UCLA Sailing Team

Although the team didn’t do much sailing on thursday, January 14th, first year teammate Linda Wennerstrom earned teammate of the day honors by scoring 8 free airport food vouchers, good for 15 bucks at any airport eatery! This years trip to the PJ Wenner Rainbow Invite literally started out with a bang, as the plane broke and the team got to spend a bonus five hours in the airport terminal with none other than the entire USC sailing team. Rad.

After the short delay, the team was in good spirits and on the ground in Hawaii, where we piled into a rental van and headed for the home of the one and only REIN ZANE. After a couple thousand wrong turns, we found the new apartment, set our alarms for 9, and crashed for the night.

Why do we have to go to Hawaii every year? One reason: it’s not everday that you get to hike a mountain, climb a 30 foot waterfall, and plunge into a tropical freshwater pool before a sailing practice. We followed the lead of our fearless commander, captain Mark Ander, who was the first to jump off the waterfall after an encouraging chorus of “quit being a bitch!” cheers from the bystanders below. After a few jumps, we headed to the sailing center for practice.

The 10-15 knot breeze was coming from the usual direction, and each pair got about 5 practice races in the fleet of about 20. The practice day was hugely important, as we had spent the better part of the last two weeks practicing in 0-5 knots. Mark Anders and Neha Bazaj had a couple of standout races in practice, and we all went back to Rein’s hopeful for the next day.

The wind on Saturday was quite a bit lighter, around 8 knots but with big puffs and huge shifts. Racing that day was incredibly tricky, as a different side of the course appeared to be favored every race. “I couldn’t seem to sail on the lifted tack,” said a frustrated Anders as he came off the water. Garrett’s advice for sailing off of sand island was to pick a side and stick it, but that was hard to do with big pileups at both the boat and the pin at the starts. Junior women’s skipper Shannon Walker and crew Lea Cohen appeared to be the only ones who could figure it out, starting the day well with 7th and 8th place finishes.

After a frustrating first day, Sunday provided us with a change of scenery, with a light, 5-8 knot breeze from a completely different direction. Strange as it was, the wind stuck around all day and was a lot steadier and more predictable than it had been the day before. Jasklowski and Woo-Kawaguchi changed their strategy on day 2, opting for conservative starts in clear air rather than fighting for the favored end of the line. They were rewarded with some consistency, finishing int the top 8 four times on day two, and in the top 5 twice. Anders and Bazaj also found a little more success on Sunday, and the coed team finished with 122 points in each division, enough for 14th overall. The women’s team was just three spots back in 17th.

Although we’ve had better results in the past, the annual trip to Hawaii was no less fun than it had been in years past. We were treated to gorgeous weather, awesome sailing, and the hospitality of our favorite host, Rein. Can’t wait until we’re back for coed PCCs in April.

A bit of a change of pace from the 6 boat, 25 sailor extravaganza that was North South, only 4 sailors, 1 FJ, and 4 cheerleaders made the trip to long beach for the last weekend of winter break. Marking the end of the ICSA Fall season, Rose Bowl will be the last regatta junior skipper Billy Edwards will spend on the sidelines after being suspended for attempting to stab a competitor on the water last spring (this is a joke, the very mild mannered Edwards is sitting out a quarter to save eligibility for a 5th season). His highly anticipated debut will be at South 1-2, the weekend of January 30th. Alas, I digress.

Winter days in southern California are typically pretty light, and Saturday was no exception as racing got started around noon after a morning delay. In the 26 boat fleet, both A division’s Mark Anders and Neha Bazaj and B divisions Oscar Jasklowski and Tatsuma Woo-Kawaguchi managed 8th and 7th place finishes, with a helping of some mid-fleet finishes as well. At the end of the day, 4 races had been sailed in each division. In loosely related news, an anonymous cheerleader’s crustacean phobia had been elucidated when some lobsters washed up on the beach.

