The Chargers’ sailing club came in sixth at a Notre Dame competition, which is its best overall finish ever.
Hillsdale’s sailing club sent four freshmen, lead by senior Jacob Weaver, to Notre Dame on March 24 and 25 to compete in the Freshman Icebreaker Regatta. They competed against nine different teams from the University of Notre Dame, the University of Michigan, Marquette University, and Ohio State University.
“I’m really proud of how the team did,” freshman Kaitlyn Rowland said. “And we survived the cold, which is always a good thing.”
A regatta is made up of six rotations, with each rotation consisting of two races. Hillsdale sent an A and a B team to Notre Dame, giving the team as a whole 24 races to compete in over the course of two days, which was great practice for this new club.
“We’ve gone out since our last regatta in the fall one time,” freshman Leahi Johnsens said. “With each race we tried to improve little things. Really the regatta itself was like a practice.”
The team has had little opportunity to train on Baw Beese Lake this spring, but that doesn’t stop them from improving during competition.
“For me personally, I became a lot more comfortable with the boat,” Rowland said. “I felt like my crew and I became a better team. We definitely worked well together and made improvements together. Before each race we made mini goals.”
Rowland was the skipper for the A team, while Johsens was the crew.
“I think we’re going to be skipper and crew for the next regattas we have, just kind of stick together and train together,” Johsens said.
Weaver said he was proud of how the team of young sailors did.
“They did a great job for being out for their first time this year. The more they raced, the more they improved,” Weaver said. “The wind was very shifty, with lots of gusts and things like that. The first day was much windier than the second day.”
Fortunately for the team, there was very little ice at this Icebreaker regatta. Weaver said the lake they sailed on is used as coolant for a factory, so the water never freezes despite how cold it is.
“On Sunday morning we had to break ice out of the boat,” Johnsens said.
Because of the cold temperatures, sailors were required to wear drysuits, which the Hillsdale sailing club does not yet have, although the Chargers were able to borrow drysuits from Notre Dame.
“It’s a great community,” Weaver said. “All these school have rallied around us to help us participate in these regattas.”
Hillsdale will sail on Lake Michigan next weekend at the Laker Showdown, co-hosted by Hope College and Grand Valley State University. Weaver is expecting this to be a bigger regatta, with about 13 teams.
