MASSA 2016 Cressy Qualifier RADIAL

Lavallette, NJ: Thirty-nine sailors, from twenty-nine different MASSA schools, arrived at Lavallette Yacht Club on Saturday morning only to look out upon a glass calm Barnegat Bay. After a brief postponement on shore due to the lack of breeze, the sailors headed out into the bay as the southerly sea-breeze gradually filled in. The slightly oscillating SSE 8-12 mph breeze with flat water provided great sailing conditions. Seven W5 races were completed in each fleet, Laser Full-rig and Radial, over the course of the day. Sailors returned to shore around 4:30.

Sunday started out with a SW breeze of 8-10 which eventually settled into a SSE sea-breeze as the day went on. The wind velocity built into the mid-to-high teens, with gusts into the low 20’s. The increased breeze was a bit of a challenge for some of the sailors, with some attrition of the fleet taking place by the end of the day, but not before providing some excitement to the last races' mark roundings and downwind legs. Racing was completed by 1:30 and sailors enjoyed a planing reach back to shore.

In the Laser Full-Rig fleet, 1st place went to Connor Bayless from the Severn School (MD) with 26 points, 2nd place to Phillip Schofield from Broadneck (MD) with 31 points and 3rd place to Brendan Gilman from Red Bank Catholic (NJ) with 36 points. Eight Full-rig sailors competed.

In the Radial fleet, Leo Boucher from South River High School (MD) won with a commanding 31 point lead over 2nd place Jake Vickers from Archbishop Spalding (MD). Michael Ehnot from Christian Brothers Academy (NJ) rounded out the top three of the thirty-one boat Radial fleet.

Lavallette Yacht Club proved to be a wonderful venue for the event and LYC volunteers Nancy Seggel, Robert Fierro, Kathleen Fierro, Tim Newman, Ken Dolan, Betsy Davis, Del Kusma, Ed Readron, and Paul Magno, provided outstanding support to PRO John Barbano and Regatta Chair Dave Magno on and off the water. The club's facilities, boats and members helped to make the entire weekend a success.

Ned Thompson and June Kingman served as Protest Committee and on-water US Sailing Judges. Two scoring disputes were settled uneventfully and there were no other protests filed.

Mother Nature cooperated by providing weather that makes many locals consider the month of September the best time of year along the Jersey Coast with warm temps, low humidity, clear skies and nice breeze. The weather, along with a great group of sailors, parents and coaches made for a wonderful event.

Best of luck to all the MASSA sailors that will be heading off to Galveston, TX to represent their schools, leagues and the MASSA District.

The following chart shows the relative rank of the teams as of the race indicated. Note that the races are ordered by number, then division, which may not represent the order in which the races were actually sailed.

The first place team as of a given race will always be at the top of the chart. The spacing from one team to the next shows relative gains/losses made from one race to the next. You may hover over the data points to display the total score as of that race.