Mallory Nationals

A coach's report by the Zac Hernandez:

Loyola Varsity Sailing Team was in Saint Petersburg this past weekend for the Mallory Nationals. It’s the 1^st time in 8 years that Loyola Sailing has qualified for Mallory Nationals. Going into the weekend we knew that there was going to be some very stiff competition.

Since Tommy Holmberg show great character and the ability to close a regatta in the Mallory Qualifier, I awarded him the Starting A Division Skipper. The A Division stared in FJs instead of 420’s, and the B Division with Alex Post at the Helm was sailing in 420’s. It is a great way to run a regatta if you have 40 boats, that way the A and B Division are out on the water all day. We started racing Saturday Morning right around 9:45. Tommy sailing with Melinda Lee and Alex sailing with Ciara McHugh both had a good start and raced a real smart and safe race coming back with a 9 in A and a 13 in B. Loyola is looking pretty good so far. The second A race Tommy had the start looking well until he was rolled and squeezed out the back of the pack, directly in the middle of the line with no where to go. He tried of couple of different thing to get back up to the pack, but was never successful. Alex started the 2^nd B start in a great spot and continued to hold his position after the windward mark. Alex finished with a strong 5^th place finish. Loyola is currently in 12 place overall.

Starting the 2 set Tommy and Alex headed out and got a 17^th in A and a 14^th in B. Race 4 A Tommy had a great start and rounded the windward mark in 6^th place. Trying to fight off the rest of the fleet down wind, Tommy finished with a solid 7^th. Very good race Tommy. Alex came back with a 15^th place in race 4 B.

At the end of set 2 the wind had started picking up form 8 to around 13 or so. At the rotation dock, John Kinzel went in to crew for Tommy and Chris Lynch went in with Alex. Alex went out and in race 5B with a perfect start and a rounded the leeward mark in 5^th place, took a quick hitch out to the left and came flying back down the middle of the course and placed 3^rd. The A sailors where given a break to come in and eat lunch while the B’s stayed out for another race. Tommy and I discussed how difficult the starts are in the A Division, and decided to have Tommy try to win the boat end. Alex still sailing with Lynch, had great start and rounded the windward in 7^th place and continued gaining ground down wind. Not realizing that the RC had changed the course from a Leeward mark with a on offset, to a gate leeward mark, Alex got in side mark room an all 6 boats ahead of him, and cruised to a 1^st place. A’s now done with their lunch god back out on to the water, but the wind has died a bit and john is out and Melinda Lee is back in with Tommy. The B’s come in for their lunch break. Tommy went out and pushed the start at the boat and won the boat. The bad new is that the wind had died and only filled in at the pin and Tommy was stuck in no wind land. Tommy was never able to recover from that. Lets just say that our game plan of winning the boat backfired on us pretty bad.

Starting set 4 Tommy is now sailing with Grace Williams and Ciara is back in with Alex. Loyola is currently sitting in 13^th place overall in the standings. I continued crew switching ever set from now on due to the high heat and very long day out on the water. Tommy finished the set off with a 10 and a 17. Tommy had to fight back from 15^th to get his 10 place, very smart sailing. Alex got a 13 and a 14.

Set 5 the last set in the FJs for the A and last set in the 420’s for the B’s. Tayler Crimaldi is now sailing with Tommy and Ciara is still in with Alex. At this point Alex and Tommy have been out on the water sailing for over 6 hours. Stu and myself where force-feeding Tommy and Alex water and power bars every time we saw them between races. The heat was really starting to affect Alex. Tommy was holding strong.

Tommy had his best set of the regatta with a 11 and a 14. Tommy is really starting to sail like I know he could. Alex returned with a 16 and 12 in his final races in a 420.

The wind started to pick back up a bit again and Kinzel is in with Tommy. And Lynch is back in with Alex. As some in the sailing world would say the Meat Toboggans are in again, meaning the big crews. Lets face it our female crew peaks at 115. Tommy would go out and get a solid 15^th place and Alex would not fair so well with his worse race of the regatta, a 20^th. RC decides that that was enough for the day and I had the crew skipper the boats in because Tommy and Alex had now been out on the water for almost 10 hours. That’s no joke. Alex looked a lot like he had become death. When we got back over to the docks we had Tommy and Alex got directly back to the Hotel rooms to relax in the air and drink some water, not to fall asleep. I had to re-hydrate them before bedtime. Loyola is currently hanging onto 15^th place.

