Severn Sailing Association, Annapolis, MD

University of Maryland 2-on-2 Team Race

May 8 - 9, 2010

On May 8th and 9th, crew Erin MacCausland (’14) with skipper Trevor Nederlof (’11), and crew Kelsey Gibbons (’10) with skipper Andrew Bergan (’10) traveled down to Annapolis, Maryland to compete in the Maryland hosted two versus two team racing regatta. The competitors included UNBC, Salisbury, OCC, Webb, Christopher Newport, Maryland, and Rochester Institute of Technology. Saturday greeted the team with medium winds and beautiful weather with temperatures climbing into the 70s! Drexel was in the first race as they quickly found out, so boats were rigged and the regatta began. The first race featured Drexel versus Christopher Newport, a tough matchup and one that featured some good racing, resulting in a Drexel win in the end. Following the win, Drexel lost to OCC and then pulled out a win in tricky heavy winds over RIT. Due to high winds (sustained over 25mph, gusting into the 30s), the regatta was then called off for the day to resume on Sunday the 9th. Sunday seemed to have started out where Saturday afternoon left off with big wind making for some very exciting racing. After numerous postponements due to excessive wind conditions, the team finally got the go ahead to resume racing. The first race of the day was against Webb, the only undefeated team of the regatta at the time (and in the end as well). Despite Andrew Bergan using his expert team racing skills to push boats around, Webb still managed to etch out win over Drexel. However, the team quickly came back with three wins in a row over Salisbury, UNBC, Maryland to close out the regatta. The wind was very shifty and gusty, making for a physically challenging day. With solid team racing tactics and communication between the two boats, Drexel’s team was able to pull off some impressive wins in the end.

 

These races culminated into a 5 wins and 2 losses record, which was good for third place overall (out of eight), which is the best team racing result of the season and possible ever for Drexel. Congratulations to all four members who went and competed in the tough yet fun conditions.

-Trevor Nederlof (’11)