UCLA Sailing Team

Treasure Island

Stoney Burke day 1 and 2 started in a strong north-northeast breeze at 8-15kt and shifted to a lighternorth-northwest wind as the day progressed. Day 1 was sailed until about 6:30pm finishing 11 races in varsity, 10 in jv. Day 2 was concluded shortly before the 4pm deadline for a total of 15 races in varsity and 13 in jv.

Varsity was compromised of Captain Kelly Kephart and Joana Que sailing A division and Captain Mark Anders and Megan Sullivan sailing B division. For A division the regatta started out a bit rough with the large fleet on the line it was hard to get a good start. This team figured it out for the second day and sailed much better, finishing 13th in A division. B division sailed well all weekend tearing it up at the starts and around the course. This team finished consistantly in the top ten to finish 4th in B division. Overall the varsity team finished 8th in a fleet of 25 boats.

Women’s Varsity was sailed by Carmen Bozina and Danielle Ryan in A division and Shannon Walker and Anna Schoenbrunner in B division. In both A and B divisions the girls sailed fast around the course and improved their boat speed but, like varsity, had a few problems getting off the line in such a large fleet. A division finished 16th, B division finished 19th and overall UCLA Women finished 17th

We sent two jv teams who placed 14th and 16th in the jv fleet sailing in a miriad of combinations we had Kelly Trombley, Martha Thompson, Danny Wudka, Andrew Segal, Drew Morton, Morgan Glier, Victor Weisberg, Marina Visan, Taryn Aguir and Eric Chrisman. The fleet of 25 boats was a tough adjustment but everyone learned a lot especially about starting with a larger fleet which we don’t get much practice with. Everyone who sailed jv this weekend dealt with fluky conditions and we really held our own in the jv fleet finishing in mid fleet.

Redwood City, CA

The women’s team sailed this weekend at the Stanford sailing center in Redwood City with 10 teams attending the event a record number of women’s teams for the pacific coast district.

Saturday got pretty windy varying between 5 and 15kts, the conditions were shifty and puffy and we started the morning with a slight rain that lifted by early afternoon. Both divisions sailed 10 races.
In A division we had Captain Kelly Kephart sailing with Shannon Walker for the races 1-6, 9,10 and sailing with Anna Schonbrunner for races 7,8. These new pairings focused on getting more comfortable sailing together and ended up taking 5th in A division.
In B division we had Carmen Bozina sailing with Danielle Ryan races 1-8. The pair were happy to be sailing together again as they dominated the afternoon with two bullets and two seconds. Shannon Walker with Danielle Ryan sailed races 9,10. Shannon new to sailing in women’s varsity events pulled out two very respectable 6ths. B division managed to finish fourth.
UCLA lady bruins also finished 4th overall in the Brysons women’s regatta

Sunday Stanford hosted a 2×2 team racing clinic. This informal event allowed all of the women’s teams to help each other learn team racing rules and tactics. All 5 women, Captain Kelly Kephart, Shannon Walker, Anna Schonbrunner, Carmen Bozina, and Danielle Ryan sailed in varying combinations and were able to work together to make some good moves and learn some strategies from mistakes that were better made here than in a qualifying regatta.

We also want to give a huge thanks to Matt Sirignano a recent UCLA alumni who was generous enough to volunteer his time to coach our team and share what he has learned throughout his sailing career.

In addition we would like to thank another recent UCLA alumni Steph Spilker who kept us all well fed and kept the team moral high with some sailing advice of her own.

We are so proud of the job these girls did this weekend keep up the good work :)

Redwood City, CA

Traditionally Cal’s annual intersectional, Stanford hosted this year’s Stoney Burke due to scheduling conflicts with Treasure Island. It was the first regatta for UCLA since classes began last week, and although under-practiced the team averaged solid mid-fleet finishes, with skippers Matt Sirignano and Sam Wheeler breaking top 5 in multiple races. Breeze was on at the 9:30 AM report time, so racing began on schedule at 10:30 in 12-15 knots. Wind mellowed out to 8-10 knots by noon, and 8 races were heldin both A & B Divs. Sunday morning saw almost no breeze until almost 1 PM, with only one rotation for A and B divisions. This year’s Stoney Burke also saw the racing debut of our newest member Belen Arguelles, who crewed for Peter Collister in the JV B Division. And of course much thanks to Sarah’s lovely family for hosting us with– as usual– the utmost in hospitality and first class meals.