Practice, Practice, Practice!

Since we're not traveling this weekend, we get an extra couple of days to practice. We'll be sailing at WSC on Wednesday at 3:00, Friday at 3:00, and Saturday around 1:00. It looks like we'll have some good wind this week, but it will be raining, so waterproof rain gear is strongly encouraged. These sessions are open to everyone, so even if you've never come down before and don't know how to sail, we'll make sure we teach you the basics and get you out on the water.
-Daniel

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San Juan Team Race Recap

Six members of the team, including two who just set foot in a boat for the first time at last Saturday's sailing class, just returned from Western Washington University's team race on Friday Harbor. Though the conditions looked exciting (3-4 foot seas and 25-35mph winds) concerns over safety and equipment failures prevented us from doing much sailing. The PSU team only got the opportunity to sail 1 race when the wind died down to around 20mph. We didn't win, but we did surprisingly well considering the experience levels of the sailors and the unfamiliar boats and conditions. Just after the race, the breeze picked back up, a couple of our sailors spent some time in the water after a couple of capsizes, and racing was called off for the day. Everybody got warm in the van and despite the frustrations of the weekend, I think everyone had fun.
Our next regatta will be Rainier Cup which will be sailed in Cascade Locks on April 14-15.
-Daniel

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Hey Sailors,
Here's an update about our trip to Friday Harbor, WA this weekend.
First off, to the new people who came out last Saturday and expressed interest in going, I need a commitment from you soon so I can get your names on the paperwork and work out who is going to sail with whom for the races

Here's the schedule for Friday:
Friday 3:30 - Last minute practice at WSC
6-ish - load up the van at WSC and start driving straight from practice ( this means you should bring your stuff to practice. if you don't want to take it on the bus, let me know and we'll arrange some rides from campus)
Since we're not leaving 'til 6, there's no way we'll make the last ferry from Anacortes to the island, so we'll be getting a campsite in Anacortes for Friday night. Bring a warm sleeping bag or at least some blankets. I'll be taking a couple of tents and between tents and the van we should be able to put together reasonably comfortable accommodations for everyone.

Here is what you should bring:
Sleeping bag
sleeping pad
pillow
sailing gear (we'll take some wetsuits and life vests)
thermals
a towel
a couple of changes of clothes
sunglasses
your homework and some music to listen to

Any questions or concerns, call me at 703-568-2645. Also, if i could hear from the people who want to go before friday, that would make life easier.
Thanks,
Daniel

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Free Class Recap

Thanks to everyone for coming out to the free sailing class this weekend. We got really lucky with the weather. The sun was out for most of the day, it was reasonably warm and the breeze was steady enough for most people to make progress against the ripping current.
The turn-out was impressive. My count was about 30. We had undergrads, post-bacs, faculty, new sailors, people with experience, and some of our friends from the Lewis and Clark program turned up too. We got all 6 of our FJs on the water as well as the Tasar and a Laser and everybody had the chance to spend some time on the water.
I was particularly impressed with how well everyone sailed after just a 2 hour crash course in the clubhouse covering wind direction, sail trim, and some basic knots.
Hopefully everyone had as much fun as I did and will keep coming down. We'll be there Wednesday and Friday at 3:30 trying to get some last minute practice in before the regatta this weekend and hopefully training a couple of new crews to come along with us and fill out the team.

While we were having fun on the Willamette this weekend, the rest of the NWICSA teams went to a clinic in Seattle. While at the clinic, representatives from the teams held our district's Winter meeting. There were a couple of interesting highlights sent by Kyle Eaton to the NWICSA list that I think deserve mention. It looks like the meeting mostly dealt with publicity for the district (good and bad). On the good side, we are looking for a NW Press Liaison to submit articles and highlights to Sailing World, 48 North and other sailing publications. On the bad side, there has been some concern raised over some negative photos and such being posted on team and team member facebook and myspace pages. We are associating ourselves with an organization and anything we make public becomes a public reflection of the organization. I think we're all pretty clean, but keep it in mind, and if you think you might be an offender, please take care of it before anyone has to ask.
-Daniel

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This past weekend, 6 members of the sailing team went to compete at the Jeff Mixdorf Memorial Regatta hosted by WWU in Bellingham, WA. The regatta was sailed in Alphas, a type of boat designed and built at WWU. They are similar enough to the FJs that we usually sail to be easy to learn during the pre-start, but are different enough to present their own challenges, as a few of us discovered when the wind finally picked up.

