The weekend of March 29-30, the Columbia Sailing Women’s Team drove down to Annapolis, Maryland, to compete in the MAISA Spring Women’s Fleet Race Championship at the Naval Academy. With a beautiful forecast of 75 degrees and a Southwest breeze of 7-15 knots, the Lions entered the day with a bang. Eva DeCastro ‘28 and Amelia Thomas ‘27 got a 10 and 4 in the first A Division set, while Elizabeth Frost ‘27 and Tara Sengal ‘25 got an impressive 2 and 3 in the first B Division set. After one more set, racing was paused for about 2 hours so the Midshipmen could conduct a Safety at Sea demonstration (which included jumping into the water from helicopters and rappelling back up). When racing resumed, the wind was very shifty and variable. Two more sets were sailed in 5-15 knots (and one capsize for A Division), and racing was finished for the day. The Lions enjoyed a nice evening in downtown Annapolis, where they got good food and ice cream and enjoyed the sailing-themed stores.
On Sunday morning, the A Division team, Eva and Amelia, were off to a great start, getting 4, 4, 2, and 7 in the first two sets. Tiring, windy conditions for 10-15 knots from the Southwest proved racing difficult for the rest of the day, and scores were very inconsistent across both divisions. B Division persisted and had many top 10 finishes. After a capsize, Raina Jaeggli ‘28 took over as B Division crew for the last race of the day. The round robin of 15 races per division was completed, and racing was concluded for the regatta.
The Lions ended the regatta in 10th place, making them the 10th-best women's team in MAISA. With two underclassmen women’s skippers, they are excited and optimistic about future seasons, and hope to do very well at fall women’s events. Additionally, congratulations to Raina for her first regatta ever!
On April 12-13, Columbia Sailing will be at Washington College of Maryland for the Grant regatta, where they hope to qualify for the America Trophy at Cornell University the following weekend. Stay tuned!
Check out scores here: https://scores.collegesailing.org/s25/maisa-spring-women-fleet-race/
