Dinghy Sailing takes 1st place in Berkeley

This makes three-straight races the Keelhaulers have improved their standing after finishing 2nd among 34 vessels in San Diego last week and a 3rd-place finish in Santa Barbara to start the spring season.

After a short postponement, racing quickly got underway as a Northwesterly filled in to Clipper Cove. The Race Committee was able to get off 31 races, completing one round robin and just starting get into another one before the wind shut off.

Cal Maritime Captain Johannes McElvain felt preparation and routine kept the Keelhaulers ready to race.

"Sailing is a very complicated sport, and during a team race stress and emotions can run high," McElvain said. "We deal this is by having a routine. We set up and start each race the same way every time. This makes it so no one gets tripped up before the start."

Even with a heavy emphasis on their routine to start races, their preperation extends into how to making adjustments well into the race.

"If we are not instantly winning after the start, we call out a play, and once a play is called, ever one knows what they need to do," McElvain said. "This past weekend we did an outstanding job executing the plays. The biggest thing our team has improved on is our communication on the water."

Sunday brought lots of breeze blowing from the North to Northeast. The stronger wind made team racing more of a challenge, but besides a couple capsizes everyone persevered to make this a successful regatta.

In the previous weeked the Keelhaulers took part in a fleet race, where instead of a team of three boats vs another three boats, it's one boat vs the field of 30-plus.

"A lot of the same fundamentals come into play," Coach Tyler Wolk said. "But the tactics are totally different. This year we took an entirely freshman team, as Jacob Fisker-Andersen (Skipper), and Kian Patrick (Crew) were in A-Fleet. Emi Stephanoff (Skipper) and Matt Thomas (Crew) were in B-Fleet. The whole idea was to get some of our new sailors out on the water. It gets them familiar with how college sailing events are run, and what they should expect over the next few years as they travel around and compete."

Coach Wolk is excited about how high the ceiling is for his young sailors.

"Coming in second with a freshman crew really showed other schools what to look out for over the next few years," Wolk said. "They saw Cal Maritime is no pushover and we have some awesome talent at our disposal. Even though this regatta doesn't help with our ranking, it definitely helps build up confidence in our sailors, and really pushes them to always learn and be ready for the next event. This type of attitude will be needed throughout the season as we continue to grow."

UP NEXT: The Cal Maritime Dinghy Team will head down to Newport Beach for the Anteater Open, February 17-18.