On day 1, the fore casted breeze from the east never showed up and we spent the day standing on the docks, doing homework, and watching puffs come down the lake from opposite directions and then fizzle out. For a little while we were thinking about taking bets on which puff would win.
On day 2, the conditions looked just a bleak in the morning, but just when we were about to give up and start driving back to Portland, the breeze picked up and we held six races in 10-20 knots of gusty and shifty wind. The conditions were frustrating, but the sailing was fun. There were some exciting capsizes, some screaming fast reaches and a few very cold sailors. I've posted the official results from the regatta at the bottom of the message.

Our next traveling event will be a NW Team Race Regatta at Friday Harbor in the San Juans on February 24th and 25th. If you are interested in going, please let me know as soon as possible so I can put together the roster.

Also, this is a reminder that we are hosting a free beginning sailing class at 11AM on Saturday the 17th. This will be an opportunity to learn the fundamentals of sailing and spend a little time on the water. I'll be sending out another reminder toward the end of the week with a list of gear and clothing to bring to the class if you have it. We have gear to share, but not quite enough to go around.

-Daniel

Jeff Mixdorf Results:

A division = 3 Races
B division = 3 Races
A B TOT

1. UW1 9 3 12
2. UO 8 6 14
3. UW3 13 8 21
4. OSU 6 19 25
5. WWU Women 9 18 27
6. UW2 31 10 41
7. WSU1 27 17 44
8. PSU 22 23 45
9. WWU 3 24 28 52
10. WWU 2 28 28 56
11. WSU2 23 35 58
12. WSU3 39 39 78


A division = 3 Races
TOT
1. OSU 6 Andrew McDade 07 (all)
Amy Welch 07 (all)
2. UO 8 Robert Dubuc III 07 (all)
Jess Andrews 07 (1,2), Mark Benson 07 (3)
3. UW1 9 Paul S. Stewart 08 (all)
Taylor Hubbard 10 (all)
4. WWU Women 9 Molly Jackson 09 (all)
Jessie Vainikka 10 (all)
5. UW3 13 Nic Wayand 09 (all)
Brad Sainsbury 10 (all)
6. PSU 22 Daniel Martinez
James Acton
7. WSU2 23 Nick Farly 07 (all)
Conner Ames 10 (all)
8. WWU 3 24 Andrew Nelson 09 (1,2), Nate Smith 10 (3)
Teang Som 10 (1,2), Casey Pape 10 (3)
9. WSU1 27 Dave Wheeler 07 (all)
Charissa Benson 08 (all)
10. WWU 2 28 Jake Tiedeman 07 (all)
Lana Larson 09 (all)
11. UW2 31 Michelle Stitzer 08 (all)
Marin Van Schaik 10 (all)
12. WSU3 39 Ryan Lieuellan 09 (all)
Brian Hackworth 10 (all)


B division = 3 Races
TOT
1. UW1 3 Jonathan Kelch 07 (all)
Hayley Siegenthaler 07 (all)
2. UO 6 Taylor Chittick 09 (all)
Stephanie Ostrander (1,2), Andrew Soderberg (3)
3. UW3 8 Nick Hubbard 09 (all)
Nino Johnson 10 (all)
4. UW2 10 Felipe Lopez 10 (all)
Jason Stemlyer 10 (all)
5. WSU1 17 Scott Wilson 08 (all)
Angela Congdon 09 (all)
6. WWU Women 18 Lisa Marsaudon 07 (all)
Katie Stephens 10 (all)
7. OSU 19 Chris Brown 08 (all)
Josh Huhndorf 08 (all)
8. PSU 23 Sky Cunningham
9. WWU 3 28 Sam Stripes 09 (1,2), Nate Taber 10 (3)
Lorien Trott (1,2), Tanner Welch (3)
10. WWU 2 28 Andy Bennett 09 (all)
Katie Bury 09 (all)
11. WSU2 35 Diana Worthen 07 (all)
Spencer Rogers 09 (all)
12. WSU3 39 Cameron Wheeler 10 (all)
Tony Cameron 07 (all)


1 2 3 TOT
1
UW1 A 6 1 2 9
B 1 BKD 1 3
7 9 12 12

2
UO A 1 4 3 8
B 3 1 2 6
4 9 14 14

3
UW3 A 3 5 5 13
B 2 2 4 8
5 12 21 21

4
OSU A 2 3 1 6
B 8 6 5 19
10 19 25 25

5
WWU Women A BKD 2 4 9
B 5 5 8 18
8 15 27 27

6
UW2 A 5 DNF DNF 31
B 4 3 3 10
9 25 41 41

7
WSU1 A 4 10 DNF 27
B 6 4 7 17
10 24 44 44

8
PSU A 8 8 6 22
B 7 7 9 23
15 30 45 45

9
WWU 3 A 9 6 9 24
B 9 DNF 6 28
18 37 52 52

10
WWU 2 A DSQ 7 8 28
B 10 8 10 28
23 38 56 56

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