May 2, 2023 @ 12:44:36 EDT
2018 Rebecca Herreshoff Memorial women’s regatta Event report
The thirtieth edition of this original, all girls, high school sailing fleet-racing regatta was held over the weekend 12,13 May at Rodger Williams University on Mount Hope Bay, Rhode Island. 14 teams from across the NESSA region, from Greenwich Ct. to Marblehead and Barnstable MA attended.
After introductory remarks from Event Chairman, Joe Cooper, Amanda Callaghan welcomed the sailors to RWU and touched on history of the woman for whom the regatta is named and her Avant Guard approach to life, 80-100 years ago. Callaghan caused a slight ripple in the audience as she dug a bit deeper into the history of women and sailing when she expressed the hope that some of the young sailors might, in the future join her as college sailing coaches, and announced that she was presently the only female coach in US college sailing.
Racing started for the A fleet about 1530 on Saturday in light and shifty winds and overcast skies with occasional sprinkles of rain. After the first pair of A races, the wind had truly gone home for the day and with heavy rain showing up on every one’s weather apps, racing was abandoned for the day.
On Sunday the teams were greeted with a much more stable air flow from the north east, with still overcast skies but no rain. Racing started with the B fleet who got two races of in short order. PRO John Mooney, and his on the water team of volunteers, largely from Ida Lewis Yacht Club in Newport, kept on top of the shifty conditions, not hesitating to make course adjustments during the day as the wind dictated.
By mid-morning the minimum three races had been held and the day went on in a fading breeze. Around 1430, the A fleet snuck in another pair of races bringing the total up six for that fleet.
B fleet finished their race five at which time the breeze shut off. Undeterred, Event Chairman Cooper, after consultation with his management team and watching the patches of air around the bay, tried to sneak in one last race on a shortened course. In a classic example of ‘when in doubt read the instructions’, Cooper elected to have the RC run a W2, forgetting the fact such a course is not permissible under the RP’s. Understandably some of the coaches raised this issue, and so that race was abandoned. Still looking for the sixth race for the B’s the teams were held on the water for perhaps 45 minutes until even Cooper had to admit defeat and call racing for the day.
The last A fleet race was discarded and when the smoke cleared the day was won by Hotchkiss followed by Prout, Barnstable and Greenwich High School rounding out the top four.
As always at such regattas, in fact almost all sail boat racing, could not happen, without the volunteer support of dedicated and skilled folks .Those who came to Bristol for the weekend shunning the VOR village and having late dinners with Mothers were: John Mooney, PRO, Siebe Noordzy and Wendy Lee with John on the RC boat, Will Muesler and Chris Downey on the leeward mark boat, Patrick Canavan and Catherine Roach on the weather mark boat. Ron Hopkins and Dan Dale enjoyed a weekend of watching the best of New England’s women sailors from the deck at RWU, and in their role as Judges, heard only one protest from 10 races. A big thanks to all who came, sailor’s coach’s parents and volunteers. And especially to Amanda Callaghan for her tireless energy and ‘sure we can do that’ approach. And a biig thanks to Chris Crane for adult supervision as the NESSA rep. A good man to have around when you are running only your second major HS regatta-Thanks mate.
Joe Cooper Event Chairman
| School | Team | A | B | TOT | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  | The Hotchkiss School | Bearcats | 29 | 14 | 43 | |||
| 2 |  | The Prout School | Crusaders | 35 | 22 | 57 | |||
| 3 |  | Barnstable HS | Raiders | 27 | 32 | 59 | |||
| 4 |  | Greenwich High School | Cardinals | 16 | 45 | 61 | |||
| 5 |  | Tabor Academy | Seawolves | 31 | 31 | 62 | |||
| 6 |  | Marblehead High School | Fishwagons | 26 | 37 | 63 | |||
| 7 |  | Manchester/Essex RHS | Hornets | 20 | 49 | 69 | |||
| 8 |  | Greenwich Academy | Gator | 54 | 18 | 72 | |||
| * | 9 |  | Choate Rosemary Hall | Wild Boars | 42 | 41 | 83 | ||
| * | 10 |  | St. George's School | Dragons | 47 | 36 | 83 | ||
| * | 11 |  | Sharon High School | Eagles | 42 | 41 | 83 | ||
| 12 |  | Moses Brown School | Quakers | 41 | 44 | 85 | |||
| 13 |  | Dartmouth High School | Indians | 46 | 51 | 97 | |||
| 14 |  | Wellesley High School | Varsity | 69 | 66 | 135 |
| Sym. | Explanation |
|---|---|
| * | Head-to-head tiebreaker |
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.