Lake Forest Crowned MISSA
Team Racing Champions
May 5, 2008
NOR | RESULTS
Crescent Sail Yacht Club, located in Grosse Pointe, Michigan north of Detroit, hosted MISSA's regional qualifier for the 2008 ISSA Team Racing Championship. Ten high school teams from Illinois, Michigan and Minnesota arrived Saturday morning arrived at the shore of Lake St Clair, under dark overcast skies and winds from the southwest at 10-15 knots. Upon completion of registration, each team was presented with new sails to rig on eighteen collegiate 420s.

In team racing, races involve two high schools competing in a three-boat on three-boat match race format. To determine the winner of the match, the scores of each team's three boat finishes are combined. During the competitor's briefing, the chief judge, Betsy Altman, introduced the sailors and coaches to the six on-the-water judges who would be on the course during the competition. Altman, the winner of US SAILING's 2007 U.S. Women's Sailing Championship and Adams Cup, reviewed the team racing protest procedures with the competitors in preparation for the MISSA Baker Qualifier.

The racing began with a qualification round consisting of a twenty eight race round robin during which each team sailed seven races. The weather conditions varied greatly throughout the day with winds and waves ranging from light to heavy. Rain fell intermittently, but the strong competition kept the sailors warm.

As we have seen throughout the season, the top four teams were very equally matched. In fact, they were separated by just a single point at the conclusion of the qualification round. Based on their qualification round performances, the eight teams were seeded into gold and silver fleets. The gold fleet consisted of Lake Forest with six wins followed by the crews of Grosse Pointe North (GPN), Loyola Academy (LA), and New Trier (NT), each with five wins. The silver fleet consisted of Grosse Pointe South and Minnetonka with three wins followed by Grosse Ile with one win and Evanston.

With both wind and daylight available, the chief judge (Altman) and PRO, Leigh Savage, agreed to sail the first flight of the Championship Round on Saturday afternoon. While a thunderstorm delayed the action, it presented the judges with an opportunity to hold a short clinic on rules and team racing. Both sailors and coaches asked questions about various rules. Altman's team of judges, including Rob Rowlands, Debbie Schoenherr, Bill Thorpe, and Florida's Carol Robinson, supplemented the Q & A session by sharing their on the water observations.

Once the storm passed over, the sailors returned to the course for ten more races before wrapping up for the day at about 7:30 pm. As the sun set, Lake Forest held a commanding three win lead over GPN, LA, and NT.
Sunday morning, a warm sun welcomed back the sailors for eleven more races. With light and variable winds from the west, the course proved to be very challenging. In the first race of the day, Lake Forest controlled the race from start to finish, clinching the title. With the win, Lake Forest advances to the upcoming ISSA National High School Team Racing Championship for the Toby Baker Trophy. The Baker championships will be hosted by the Lake Minnetonka Sailing School located in Deephaven, Minnesota over Memorial Day weekend.

Elsewhere in the competition, Grosse Pointe North broke the three way tie for second by defeating both Loyola and Lake Forest. Loyola placed third by winning the exciting final race vs. NT by a mere six inches
at the finish line!

Thanks go out to the regatta chair Leigh Savage, chief judge Betsy Altman and her team of judges, the volunteers of the Crescent Sail YC, and parent volunteers of the host school, Grosse Pointe North. Congratulations to the winning team of Lake Forest High School - Annie & Will Haeger, Ben and Will Howard, Elizabeth Mays, Patrick Pesch, Ian Schappe, and Lindsey Taylor and their coach Hunter Ratliff.