On February 12 and 13, UCSD Sailors attended the first team race event of the season. Team racing is a discipline of sailing where 3 boats from one team race 3 boats from another team, with the goal of getting less points than the other team. Points are awarded directly based on finishing position, so a team who gets their boats into 1st and 2nd place or 1st and 3rd place will always win. Team racing requires team work, communication and more knowledge of the rules and boat than traditional fleet racing. Sailors were excited to jump into what is arguably the most fun discipline in college sailing.

However, on Saturday, February 12, eager sailors were met with a lack of wind. Sailors remained on land for not less than 4 hours, keeping spirits up with uptempo music and ultimate frisbee. The wind filled in around 2:30 and sailors hit the water for the first round robin. UCSD “Tritons” went 2-3 on the day, with wins against UCLA and the UCSD “Sun Gods”. Both UCSD teams improved significantly throughout the day, with many lessons learned and knowing exactly what to change and improve for day 2.

Sailors were met with an extremely light breeze Sunday morning, and so racing was postponed briefly. Racing resumed with a continuation of the first round robin, after which sailors were sent out for a second round robin. However, before the second round robin could begin, the race organizers opted to switch to a final four playoff instead, in the interest of time. 4th place UCSD faced 3rd place Cal Berkeley for a best of 3 playoff to decide the third-place team. 2nd place Cal Poly faced 1st place Cal Maritime to decide the winner. UCSD lost the first race, but cleaned up some errors and came back to win races 2 and 3, securing the third-place podium finish. Cal Maritime bested Cal Poly 2-0 to take the win. 

UCSD Sailors were stoked to podium, but left the regatta with valuable lessons learned and much to improve before the next team race regatta at Stanford on February 26-27. Thanks to UC Berkeley for hosting and to all the volunteers that helped out!