune falling back to 5th.

After a lengthy postponement, a light and fragile sea breeze filled enough to start another race. Coast Guard led early but Navy and URI got left on the second beat where there was more pressure. URI led at the second top mark and held on to take the win with Navy in second and Coast Guard 3rd.

URI now held a 2 point advantage as well as the tie break. Race 8 got underway in sporadic breeze and a max flood making for an interesting time at the pin end. Navy and Coast Guard both did not make the pin and were forced to jibe around. Meanwhile URI blasted off clean from mid line avoiding the trouble and headed left for what had been the better breeze on most similar occasions. Navy bee-lined to the right corner, pretty much their only hail Mary option. As the wind gods would have it, the wind veered a little and apparently there was current relief on the right as Navy came out of the corner crossing everyone leaving URI gasping a long was back in 6th. The race was now against the per-leg time limit. Enough breeze filled allowing Navy to get around with just over a minute to spare and leading by 8 lengths over Cal Maritime. With URI deep, it looked like the tables had turned in Navy's favor. However, approaching the first leeward mark, Navy sailed into a hole and allowed Cal Maritime and St. Mary's riding in on new breeze to get inside for the rounding. Cal and St. Mary's headed to the right corner never looking back while Navy desperately maneuvered to find clear air. URI brought new breeze down the run and rounded the leeward mark nary a length behind Navy who finally found enough wind to get their boat moving.

Cal won the race by a large margin with St. Mary's taking second. Meanwhile Navy and URI rounded the second upwind mark with Navy a length ahead. Navy however need two boats between to win which at this point were nowhere to be found. The two battled down the last run with Navy getting 3rd by a nose and URI holding it together to take 4th and the championship.

Congratulations to the URI team of Jesse Fielding, Alex Baittinger, Jeremy Henry, Weston Barlow, Rob Kane, Scott Millard, Carl Merrill, Nat Tingley and Russ Miller who earned the honor of representing the United States in the 2009 Student Yachting World Cup.

A huge thanks to all who helped put on this year's Kennedy Cup including PRO Mark Murphy and his RC crew, Chief Judge Chris Petracco and his panel and the many volunteers who gave us their weekend.

Boats: Navy 44

   
    2008 Kennedy Cup
   U.S. Naval Academy
   November 8-9, 2008

      FINAL RESULTS

1. URI                  5,3,2,4,1,3,1,4         23
2. USNA                 2,4,3,6,3,1,2,3         24
3. Coast Guard         6,11,1,3,2,2,3,10       38
4. St. Mary's           3,2,7,9,7,4,5,2         39
5. Maine Maritime       1,5,10,1,4,5,8,5        39
6. Cal Maritime         7,6,9,2,5,7,6,1  43
7. Kings Point         11,9,5,10,6,6,4,7 58
8. Mass Maritime        4,7,8,8,10,8,7,6        58
9. NY Maritime         8,1,4,5,8,11,11,11      59
10. Queens University   9,8,6,7,9,9,9,11        68


          

URI Sailors 2nd Overall at Storm Trysail Intercollegiate Offshore Regatta

The URI Keelboat Team placed 2nd overall at the Storm Trysail Intercollegiate Regatta.

Thanks to Rich DeMoulin for the use of his boat "Lora Ann"

Link to the main siteStorm Trysail Homepage
Link to the results Results