The first competition for the Tritons, the frosh-soph regatta (UCSD Open), was a challenge for both sailing skills and the team’s new leadership. Hosting a regatta means coordinating with teams visiting from all over the west coast, the yacht club, coaches, race committee, etc etc. Thankfully, both the Triton sailors and coordinators rose to the occasion and they had a fun, successful regatta!

This regatta has 2 divisions — “open,” also called varsity, and “frosh-soph,” which is open only to people who have been on their team for less than 2 years. It is an excellent opportunity for newer sailors to get race experience in a low stakes environment. The way the quarter system works, the UCSD team had their tryouts last weekend, so their two boats of brand new team members only had the chance to practice once before representing their team in this competition. The entire team is so proud of them for rising to the occasion and getting out there with smiles on their faces!

On the logistics side, everything went smoothly! The other teams arrived around 9am on Saturday to rig their boats, and launched without any major issues. Race committee (the volunteers in charge of facilitating and scoring the races) showed up on time and did an excellent job.

The wind was light on Saturday and even lighter on Sunday. The course had a lot of spots with dead wind, so the sailors had to be extra careful with the course they took. Although the Tritons did well overall, they hoped to do better. It’s the first regatta of the year though, so there’s lots of room to grow!