The competitors returned on Sunday, one of them sporting a new, fashionable “mullet” haircut. As excited as “team mullet mayhem wildcard” was to get on the water, this didn’t happen until around 2pm, after A division had finally managed to complete two races. The second race was Anders’ best finish of the weekend, 6th place, which unfortunately wouldn’t be counted because only one race was completed in B division. Jasklowski and Woo-Kawaguchi were plagued by over-earlies this weekend, which is something they will certainly be focusing on improving. “We will certainly be focusing on improving our over-earlies,” commented Woo-Kawaguchi after racing on Sunday. When it was all said and done, both Anders and Jasklowski had finished 12th in their respective divisions, resulting in a 12th place finish overall.

The next stop for the team will be Honolulu, Hawaii, as the annual PJ Wenner Invite is fast approaching. This event will be especially exciting for UCLA as Junior skippers Shannon Walker and Carmen Bozina (team captain) will be making their debuts after being abroad in the fall.

Upon arriving at the El Capitan Campground on Friday night, the team was greeted with the task of pitching tents in the dark in a 25 knot northerly. Not surprisingly, the next morning the team woke up to two broken tent poles, some broken stakes, and a completely collapsed tent on top of JV skipper Milo Victor.

Expecting more of the same during the day, the cold and tired contingent of 24 sailors, 5 FJs, and 1 laser showed up to Santa Barbara Yacht Club only to find the wind had completely petered out. On the day, only 3 races were sailed in a dead or dying southwesterly in each division. This was the better day for B division’s Jasklowski and Woo Kawaguchi, whose best finish on the day was an 8th. Drew Morton’s back must have been hurting in the laser as he carried the team on that day with 8th, 11th, and 12th place finishes.

Not to be outdone by the previous night, winds on Saturday night again picked up to around 20, keeping everyone good and tired for the next day. Luckily, it’s not hard to find energy to sail when it’s sunny and 75 degrees with a steady helping of dolphins and 10 knots of breeze. Mark Anders and Neha Bazaj made the most of the ideal conditions in A division, winning a race, averaging a 6th on the day, and taking 7th place overall in A-division on the weekend. It’s safe to say that Mark’s back was hurting, as Jasklowski and Morton couldn’t get into much of a groove, not finishing much higher than mid fleet in any of the 8 races on the day. In the end UCLA took 11th in varsity.

UCLA made all kinds of noise in the JV fleet as well, highlighted by senior skipper Eric Dita scoring four 5th place finishes in B division and finishing 5th overall in B. Freshman skipper and crew pair Leo Daube and Emelia Pelliccio had a close encounter with a large seal, resulting in a capsize and the unfortunate loss of an 8th place position, their best of the weekend. All the freshman that made the trip deserve to be congratulated as they continue to improve throughout this young season. After a strong performance in A division, UCLA has high hopes for Rose Bowl, the next major intersectional in Long Beach in January.

Treasure Island

With 4 boats, 17 sailors, and 1 cheerleader in Billy “BoomStacks” Edwards (who is red-shirting this fall to save eligibility for a super-senior season) the UCLA Sailing team made a bigger entrance to the annual intersectional regatta than the Blue Angels that were flying overhead.

Marina del Rey, CA

The first annual UCLA Alumni Regatta was sailed in Marina Del Rey on Sunday May 24th. Recent and older alumni raced along with current team members in a buzzards bash format. We fielded 18 boats that sailed in 2 fleet racing divisions to determine the team racing teams for the afternoon. 8 races total were finished by the 18 boats in the morning we took a lunch/free sail break to figure our team racing teams and racing resumed finishing one round robin with 6 teams.

Barbeque was provided all day and Alums met and mingled with current and other past team members. Friends of the UCLA Sailing Team (FOUST), the alumni group, conducted its first meeting and voted on officers President: Sam Wheeler, Vice President: Lyzz Schwegler, Treasurer: Blaize Wallace, Secretary: Stephanie Spilker, Team Liason: Kelly Kephart.

This event was a great success and we plan to continue the tradition annually. Thank you so much to the Alumni who came out to participate and donated their time and money to help the team. Special thanks to the current team members who helped run the regatta and sailed with Alums.

THANK YOU!!!