Monday, March 23, 2015

Blue Wave Sail has begun, braving freezing temperatures, first regatta this week

by Wynn Hollis

Blue Wave Sailing is a rather unheralded sport at DHS, as most people barely even know how a regatta even works. The team is coed, with new captains Megan Berry, Taylor Hart, and Chris Milne this year, and has experienced a lot of changes for this season. There was a great turnout at tryouts this year, with 33 people trying out for 24 spots, although upperclassmen do not have to try out. Captain Megan Berry said that the conditions were great for tryouts, with light winds but also gusting 30 knots, so there was room to see how everyone performs in different conditions. 
There is also a new coach this year, Mr. Connor Brady. 
Regattas have a pretty poor fan turnout, and most parents don’t even show up because they are so difficult to watch, but this year Blue Wave Sail plans to get a banner in front of the oval to try and get a better turnout. 
Berry also said that this year, “People started to realize that we don’t just ‘float around’, we actually race”. In the simplest terms possible, a normal regatta has six boats with first place getting one point, second place getting two, and so on- and whoever has the least amount of wins.

Although sailing tends to go under the radar, they do not lack funding from the Darien Athletic Foundation. This fall, the team had a car wash to raise money to buy new 420 boats. Normally, there are two people in each boat but that can change based on the weather conditions. However, there aren’t enough boats for everyone to be on the water at the same time. 
Sailing is also pretty costly: each person needs a drysuit, boots, gloves, and everything one would normally wear skiing underneath the drysuit. Practices normally last from 2:30 to 6pm, a rather lengthy schedule, during which they work on plays and gear up for regattas. 
Senior Emma Janson also said that the team “looks forward to beating Brunswick this year," who is normally their biggest competition. Blue Wave Sail has a regatta at home this week against Fairfield Ludlowe. Come support the team!

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