South 5 started out with A divsion floating around Alamitos Bay in Long Beach waiting for the wind to fill in. Saturday was sailed on a new course most of our sailors hadn’t seen with a leeward gate in 3-7 knots of wind. Sunday there was some waiting around but races got off at about 11:30 in 5 knots, the winds continued to build throughout the day.

Varsity A was sailed by Kelly Kephart and Joana Que, Varsity B was sailed by Carmen Bozina and Danielle Ryan who sailed very well this weekend and got their first bullet in coed in the last race of Saturday, sandwiched by 2 second places in the 3rd and 5th races of the regatta. Varsity ended in 8th place overall, 4th in the district and qualified for PCCs along with USC, UCSB, UCI, and Chapman.

Women’s Varisty was sailed by Shannon Walker and Anna Schoenbrunner in A division and Halie Kampman and Neha Bazaj in B division. Both divisions sailed very well with a few top ten finishes each, finishing 13th overall.

We sailed 2 two JV boats, JV 1 A division was Oscar Jasklowski and Tatsuma Woo Kawaguchi, B division Drew Morton and Morgan Glier, this team finished 20th and was very evenly balanced between A and B. JV 2 was sailed by Billy Edwards, Lea Cohen and Colleen McHugh in A division and Eric Dita and Martha Thompson in B division. This team finished 24th. Also in the spirit of getting more boats on the line we had Richard Fuller and Taryn Aguiar crew for a UCSD JV skipper.

That was the last fleet racing JV regatta in our district, JV still has cal team race this weekend and Oregon in April to look forward to. Great job this weekend!!!!

At both South 3 and 4 we sailed Varsity, Women’s Varsity, and 2 JV. Varsity was sailed by Kelly Kephart, Joana Que, Carmen Bozina, and Danielle Ryan. Women’s Varsity was sailed by Shannon Walker, Morgan Glier, Halie Kampman, and Neha Bazaj. The JV boats were sailed by Oscar Jasklowski, Tatsuma Woo-Kawaguchi, Billy Edwards, Steven Wilson, Victor Weisberg, Richard Fuller, Andrew Segal and Lea Cohen.

South 3 was sailed in light winds 2-6knots, 5 races were completed by both divisions. Varsity finished 7th in both divisions and 7th overall. Women’s Varsity finished 15th in A, 13th in B and 15th overall. JV 1 finished 11th in A, 15th in B and 13th overall, JV 2 finished 17th in both divisions and 17th overall. Special recognition to Oscar and Tats in JV 1 A division who held their own against the varsity sailors and had a really stand out last rotation.

South 4 was sailed in winds between 12 and 20 knots will huge swells coming in all day, everyone had a tough time sailing in the high winds and keeping warm while doing it. Varsity finished 10th in A, 8th in B and 10th overall. Women’s Varsity finished 17th in A, 15th in B and 15th overall. JV 1 finished 15th in A, 13th in B and 14th overall. JV 2 finished 16th in both divisions and 17th overall. Everyone should be very proud for sticking it out in these tough conditions.

After this weekend UCLA is still ranked 4th in the south series, still on track to qualify for Coed PCCs.

The first of the south series was sailed in Mission Bay. South 1 and 2 are two seperate regattas that count towards standings in the south, top 5 teams after the conclusion of the series go to Coed PCCs

South 1 was sailed in light winds between 2 and 5 knots, 5 races were completed in each division. Kelly Kephart and Joana Que sailed Varsity A finishing 9th on Saturday, Carmen Bozina and Danielle Ryan sailed Varsity B finishing 4th on Saturday for a combined overall 5th place. Women’s Varsity was sailed by Shannon Walker, Anna Schoenbrunner, Halie Kampman, and Neha Bazaj who finished 16th overall. JV was sailed by Drew Morton, Morgan Glier, Eric Dita, Tatsuma Woo-Kawaguchi, and Lea Cohen who finshed 20th. All divisions were sailed together.