Day 2 starting of with light winds Tommy sailing with Melinda in 420s and Alex sailing in FJs with Ciara. Stu is helping Tommy get straight and splash his boat, while I’m over with Alex. As we are getting ready to splash Alex and Ciara’s boat, the team next to us was splashing their boat. Not paying attention one of the other guys bumped into Alex and Alex fell back onto Ciara as she was turning. Lets just say that Ciara was in a great amount of pain. And I was non-to happy with the other kids that bumped into Alex. I got Ciara off the dock and over to a chair where we got her some ice and Stu came right over to take a look. Stu, who is only one class away from being a certified paramedic, said that she was defiantly not able to sail this morning. As Stu is tacking a look at Ciara I had to grab lynch and tell him that he has 30 second to get dressed and back over he, bad news is that Kinzel had starting walking over to the pier. Lynch just caught him at the end of the parking lot. Tommy’s boat not knowing what has happen, because they had already left the dock. Our best crew was down and not happy. Day 2 was not looking so good for LA. Tommy went out and had a tough race, and came back in for rotations. Alex’s day despite the early crew loss would not slow him down.

Set 7. I had to make a very tough call and remove the skipper that just about single handily put us in a position to qualify for nationals. Tommy was out and John Kinzel would get his first driving action at Nationals. Said John Kinzel, "This is the best day of my life!!" Kinzel is sailing with Melinda. After experiencing how difficult the starts where when in with Tommy, we had decided to have John push the start. John defiantly push the start and was OCS both races, which gave him a 18 and 18 place finishes. Alex and lynch go out and nail a 9^th place finish then was OSC and got a 19^th.

Set 8. Kinzel still Skippering A, now with Grace Williams, and Alex sailing with Tayler Crimaldi. Kinzel went out and pushed the starts again and was OCS on the 1^st race and late to the 2^nd race because him and I were talking at the dock. My bad. Alex continued a strong day and knocked out a 8 and 9^th place finish. Set 9. Tommy is in and I am very excited about seeing him back in a boat. Tommy back in driving A Division with Grace and Alex staying with Tay. Tommy had a fighting chance at the start but ended up getting shot out the back. But he kept his attitude in check and rocked the next start and was top 5 going up the next beat. Again bad luck strikes us and the wind shuts off on the left side and Tommy sits and watches 10 boats pass him with nothing to do. Alex and Tay finish the regatta off with a great 4 – 9 punch.

Congrats to the Sailors, and all of the hard work and determination.

Just qualifying for Mallory Nationals was a tremendous feet in itself.

Zac’s Complete Crew Sheet for Mallory Nationals.

Lets just say that this should be just as confusing for you as it was to me at the time. You can only switch personal every 2 races, unless this is a postponement, and you can only switch crew from one Division to the other Division once. Once you drive in one Division you are stuck in that Division. You have to very carefully try to figure out if the wind in going to pick up or not (while keeping in mind the weather for the next day), because if you switch a sailors Division too early, you’re in trouble.

17th Place Team Overall – 476 Points

18th in A Division – 284 Points - Tommy Holmberg, John Kinzel, Melinda Lee, Grace Williams and Tayler Crimaldi

12th place in B Division - 192 Points - Alex Post, Ciara McHugh, Chris Lynch and Tayler Crimaldi

A Division

Skippering

Tommy Holmberg: Race 1-12, and 17-18

John Kinzel: Race 13-16

Crew

Melinda Lee: Race 1-4, 6, and 12-14

John Kinzel: Race 5, 11

Grace Williams: Race 7-8, and 15-18

Tayler Crimaldi: Race 9-10

B Division

Skippering

Alex Post: Race 1-18

Crew

Ciara McHugh: Race 1-4, and 7-10 (injured)

