New Website!

Please follow this link to our new website!

http://batessailing.weebly.com/

Alumni Regatta

Twelve alumni showed up to Taylor Pond on Saturday for one of the most successful days of sailing on the pond.  We had 12 FJs on the water with 20+ knots of breeze.  Capsizing was a routine operation, as was planing at treacherous speeds.  All in all, a great success, with alumni CMac & Billie often leading the pack.  We sailed some windward lewards and threw in a triangle for good measure.  Thanks to Dave Romagnoli, CMac, Billie, Dan & Crew, Ben Levin, Billy Hines, Bitzy, CGriff, CBC, Kristen & Frances and all the Bates Sailors for showing up and making it a successful event.

Bobcats are Back!

After a short relaxing summer, the Bobcats have been back out of Taylor Pond for almost three weeks now.  We have a great group of new sailors, and we are really hoping to see some top finishes this fall.  This weekend is our third  weekend of competition, and Tommy/Eddie & DP/Camilla are en-route to Dartmouth to do some work for the Loder Trophy.  We also have our alumni regatta tomorrow, and we cannot wait to race with some graduated Bates sailors! We are currently working on a new website which should be up and running next week.  Thats all for now!

Short Term status.

Bates Sailing finished up a strong spring season, and we’re now taking full advantage of the spring weather and light class schedule of short term to get back out on Taylor Pond. We’ve also been playing around with our new square top mains, and we think we’re setting speed records for Flying Juniors when we set them up off the breeze.

Underdog Trophy

Unfortunately the Bobcats weren’t able to really dig their claws into that initial ranking of 13th, and are now headed to the Underdog trophy at UNH this weekend. However, Taylor Pond Yacht Club does indeed have a swingset, thus underdogs are nothing new.

Weekend Update – October 10-11

Storm Trysail Intercollegiate Offshore Regatta (J105) – 6 Bobcats got in a van and rolled hard down to Larchmont, NY this weekend for what’s quite possibly to most fun regatta in college sailing. Every year hundreds of college sailors from across the country descend on Larchmont Yacht Club, where some very brave boat owners loan out their pride and joy racing yachts to a bunch of big boat hacks. We were racing on a J105 named Jouster owned by a great guy named Julian and his main man “Buttons.” Finn was gripping the wheel, Billy trimmed main and called tactics, Ian trimmed the jib and flew the kite off the wind, Cal worked the mast, Cason ran the bow, and Eve ran the halyards and brought the kite down. Saturday was nuking, but we hiked that baby hard and had some solid finishes until we wrapped the kite around the headstay. We saw 14 knots on the speedo downwind and say 30 knot gusts on our last beat of the day. Day two served up some shifty Long Island Sound conditions, but we persevered and finished the regatta with a seventh in a 15 boat fleet.

Women’s Olympians, Sail Maine (Ynglings) – It was a blustery, sunny day in Portland for the senior girls sailing Ynglings at Women’s Olympians. Frances showed off her skipper star power and began the day with a bullet! Neck and neck with Tufts throughout the day, the Jumbos beat the Bobcats in the last race by about half a boat length to steal the gold medal. The only minor disaster was after the 3rd race when the spinnaker escaped from its bag and was actually flying off the stern… everyone was very glad this did not happen during a race, and Bates held its own despite limited keelboating experience from Griff and Kris. Amazing day!
MVP: Frances Chase ’10

Casco Bay Open at Bowdoin (420s) – DP, Hannah, Tommy, and Kat represented Bates at the Casco Bay Open this weekend, all while dodging H1N1 both at home and the regatta site. They enjoyed some nice weather and building breezes on both days. They ended up in 9th in the fourteen team regatta

Bates Invite (FJs) – Bates hosted our annual regatta at the old Taylor Pond on Sunday. Jordan stepped up and agreed to sail at 9:15am even though it was her birthday the night before– what a champ! USM beat Bates to TP but only brought 2 sailors. Fortunately, Brandeis rolled in 20 minutes late with 6 sailors so everything worked itself out! A bit of a lunch bread fiasco followed by several capsizes made for an intense day out on the water: it nuked on Taylor Pond. Race committee members Frances, Kris, and Jib caught some rays in Delta and enjoyed cheering on Nick, Jordan, Ryan, and Liana during some really awesome finishes.
MVP: Jordan Lupo ’13

