Kick Off Classic – Wilmette, IL Sept 10-11, 2011

The Loyola team sailed out of their own harbor at Sheridan Shores Yacht Club this weekend. The winds were not blowing as much as the sailors would have wanted. Winds were from 0 to 8 mph. The weekend was sunny and a 21 boat turnout. Two of the Loyola teams placed 10th and the other placed 11th. Everyone had a blast and enjoyed being out on Lake Michigan.

Mallory Nationals 2011

The Loyola Varsity sailors, which consisted of Alex Post, Melinda Lee, Chris Lynch, Colleen Kollar, Thomas Cook, Conner Crfot, Colleen Croft, and Mitchell Lee, headed down to Austin, TX for Mallory Nationals. On Friday, the team practiced at the regatta cite on Lake Travis with all of the other teams. The boats being used for the regatta were FJs instead of 420s which the sailors use back at home. On Saturday, the breeze was heavy and the sun was hot. Coaches Zac and Dave made sure they were all drinking plenty of water. At the end of Saturday, the team was unfortunately in last place. On Sunday, Zac predicted the team could move up to 17th place instead of 19th place. Granted, 17th place was many points ahead of Loyola and it would be a hard fight to achieve. Sure enough, by the end of the regatta, Loyla placed 17th overall. Everyone was able to sail and all had a great time down in Texas.

Mallory Qualifiers 2011

Your Loyola Academy Varsity Sailing Team just qualified for Mallory Nationals for the 3rd straight year yesterday. The team was comprised of Tom Cook, Chris Lynch, Alex Post, Melinda Lee, Colleen Kollar, Conner Croft, Colleen Croft, and Mitch Lee.



1st Place Team Overall: Loyola Academy

1st Place A Division: Alex Post, Melinda Lee, Conner Croft, and Mitch Lee

2nd Place B Division: Chris Lynch, Colleen Kollar, Tom Cook, and Colleen Croft



The team ended Saturday with 3 straight bullets and a strong 16-point lead on Oconomowoc, while Minnetonka, Lake Forest HS, and Lake Forest Academy where all with in 12 points of each other. Good news was that we knew we just had to get through Sunday clean, no OCS, no protest and no capsize.

We started off Sunday with our worst 4 races of the regatta and tried to lose our 16-point lead (A Division). Good news is that the other 4 teams didn’t do much better then us. We still had an 11-point lead on the other 4 teams. The other 4 teams where all within 5 points of each other now.

After that little scare Lynch and Kollar decided to head out and hit the committee boat at the start of the next race and get an OCS. I think they rounded the 1st mark in 14th out of 16. They worked really hard the rest of the race and finished 8th.


I sat down with Alex and Melinda before sending them back out and discussed that this might be the last A 2 races of the regatta. We needed them to come out and put the Hammer Down, so the other 4 teams knew that getting 1st place was just not an option. They came back to the dock with a solid 2, 3. Could not have asked for anything better. We where aiming for top 4 and better for the rest of the races.

The breeze was now a steady 20 plus, puffs into the 30s.

Now it was time to sit down with Lynch and Cook. We talked about being really safe, no corners, keeping a strong eye on OC and LF, and of course keeping the boat up right. I have to say Lynch and Cook where very nervous and not really talkative heading out. They new what had to be done. There was a chance that these where going to be that last 2 races of the regatta. They went out and came back to dock with only 8 points in 2 races. Exactly what we needed them to do.

The race committee then announced that there we going to do a one and one and then end the regatta. That meant A was going to go out a do 1 race and then B was going to go out and do 1 race.

Time to have another sit down, way away from everyone else with Post and Melinda. We talked about mainly the same thing that we have been chatting about all day. No OSC, no Capsize, safe start and then have a clean race. About half way through our talk Lynch was already back to the dock and headed over to listen, then give out his insight of his last 2 races. I told Alex and Melinda this was the moment they have been waiting for the entire regatta and it was time to Dream Crush. Alex and Melinda had a very clean race and finished 4th. A perfect race, very clean.


We had a 6-point lead on OC and an 11-point lead on LF and MN, the only 3 teams that could touch us. I made it very clear that we did not care out OC; we had to make sure that we didn’t lose 10 or more points to MN or LF. Lynch and Cook needed to head out and not get worse than a 10th and we would have Nationals all locked up and ready to book our tickets to Austin TX.

