VISA Team Race Champs A Division

On the Lafayette river sailors were greeted with cool 70 degree temps and light rain off and on throughout the morning, giving way to the sun peeking through in the late afternoon. The wind was a steady easterly breeze in the mid-high teens with gusts generally in the high teens to low 20's. A few isolated gusts in the high 20's caught sailors off guard and resulted in a bit of swimming, especially on the JV course.

The regatta format for Varsity was two separate divisions of 5 teams, representing 6 schools, interwoven on a digital N course. The divisions did not meet each other and were scored as separate events. On the JV course, 12 teams representing 7 schools competed on a W-4 course.

A Division completed 4 round robins of 5 teams and a final 4 for a total of 46 races before the no start after time, 5PM. Sailors endurance was tested with 19 races for each of the top 4 teams. In the final rankings, Christchurch School took first place with an impressive 18 wins/ 1 loss record. Norfolk Academy finished strong in second with 15 wins and 4 losses. Norfolk Collegiate School finished third with 9 wins and 10 losses. Congratulations to these top 3 ranking schools for qualifying to compete in the MASSA Team Champs in Annapolis on Oct. 17-18.

On the B Division course, teams completed 3 round robins of 5 teams and a final 4 for a total of 36 races. Final rankings have Christchurch School Team 1 taking first with 14 wins and 1 loss. Second place was captured by Christchurch Team 2 with 10 wins and 5 losses. Third place was Christchurch School Team 3 with 7 wins and 8 losses.

JV completed 7 single division races before their no start after time of 1PM. Catholic High School took first place with 3 bullets and 15 points. Following closely in second place was Cox High School with one bullet and 16 points. Winning the tie break against Norfolk Academy for third place with 2 bullets and 21 points was Norfolk Collegiate.

Great thanks goes to the coaches, parents and volunteers from Norfolk Collegiate School for organizing and running these events. Special thanks to Diogo Silva for serving as PRO on varsity and running an impressive 82 clean races, and to Erin Winter for serving as PRO on JV with significant patience during gusts that knocked down a good portion of the fleet and pleas for a course move from the varsity course. Without these volunteers, we could not run the program.