UC Irvine Club Sailing Team

 Thisyears Sloops PCC’s were hosted by St. Francis Yacht Club in San Francisco.  The Anteaters were represented by BrianHoover at the helm, Colin Kincaid as jib and spinnaker trimmer, and AshleyHobson on the bow.  Afterqualifying two years ago with Brian and Ashley on the team, the ‘eaters weregunning for the win to get another shot at a national title.  However, the switch to a match raceformat instead of the previous fleet race imposed a threat.  The team took the opportunity to getsome match racing experience against other competitive teams a few weeks ago atthe SDYC Invitational match race.

            Saturdayshowed light winds in the morning and a strong current switching halfwaythroughout the day.  After somehomework, napping, and Frisbee games, the race committee took down the AP flagand sent the sailors out around 2pm. The breeze had picked up to 10+ with waves and current as well.  We completed 6 flights the first day,winning all but one race. Highlights included a gybing duel with USC were our crew work excelledand we pulled ahead with every gybe and beating Stanford by half a boat lengthacross the finish line. Race committee kept us out on the water until it wasdark and we ended the day tied for 1st place with Stanford and CalMaritime.

            Sundayconditions were similar, with breeze only picking up after noon.  To complete the round robin, we had tworaces left against UCLA and UH. Our first race against UCLA we missed a key shift and were not able tobeat them.  After the frustratingloss, we pulled together a win against UH and finished the round robin in 3rd.  We then went into a best of 3 serieswith UCLA who ended in 4th. The first race against them we overshot layline due to the switch from aflood tide to an ebb, and they sneaked inside of us at the mark.  The next two races, however, ourtactics and crew work outdid them and the anteaters won both races, putting usin 3rd overall.  In the3rd race, we were even able to push UCLA over the line early tosecure our lead.

            Overall,the anteaters stepped up to the challenge and proved to be a competitive teamwith both crew work and match racing skills.  Big thanks to Michael Whelden for housing, the Hobson’s andHoover’s for food, and the Kincaid’s for a car.

ZOT ZOT!