Lynch and Cook maybe even more silent than before, headed into their boat and out to the race course. They had a bad start and ended up rounding the 1st mark in 11th. Not quite the start we wanted and made the next 10 minutes very tense on the dock. I had to make Alex Post watch the race, because our little buddy was shaking. I told him, “If I had to watch the race he was going to watch the race, this is was makes men." Lynch and Cook rode a nice puff all the way downwind to get much closer to the group ahead of him (still in 11th). Then they decided to buy some property on the left side of the racecourse while everyone else was buying on the right. That was not a fun leg for everyone to watch. But their real state choice paid off and they pasted 6 boats and rounded the last mark in 4th. Now they just had to put on cruse control and ride the wave down to the finish.

The team ended up winning the regatta by 10 points to Minnetonka.



Mallory Nationals are May 7th and 8th in Austin Texas.

Coast Guard Regatta 2010

Regatta Highlights:

Saturday morning was postponed until 1120 where A-Division went out for their first set in 420’s. There were a few capsizes on the final beat with winds gusting to the mid 20’s from the North-Northwest. B-Division was held at the dock until all boats got back to the basin at which time they sailed to the starting line. During the sequence for race one B, the breeze increase to 25+ and several boats capsized and the race was abandoned before the weather mark. We postponed until 2:30and called it a day.

Sunday brought Westerly breeze in the morning and both 420’s and FJ’s were used for the day. Eighteen races were sailed using Gold Cup and Triangle Windward courses. The Divisions switched fleets after race six and the breeze shifted to the Southwest for the final Set.

Loyola came in 3rd out of 20 boats. Alex, Melinda, and Colleen came in 2nd in A Division. Chris, Grace, and Thomas came in 7th in B Division.

Loyola Academy A 2 2 1 7 7 12 3 1 1 5 41
Wilmette, IL B 7 12 3 12 14 8 5 6 8 5 80
9 23 27 46 67 87 95102 111 121 121

no big deal...

Grosse Isle Invitational

Last year, Loyola dominated the Grosse Isle Invitational, finishing first and second place overall and our goal was to repeat last year. the first day began very cold and breezy, but by the time we got out to the race course the wind had died down significantly and it had warmed up. The wind died around 11:00 but by the last set of the day it had picked back up to 12-15 kts. The second day was very similar to the first, however, the time limit for racing prevented us to stay on the water until the wind picked back up so the wind slowly died all day. In the overall team scores, Loyola Black and Loyola White took first and third place, respectively, sending a message to the other teams. In the A division, Alex Post and Melinda Lee took first place, followed by John Kinzel and Alejandra Edery in fourth place, Scott Hallman and Jen McDermott in 11th, and Marshall Fordon and Kathryn Fitzpatrick in 12th. In the B division, Chris Lynch and Tayler Crimaldi won by a very small margin, edging out Davis Porter and Grace Williams, who tied for second, by just two points. They were followed by James Kohn and Isa Brooks in 8th and Colleen Kollar and Allison LeTourneau in 9th. Good work Ramblers!

Kick-Off Classic

We began this season with the annual Kick-Off Classic held at Sheridan Shore Yacht Club. The first day began with dense fog, preventing racing until around 11 when races on the 420 and laser courses started. Throughout the weekend there was very little breeze, allowing only four races on the 420 course, five for the radials, and six for the full rigs. Sunday greeted sailors with even less breeze, the 420s were only able to get in two more races and only two races in both the full rig and radial divisions. At the end of the weekend, Loyola Black placed 5th overall, Loyola JV 1 followed them in 12th, and Loyola JV 2 in 17th. In the A division, Chris Lynch and Colleen Kollar finished fourth, held back by an unfortunate 11 in race three. Scott Hallman and Jen McDermott finished in 8th, followed by James Kohn and Shea Synnestvedt in 12th. In the B division we had Melinda Lee and Grace Williams finishing 12th, Conner Croft and Kathryn Fitzpatrick coming in 14th, and Matt Goschi and Alejandra Edery in 20th. On the Laser course we only had three sailors. John Kinzel bringing home the gold for Loyola, winning the full rig division, narrowly defeating New Trier by just one point. Alex Post finished 4th in the radial division followed by Davis Porter in 7th. Solid start to the season, next regatta: Grosse Isle Invitational.