Weekend Update – October 3-4

Hewitt Trophy at USM (420s)– B Division boats of CBC, Kris, and DP, Frances were able to hold Bates College Sailing to a high standard on both days by winning their division. A Division unfortunately struggled through both days of the event. After 32 ounces of Monster Energy, an iced coffee with a turbo shot, 2 Nerds Rope, a pin-end bail and subsequent port-starboard ‘love tap;’ Billy and Carolyn finished with a dece 6th place finish. The Bobcat Pack was rolling deep on Sunday with the addition several alumni who came to cheer us on.

Ross Trophy (R19)– DP and Finn braved the elements on Saturday and cruised down to the 617 to take to the waters of Boston Harbor in some Rhodes 19s. After six races in a 21 boat fleet, they ended up in 10th place.

Weekend Update – September 26-27

Loder Trophy @ UNH (FJs)– The DP and Frances Bobcat pack was joined by two new Freshmen cats, Tommy and Eve, to scratch up the competition at the Loder Trophy at UNH. Saturday consisted of some light, shifty breezes; but also an impromptu on the water photo shoot. The second day of the regatta welcomed the sailors with rain and no breeze. The pack ended up in a solid 6th place finish.

Northern Series 2 @ Dartmouth (FJs)– An assault of Junior Bobcats made it’s way into the Granite State at the Second Northern Series held at Dartmouth. Cason, Smoore, Ian, and Julia sailed in some of the largest starts seen in college sailing in the combined division event. After both boats having one solid, and one not so solid day, they ended up in 10th and 12th.

In non college sailing news, Billy and Team Wharf Rat represented Area A in the Lloyd Phoenix Trophy held in Annapolis. After 3 days of fierce racing against old people in Navy 44′s, the Rats walked away from the event in third.

Weekend Update – September 19-20

Lake Champlain Open (FJs)– Saturday’s light and shifty breeze, combined with the distracting techno music coming from the shores of Lake Champlain plagued both boats of Billy and Carolyn as well as DP and Kris. Sunday provided us with a steady 10-12 out of the SW with 1-2 foot waves. The Bobcats unfortunately dug themselves in too big of a hole to dig themselves out of and ended up in 12th.

Central Series 2 at BC (420s)– The biggest team ever to sail a regatta made up of Boyer, Hannah, Liana, France, Cal, and CFan made it through one of the most eventful on-campus weekends and put in a strong showing on Dorchester Bay. Frances remembered her mantra of “Tiller Towards Trouble” in her first collegiate regatta as a skipper, and kept the brand new BC 420s looking fresh. Unfortunately this squad forgot to leave the old John Hancock on the RP forms resulting in a 40 point penalty slapped onto our score.

Weekend Update – September 12-13

Pen Bay Open (420s)– Light, patchy breeze and many askew courses lead to an inconsistent 2 days for Billy and Kris in A… But DP and Frances kicked ass in B! Bates had a weekend highlight at the end of the first day, when DP and Frances got two bullets in their last set. Naked sauna-ing may or may not have ensued. We came in 2nd place in B division, and 5th overall, out of 16.

Harman Cup (Colgate 26s)– Cal, Ian, Finn, and Ryan were there at every start. Showing up is half the battle, so we think they should’ve come in at least 5th. They did cook up a top 10 finish however, in 10th overall.

Central Series at Tufts (Larks)– CBC, Smoore, Boy Chris, and Julia braved some very damp weather and weird boats, and wound up with some awesome results. CBC faced a fierce A fleet with many experienced college racers. Of the freshmen skippers though, he came in 2nd! Cason and Julia rocked a 7th out of 16 in B division. Overall we came in 10th out of 16=awesome, especially cause we beat 2 teams that are normally ranked above us. Ladies do love those Larks- a great weekend of crewing as well.