UCLA Sailing Team

Marina del Rey, CA

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.

San Diego, CA

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.

Santa Barbara, CA

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!