Coach's Corner
Mitchell College sailing fans:
This past weekend, Mitchell headed "next door" to Connecticut
College for a two-day Southern Series regatta. We came in 13th out
of 13 teams, but showed great effort and consistency as a team.
This weekend was a series of "firsts" for the Mitchell Mariners.
Brendan Griffiths, our lone consistent contributor, sailed in A
Division with Chelsea Abbenante. This was Chelsea's third day
sailing and her first regatta. Kim Parker, Brendan's regular crew,
skippered in her first regatta in B Division with Mike D'Amico,
someone who joined the team this week. It was also Mike's first
time on the water, as well as his first regatta.
Considering all of the inexperience we had, I could not be prouder
of the way the team pulled together and sailed. Out of 26
races, they only came in last place seven times. Keeping
in mind that many of the competing teams have sailed
together for weeks at a time (and at least four or five times a
week), the competitive nature of our team is quite admirable.
Here is the link to see the results of this weekend's regatta:
http://regatta.mit.edu/f10/south-series-3/
While I will never be excited with a last place finish, I do leave
this regatta with the feeling that the varied conditions (Saturday
- sunny with breeze from the NE at 0-5 mph, Sunday - dark clouds
with NE winds minimum 10 mph, with gusts over 20-25 mph for the
last four or five races) gave this young team great experience and
more confidence in themselves as competitive sailors.
We have this weekend off, and the following is Parents Weekend. I
hope to meet with all of our parents
for breakfast, or perhaps some other common time,
where we can get together to talk about the future of the
team.
All the best to everyone.
Coach
Bill Furgueson
Head Sailing Coach
Mitchell College
sailing@mitchell.edu
