The NY Maritime Fall Open held by NY Maritime just under the Throgs Neck Bridge brought competition from around the country. We experienced a light drizzle all of Saturday from the remnants of the Hurricane this weekend, and the wind started off light at around 8kts, building throughout the day with gusts in the upper teens. The Throgs Neck Bridge brought huge righties in the puffs and made for a very shifty and puffy course.
On the first day, Elizabeth Frost (27’), Theo Visconti (25’), Alexander Vincenti (26’), and Chase O’Malley (26’) took on the competition in A fleet while Eva DeCastro (28’), Jake Miller (27’), and also Chase sailed in B fleet. This was Theo’s and Jake’s first ever regatta with CUST and they both did amazing by keeping up with the many tacks and gybes needed to get around the shifty course. Both fleets proved difficult to dominate, and we were inconsistent in our placings. However, we put emphasis on improving our starts and tactics, and gained a lot of valuable experience as this was still only our second regatta since our year-long hiatus and still stood much to gain.
On the second day, Elizabeth and Alex Yuen (26’) had a successful comeback in A fleet, and Eva, Giulio Basilico (27’) and Karma Williams (27’) finished the day with a win in B fleet. This regatta was Eva’s first time skippering for CUST, and Giulio and Karma’s first regatta with the team and we are beyond proud of their strong performance.
We finished in 7th out of 13 teams and feel more motivated than ever to practice and compete. We know we still have much to learn, but right now the sky’s the limit and we look forward to even more competitive events!