South 2 saw a little more wind building from 5 to 12 knots, 6 races were completed in each division. The same varsity team sailed on Sunday A division ended up 4th, B division ended up 11th for an overall finish of 6th. Women’s Varsity also sailed by the same people, A division in 14th and B division in 13th for an overall finish of 14th. JV was also sailed by the same people with the addition of Taryn Aguiar as an A divsion crew. JV finished 18th on Sunday.

After the first two south series UCL A is on track to qualify for PCCs, ranking 4th in the southern conference.

Also as a result of South 1-2 Varsity sailors Kelly Kephart and Joana Que were named women sailors of the week. Sailor of the week is a new honor that the PCCSC district has started and this was the first week.

UCLA hosted the PCIYRA South 3-4 regatta at our home facility in Marina Del Rey. Shiftier winds throughout the week previous favorably settled out for day one of the event. Blowing steadily from the southwest, the first day saw six races on both the A and B rotation and was refreshingly described as “college FJ racing at its best” by UCSB head coach Ty Reed. With nearly perfect conditions, UCSB clenched day one and UCLA finished mid fleet. The day was not without excitement for UCLA Sailing, however, as most notably skipper Matt Sirignano and crew Sarah Lewis grabbed a second, then first place finish. The Santa Ana winds gently rolled through the Marina Aquatic Center early
on day two, but then faded as morning wore on. Shifting to the traditional southwest direction, the channel then filled in and racing continued. UCLA again found itself in mid fleet, as USC dominated the field. With the exception of weak winds early Sunday morning, South 3-4 was run with remarkable efficiency and a big thanks to the Marina Aquatic Center, specifically Vlad Mikulich, John Nelson, and our coach Garrett Woodworth is in order. UCLA Sailing now turns it attention to team racing and our next regatta hosted by Cal Berkeley.

After a short drive from Los Angeles to San Diego, an impressive showing of more then twenty UCLA sailors arrived to compete in their first race series of the spring season. Day one proved to be sunny and brought westerly winds ranging from six to eight knots. Representing UCLA’s two varsity boats, skippers Matt Sirignano and Sam Wheeler beat out Cal Poly SLO’s varsity team. Warmer temperatures but shiftier winds blowing four to eight knots from the southwest on day two provided an additional challenge to racers, but UCLA Varsity maintained a similar performance to day one. The well-orchestrated regatta in San Diego made for aggressive and fair competition. Hosting South 3-4 at Marina Del Rey in Los Angeles on February 11-12, UCLA looks forward to racing on its home turf.

By Sarah Lewis
South 5 and 6 were held in the beautiful Santa Barbara on where we were greeted with blue and sunny skies. Before the weekend’s fleet regattas, on Friday UCLA participated in a friendly team race competition along with UCSB, USCD, UCI, USC and Cal. Steady winds allowed us to complete a double round robin. UCI and USC tied for 1st with 7-1 leads each. On Saturday UCSD swept South 5 under USC’s and UCI’s feet (or shall we say fleet). On Sunday at South 6 races were cut short due to a dying wind, only allowing 3 races per division. Still USC ended the day with a 1st place finish. Both regattas UCLA achieved the 5th place we needed to secure a spot in PCIYRA District Championships. Thanks to Kelly and Lyzz for driving up the trailer!

By Sarah Lewis
January 29th and 30th brought us to the Mission Bay Aquatic Center in San Diego, California for South 1 & 2. The weekend proved beautiful and sunny, with an overall consistent breeze from the North. The gracious Darya of the UCSD team provided housing for the weekend – many thanks to her and
her roommates!

Varsity A team, Matt Sirignano and Sarah Lewis, collected one 4th place finish, and Varsity B team, Sam Wheeler and Tara Misra, sailed smoothly into one 5th place and one 3rd place finish. Over all UCLA now ranks as sthe 5th school in its division.