Chris Lynch: Race 5-6, and 11-14

Tayler Crimaldi: Race 15-18

2009 Mallory National Results

A B Total

1. Newport Harbor 99 106 205
2. Cathedral Catholic 133 142 275
3. Corona del Mar 140 147 287
4. Sarasota 174 119 293
5. Plant 138 167 305
6. Norfolk Collegiate 146 161 307
7. St. George's 153 166 319
8. Point Loma 172 160 332
9. Christchurch School 146 200 346
10. Portsmouth Abbey 181 175 356
11. Severn 158 205 363
12. Antilles School 188 192 380
13. New Trier 263 121 384
14. Tabor Academy 209 181 390
15. Francis Parker 180 237 417
16. Martin County 142 296 438
17. Loyola Academy 284 192 476
18. Williams School 257 238 495
19. Orcas Island 292 312 604
20. Brother Martin 327 278 605

Baker Qualifiers

Loyola had already qualified for the Mallory Nationals, edging their friends of incredible Lake Forest Sailing team and placing second to the great New Trier Sailing Team. While there were two spots available for the Mallory Championship, there was only one to be had for the Baker Championship. These three teams prepared for a battle. An epic battle. 

Grace Williams, Tayler Crimaldi, Ciara McHugh, Juliann Sargis, Chris Lynch, Melinda Lee, Alex Post, Kevin Kennedy, John Kinzel, and Tommy Holmberg represented Loyola for this team racing event. Six teams duked it out all weekend for the ultimate team racing title. Long story short- Loyola did great!- but NT went undefeated, and LF came close to doing so, with LA just a bit behind. Loyola demonstrated excellence in speed and team racing tactics, and in taking third place, qualified for the Atlantic Coast Challenge regatta in Rochester New York. More updates to follow as to how this team fairs out east...

Oh yea its sailgroove coverage

http://www.sailgroove.org/videos/coverage/view/234983-missa-team-race-championship

Mallory Qualifiers

A coaches report by the Zac Hernandez:

As most of you know, Loyola Varsity Sailing Team was in Grosse Pointe MI this weekend for the Mallory Qualifiers.  One of the 2 chances that LA has to qualify for a National regatta this season.  Loyola Sailing has not qualified for Mallory nationals in 8 years. The top 2 teams in the qualifier get a berth to Nationals. 

 

Saturday started off with south winds around 16 and puffs reaching up to 23mph.  The plan was to start Alex Post in A Division with Ciara McHugh, but the wind was not agreeing with this choice.  So a last minute decision was made to have Kevin Kennedy crew for Alex until the wind dies down.  A few minutes after the first A Division start; I’m looking through my Binoculars at the LA boat and noticed that we are in second place close to the port layline.  Still looking at them I noticed that there is no one in the LA boat, and it is on its side.  I look back to the left and Kevin is holding on to the main sheet being dragged by the boat underwater, and Alex is swimming his little heart out to try to get to the boat.  Kevin pulls himself up to the boat and uprights it just as Alex gets there.  Seconds latter they are back on their way to a 8^th place finish (which was later changed to a 4 because of the break down).  Lets just say that I told them that we are not on the LA swim team, one of the main objectives is to stay in the boat.  It turns out that the hiking strap blew out, that’s why they ended up in the drink.

 

The rest of the morning was not quite as interesting, Tommy Holmberg was skippering B Division with John Kinzel as his crew.  Tommy when out had got a 2^nd place and a 4^th place, but currently we need some big plays to get us back into the points. Oh yah, Tommy and John stayed in their boat.  We are sitting in 3^rd place after lunch with the wind now at 18mph with the gusts up to 28mph. 

 

Starting the second set, Alex and Kevin headed out in the big breeze and returned to the dock with a 1^st and 2^nd place finish.  The seas start to roll in LA favor.  Tommy and John head out and get a 1^st and 5^th.  We are still in 3^rd place, but closing on 2^nd.  A storm comes rolling through, so racing is postponed for a about an hour. 

 

After the cell blew through, the winds calmed down to around 10 knots.  Ciara McHugh is now going to sail with Alex in the A Division and Juliann Sargis is going to crew for Tommy in the B Division.

