Match Race Nationals
The Wisconsin Sailing Team wrapped up the Fall season at the 2022 ICSA Match Race Nationals in San Diego, California. Returning Match Race team member Jono Bailey ‘22 on helm, and new members Jack Schweda ‘24 on Main, Kate Thickens ‘23 trimming, and Gavin Dempsey ‘26 on bow were all incredibly dialed and excited to get down to sunny San Diego to race against the best collegiate Match Race teams.
The team flew out of Chicago and arrived in San Diego Wednesday night, November 9th. Thursday was a film and prep day as boats were not available to be used for a practice day, and racing began Friday. Each day consisted of little breeze in the morning, and then promptly filled in around 11 once it warmed up. Unfortunately, Friday and Saturday did not go as well as the team had hoped, ending the round robin 1-8. The team was suited up in their short sleeve bangers to race King’s Point for 9th place on Sunday. They went 2-0 and spent the rest of the day watching the other matches from the water. Huge thanks to alumni Thomas Kelly '20 for hosting the team, Christian Spencer '22 for coaching on Saturday, and everyone else who supported the team along the way!
"I had no experience match racing, so I learned a ton about how it worked, the rule differences, and the strategy behind it. It was really interesting just racing against one boat instead of a fleet or a team, it had an entirely different dynamic to it. It is 100% something I want to do more of in the future, and learn more about. I understand it only at a very surface level, but I took a lot away from Jono and how he was sailing the regatta. We sailed a really clean weekend and had no penalties, our pre starts were really good, just our boat speed sucked. Being on the bow my favorite part of the sailing part was backing the jib during the starts since I got to touch a sail and I got to make some pretty intense eye contact with Jono while doing it. We saw some sea lions while sailing was pretty sick." -Gavin Dempsey '26
End of Season Ranking
After a successful Fall season, College Sailing released the 2022-2023 Full Competitive Strength Ranking for both coed and women's dinghy teams.
The Coed Wisco Team worked very hard the Fall and after consideration of both finishing position and regatta grade, the Badgers were placed in the 34th place out of 173 teams across the nation! Although a very admirable position, no doubt our sailors are looking to prove themselves as a top team in the Spring!
After attending two women's regattas out East and placing 1st and 2nd at our very own Wisco Women's, College Sailing placed the Honey Badgers in 37th out of 84 womens teams in the country. With many opportunities in the Spring, they are all looking forward to competing in hopes of moving up the ranks!
Winter Meetings and Workouts
Although the boats are all tucked away for the long Winter ahead, the work doesn't stop!
Meetings and Workouts
As a team, we meet multiple times a week in preparation for the Spring. We have recently started full-team workouts twice a week, which has already proved to bond us even closer as a group as well as keep us in top shape for the coming season!
Practice Captains George Lockwood '25 and Marissa Tegeder '25 are leading these workouts and have more plans to keep the team active in the offseason. They plan on hosting chalk talks with focuses on team racing, sailing psychology, keelboats, and more. Before Christmas, they also hope to meet with all those who sailed this Fall and debrief individually in order to prepare for their seasons and future ahead.
SAILOR OF THE MONTH: Gavin Dempsey
Our Sailor of the Month for the month of November is Freshman Gavin Dempsey!
Gavin Dempsey is a Freshman on the team this year from the Chicago Area! He is looking to major in real estate and get a certificate in data science. He has been sailing since he was 10, started racing in middle school, and then joined his high school sailing team where he was the captain his junior and senior year. Most of his sailing experience is in dinghy’s but has since started racing keelboats this past summer, including racing in the Mac! Besides sailing himself, he has also coached various levels of sailing the past 3 years at Columbia Yacht Club.
Gavin was a busy and active member of the team this year, going to 5 regattas this Fall season, and he says they were all really great experiences! 3 were dinghy regattas and 2 were keelboat regattas, including Match Race Nationals. In terms of positions, for dinghies he steers and for keelboats he trimmed and did bow this season. The dinghy regattas included Cary Price, where they got 2nd, and Becky Blank and Streufert, which they won. He says Streufert was his favorite because he established and got to sail his first regatta with his crew, Carmen. Coming to Inland Lakes from Lake Michigan took some adjusting, but he says he likes sailing on inland lakes because he likes a challenge and says it can be fun when the conditions are shifty and tricky.
In terms of keelboats, this is what Gavin had to say about his two regattas this Fall. "GLIOR was a great regatta because it was at my home club so I got to see a lot of people that I hadn’t seen in a little while. That was my first collegiate regatta and it was very satisfying to beat Erica after going back and forth with her all weekend. Also, Being from Chicago, you heard about that boat a lot since it won the Mac. Match race was an incredible experience because we got to fly out to San Diego to a beautiful venue with great conditions and warm weather. None of us had ever sailed a J22 before so that made the start of the regatta a little bit more interesting than it had to be, but we did watch a youtube video the day before on how to sail a J22. The best part was housing some breakfast burritos after weigh in since we had to cut a lot. I'm looking forward to more this Spring and in seasons to come."
With the season ahead, Gavin can’t wait to do more team racing in the Spring. He had a lot of fun with the drills the team started to do at the end of the Fall, and he says team racing is his favorite form of sailing. Besides getting back on Mendota after the Winter, he is looking forward to traveling to more regattas and Spring Break.
Go Go Gavin!
CONNECT WITH UW SAILORS: JOIN OUR LINKEDIN GROUP
We're always looking for ways to build a stronger network between current and former Wisco Sailors. So, we've created a new LinkedIn Group to bring alumni and sailors together! Every Wisco Sailor has benefited from the incredible group of sailors that has come before then. Please consider joining this group (and inviting any sailing team connections) to strengthen these ties further!
Stay tuned for next month's Wisco Sailor to learn more about how things are going here in Madison. Be sure to follow us on Facebook and Instagram to keep up with the latest team news!
Credits:
Photos by Douglas Wake/Medora Media