This October, six members of the sailing team traveled to Larchmont, NY to continue a four year tradition: competing in the Storm Trysail Intercollegiate Regatta.  Daniel Bohl, Tamu Christ, Grace Heckmann, Liz Hines, Teresa Fox, and Tyler Lorenzi traded the hiking straps and centerboards of 420’s for the winches and keels of a J/105 (a 10.5-meter boat).
The six held practices in the weeks leading up to the event on the competitive Chicago J/105, Sealark.They received invaluable training from its owner, Clark Pellet and first mate, Shane Montgomery. During practice off the city of Chicago, the crew raised and doused the spinnaker enough to make Indiana think they were trying to send a message. The conclusions of practices (only those where the owner was not aboard) were typically celebrated by a full round of halyard swings.
Larchmont Yacht Club again hosted a flawless event. To make it possible, 31 generous (or foolhardy) boat owners donate their boats for two days to 235 college sailors.  Four races were sailed Saturday in moderate breeze. Only one was completed on Sunday in very light air.  Northwestern took 9th in the division- fortunately for the country, the US Coast Guard Academy placed first.
The six returned from Larchmont with a new lease on sailing and excitedly planning for next year.  (Sadly, Northwestern has denied their request to build the purchase of twenty 10.5-meter yachts into their budget.)   It was a great experience to transition from competing against one another (as is generally the case in collegiate dinghy racing) to working together as a six person team to sail one boat.