Coach's Corner
Dear All,
Thank you for your great support and feedback regarding
the "Coach's Corner" updates. I am pleased to hear
that the Mitchell College sailing community has such great
enthusiasm for our fledgling program.
This past Sunday, Mitchell College sailing crossed the river to
attend the Donaghy Trophy regatta. This was a big event for us
because the scores from this regatta are factored into the final
season New England College Sailing team rankings.
What could have gone wrong for Mitchell did this weekend. We
have three very competitive skippers in our program now, and
unfortunately two were unable to make it to this regatta for a
variety of legitimate reasons. Brendan Griffiths, Lindsay Ware, and
Lauren Chiarmanote--sailing in her first ever regatta--sailed at
UConn.
After a delay to the races due to no wind, we got on the water and
had some bad luck. We sailed Larks, a style of sailboat new to the
sailors. We had a sailor get hit in the head with the boom, and we
had a capsized boat. Also, because we were down a skipper, we
needed to use a UConn sailor to sail with the team. The sailors all
sailed a valiant effort and represented the school well.
However, the new boats, new sailing partnerships, and the difficult
wind conditions led to some very inconsistent finishes. We finished
seventh out of seven teams, with Brown, Tufts and Coast Guard
finishing first through third. I want to thank the parents of
Lauren and Lindsay for coming and supporting the team. They got to
see the athleticism needed to launch and switch boats from a beach.
Also, I want to thank the sailors who sailed and were quick to
assist in the cleanup and putting away of boats when the regatta
was completed.
I want to invite you all to our next event on Thursday, September
30 at Mitchell College. We are hosting the inaugural Thames River
Regatta with UConn, Coast Guard and Connecticut College coming to
our sailing center to race. It will start at 4 p.m. and end around
6 p.m. We will have a small BBQ afterwards with the teams. If you
are able to come up and want more details, drop me an email.
The following Saturday and Sunday we will stay in New London and
sail a two-day event at Conn College.
We also have a Parents Weekend coming up in October. I would love
to set aside a time during the weekend when I could meet with the
parents of Mitchell Sailing to talk about the present and the
future of our program. More details will follow.
All the best to everyone.
Bill Furgueson
Head Sailing Coach
Mitchell College
sailing@mitchell.edu
