Dinghy Sailing with impressive showing in San Diego

A great showing for Cal Maritime Sailing in San Diego, as two Cal Maritime teams in the UCSD Open finished 2nd and 5th in the two-day event featuring a 20-team field. Meanwhile the Keelhaulers underclassmen took 3rd in a field of 29 in the Frosh-Soph Regatta!

For the first time in over two years, the team was able to send three complete boats to compete at an event. The open division teams that finished 2nd and 5th overall were sailed by Johannes McElvain, Kian Patrick, Ben Rohr, Emi Stephanoff, Nolan Van Dine, Kyle Hunt, and Bennett Zemke.

"We didn't take any alternates, so it was a really busy and mentally and physically demanding weekend for our team, and they performed extremely well," Coach Erin Sprague said. "The conditions were light, and the breeze ended up being the trickiest part in terms of its oscillations and how quickly they were happening. Our goal and key to success was to have clean starts, stay out of the fray and traffic, and just focus on speed rather than wind tactics."

Sprague was ecstatic with the effort her team put forward and how they resp resented Cal Maritime.

"We were super competitive as far as being in the top five with both of our boats and tied for second multiple times, getting within striking distance of first," Sprague said. "I think it shows huge potential for the future as we redevelop this team and restructure our training and competition Philippines. I was very proud to have two boats in the top five, and we were the only team to do that, which shows our depth is pretty great."

The Frosh/Soph division team was made up of sailors Brock Paquin, Savannah Boyd, Jacob Fisker-Anderson, and Hailey Thompson that placed 3rd overall.

"We have some amazing talent in our freshman and sophomore classes," Sprague commented. "They started off extremely strong by fighting for first with UC Santa Barbara on both days. We finished in 3rd by just two points after some tie breakers and protests, again sailing without alternates which had an effect over the nine races they were in by the end. Overall they did a fantastic job and we have some strong skippers in Brock Paquin and Jacob Fisker-Anderson."

UP NEXT: The Keelhaulers will race locally at the Stony Burke Regatta hosted by Cal Berkeley at Treasure Island on October 13 and 14. Cal maritime will send a women's team to the Stony Burke in preparation for the PCCSC Championships.