McIntyre Team Racing Clinegatta: A Coach’s Perspective
by Brian Clancy, head coach of the Cornell University Sailing Team
The McIntyre Team Race was held again this year at SUNY Maritime College in the Bronx, NY. Registered teams arrived on Monday the 6th, following the 4th of July Holiday weekend. The forecast was better than expected for this time of year and that made for great sailing conditions on the East River. A huge thank you goes out to Rob Crafa, Waterfront Director at SUNY Maritime for supporting the event.
Monday began with a morning briefing and an on the water skills session led by the three college coaches who were brought on board. Brian Clancy, Head Coach at Cornell University led the coaches along with John Pearce from George Washington University and Chris Klevan from the US Coast Guard Academy. The plan for the event was a triple round robin, meaning 21 races for each team.
Racing got underway on Monday around 2pm and just over half of the 1st round was completed. It was clear that American YC team 1 would be tough to beat, but Riverside YC 2, Larchmont YC, and Noroton YC were also sailing quite well. After the first day American 1 led with a 5-0 record.
On Tuesday the forecast was expected to mimic Monday, and it did. Racing began earlier in the day with the plan of finishing round 1 and also a 2nd round. It’s difficult to run 38 races in one day, but the breeze allowed for teams to rotate quickly. On the water umpiring was provided by the coaches and many rules situations were addressed, which is common for team racers. The event was run very similarly to a college sailing event. In total 56 races had been completed at the end of day 2, and each team had sailed 14 races. American 1 led with a 13-1 record with Riverside 2 and Larchmont tied with a 10-4 record heading into the final day. Breeze to this point had ranged from 8-20 mph throughout the days and although Day 3 was expected to be lighter, we still expected to get through another round.
We had a short wind delay in the morning on Day 3 and had the opportunity to go over the rules situations from the previous day of racing. Racing got underway just before lunch with a nice SW breeze filling in. The 3rd round was completed just before 3pm with the winds cooperating and our goal of 84 races was completed. American 1 slipped a bit in the final day with a 3-4 record and a 16-5 record overall. They won on a tie-break over Riverside 2 who also carried a 16-5 record to finish 2nd. American won 2 of the 3 races when the team met head to head. Larchmont YC was standing alone in 3rd with a 14-7 record.
There was a 3 way tie for 4th between American 2, American 3 and Noroton which was broken by the record when those teams met. All teams from 4th-6th finished with a 11-10 record, but American 2 went 4-2 in those races to finish 4th, while Ameircan 3 finished 3-3 to finish 5th and Noroton went 2-4 in those races to finish 6th. Riverside 1 finished 7th with a 4-17 record and SYC/WFC finished 8th with a 1-20 record. Full
It’s important to note that team racing does not take into consideration the competitiveness of each race on the scoresheet, it’s simply listed as a W or an L. The racing was highly contested throughout and those teams that finished with more losses than wins were still competing very well. The scoresheet may be viewed here.
Thank you to Chuck McCarthy of the JSA for organizing the event again this year and Rob Crafa for making the facilities available at SUNY Maritime.
