Coach's Corner

Coach's Corner


The Donaghy Bowl was held at UCONN-Avery Point this past weekend and featured teams from Tufts, UConn (1 & 2), Mitchell, Wesleyan, WPI, and Johnson & Wales. We sailed in light and shifty northeasterly winds that shifted  to southeast as the day continued. The boats used were Larks (25-year-old boats), and host UConn made great adjustments as boats broke-down, capsized and needed repairs throughout the day. And they were great hosts, handing out burgers and hot dogs to all sailors throughout the event.

We learned a lot from the regatta and took away the need to be more patient in light and shifty breezes. We worked on this and sailing in current during practices. We also decided to switch  things up in our lineup and put Brendan Griffiths and Alexandra Bollella in at A Division and had Alex Hering and Chelsea Abbenante sail in B Division.

Larks are difficult to sail and our experience with them is limited. Brendan and Alexandra struggled (6, 6) in the first set, but showed Alex and Chelsea a lot of what the course had to offer. Alex and Chelsea went out and scored a (2, 3) in their first set. The day only got better from there. Brendan and Alexandra  finished the day of 8 races with 44 points. Alex and Chelsea finished their day of eight races with 29 points, highlighted by two second-place finishes and two third-place finishes. The two captains finished third in their division. Their worst finish was a seventh due to their rudder falling off, but they sailed the best regatta of of their careers.

The team represented Mitchell wonderfully and should be proud of its fifth place finish - a single point out of fourth. We are improving and made great strides in sailing a more patient race in the shifty conditions.

Tufts won the regatta with UConn-1 finishing second. The full results are below:

Rank - Team (A, B, Total)
1 - Tufts University (15, 16, 31)
2  - University of Connecticut 1 (24, 25, 49)
3 - Wesleyan University (17, 38, 55)
4 - Johnson and Wales University (40, 32, 72)
5 - Mitchell College (44, 29, 73)
6 - Worcester Polytechnic Institute (34, 48, 82)
7 - University of Connecticut 2 (54, 38, 92)

Scores courtesy of http://scores.collegesailing.info/f11/donaghy-bowl/