 

Alex and Ciara rig the boats back up and sail out for the start of race A5.  They have a great start and hit the first shift and win the race by 20 boat lengths.  The next race Alex and Ciara have another great start and win the race again.  Tommy now seeing that Alex has brought the game to the table, has to go out and not get shown up by Alex.  Tommy and Sargis have 2 very smart and conservative races to combine for 6 points. Loyola Sailing has just moved into 1^st place. A division ended up racing 2 extra races, before we had to call it a day and head in for dinner. 

 

Day 2 started off with Loyola with 32 points, and the next 2 teams with 38 points.

There is a real think fog Sunday when we get to the Yacht Club.  We would stay in postponement for 4 hours until the fog lifted and it was time to go out and get a few last races in. Since the A Division had 2 more races than the B, the B Division would start off racing for the Loyola Ramblers.  The only team that Loyola had to keep and eye on was Lake Forest LF.  Tommy and Sarg sailed 2 perfect races and put 5 points on the lead from LF.  Having a nice 11-point lead on LF, the Race Committee decides to do one more A race and one more B race before the time limit ended for the day. 

 

Winds are at a very light 5 mph, and seas are flat as Alex and Ciara head out for their only race of the day.  LA got fouled up and the starting line and ended up fighting back for a 9^th place finish, the bad news was that LF got a 1^st place that race.  Now our point lead on LF has dropped to only 3 points with one race left.  Tommy and Sarg get into their boat, knowing that the game plan is tight cover LF the entire race.  Tommy and Sarg have a good start, while LF had a great start.  After a few tactical moves, Tommy finds himself right next to the LF boat.  Meanwhile I have displaced my self from the group so I could calm down and not let my nerves get the best of me.  Watching from a distance, Tommy pinched the LF boat off and there after tacked on them the rest of the race.  Tommy and Sarg never let the LF boat get out from behind them and lead the Loyola Ramblers to a Team Overall 2^nd Place finish.

 

Congrats to the Sailors, and all of the hard work that they have displayed. 

 

We will be traveling to St. Petersburg FL in 2 weeks to compete at Mallory Nationals.

 

Mallory Nationals Qualifying Results

2nd Place Team Overall.  3rd in A Division Alex Post, Kevin Kennedy, Ciara McHugh, and Tayler Crimaldi.

3rd place in B Division Tommy Holmberg, John Kinzel, Juliann Sargis and Grace Williams.

Thanks to Mr. Hudson of New Trier for these great SG coverages!

http://www.sailgroove.org/videos/coverage/view/234958-missa-mallory-qualifier

High School Invitational

Loyola Academy Sailing continued a streak of dominance as they swept the High School Invitation Regatta held at Chicago Yacht Club on April 4th and 5th, 2009. Loyola sent four teams to day one of fleet with one team, Loyola Gold taking first place overall. Tommy Holmberg and Melinda Lee won the A Division while Kevin Kennedy and Ciara McHugh won the B Division. While they started a bit slow, these sailors fought a long battle on the race course culminating in a 23 point lead over the second place team. Also of note, Thomas Cook of Loyola JV won a race! Said Cook, "This is the happiest day of my life!"

Day two of the event consisted of a team racing format. Loyola fielded two teams of three boats each. Loyola Gold was comprised of John Kinzel and Melinda Lee, Kevin Kennedy and Ciara McHugh, and Tommy Holmberg and Juliann Sargis. They went undefeated in the regatta for a powerful first place finish.  Loyola JV ended in a three way tie for third place with skippers Thomas Cook, Chris A. Lynch, and Eric Anderson.

Aww cool sailgroove coverage!

 http://www.sailgroove.org/videos/coverage/view/234892-missa-high-school-invitational

Ice Breaker

Loyola Sailing started off the season with a bang as they dominated the Ice Breaker Regatta held at Chicago Yacht Club. Four teams of Loyola sailors braved crazy conditions of freezing temperatures and blinding snow. Loyola Gold took top honors at the event with Alex Post and Melinda Lee taking fourth in the A Division and Tommy Holmberg and Grace Williams winning the B division. Loyola Silver placed fifth with Kevin Kennedy and Ciara McHugh taking fifth place in the A Division and John Kinzel and Tayler Crimaldi placing fourth in the B Division. 

Sweet Sailgroove Coverage!

http://www.sailgroove.org/videos/coverage/view/234830-missa-ice-breaker-regatta