2005 Pacific Coast Championships

Women
The 2005 Women’s Pacific Coast Championships took place on April 23 and 24 at the Stanford Sailing Center in Palo Alto, CA. Kate Conway, Monica LaHaye, Anna Brun, Courtney Careccia, and Anna Pollack represented UCSB. On Saturday, the breeze was quite shifty and out of the south. The Gauchos started off strong in A division with a 1st and 3rd in the first set, and B division with a 6th and 2nd. There were 10 races sailed on Saturday and in A division the Gauchos continued their consistency, but B division had several poor finishes in the 8 races they sailed to put the team in fifth after the first day. Sunday brought better breeze in the afternoon, and both divisions sailed through race 13. Again, A division continued to sail well, but B division’s lack of experience continued to bring inconsistent races. B division did end on a highlight, almost winning the last race of the event and finishing second. It was not enough, and the Gauchos finished 5th overall. Stanford and USC qualified for Nationals. The highlight of the weekend was the victory in A division for Kate Conway and Monica Lahaye. This was Monica’s last women’s event in college and it was wonderful to see her win her last division. Congratulations to Monica and Kate for earning spots on the All-PCIYRA district team. The remainder of the team will be returning next year, and should look stronger as the younger members gain more experience.

Team Race
The 2005 Team Racing PCCs were held on April 29th at the US Sailing Center in Long Beach, CA. Dave Hochart, Heather Perry, Hunter Williams, Lauren Hobsen, Kate Conway, and Monica LaHaye competed for the Gauchos. Racing began at 11:15 AM and finished 6:00 PM. The conditions were southwest winds from 8-15 knots. The coed division in the Pacific Coast district this year was as strong as it has ever been, with four teams being ranked in the top 10 at some point this year. Despite racing against much more experienced teams; the Gauchos actually sailed better at the PCCs than either of the two previous years. This was surprising, as this was the first event that this group sailed together all season. Nonetheless, they nearly beat USC and Hawaii, the eventual qualifiers, in both races in the round robin. They also beat UC Irvine, who is a team that has been sailing together for two years. Next year looks bright, as two of the three skippers and two of the three crews will return. The final results are as follows: USC 12-1, Hawaii 8-5, Stanford 8-5 (lose tie-break with Hawaii), UC Irvine 5-8, UCSB 3-7, and California 0-10.

Coed
The 2005 coed PCCs were held April 30 - May 1, at the US Sailing Center in Long Beach, CA. Dave Hochart, Heather Perry, Hunter Williams, Lauren Hobsen, Kate Conway, Monica Lahaye, Courtney Careccia, Anna Brun, and Jon Bell all competed for the Gauchos at some point over the weekend. On Saturday 13 races were sailed in A division and 12 races were sailed in B division. As mentioned before, the Coed fleet in the PCIYRA district is very competitive, with probably the top two skippers in the nation sailing for USC and Hawaii. After the first day, those two school’s scores combined in A division were slightly more than the third place boat’s total. As a result, the top two places were separate from the rest of the fleet, and USC and Hawaii qualified for Nationals. Both of the starting teams won races over the weekend, but also had some inconsistent finishes. The hi-light of the weekend took place on Sunday morning: The breeze was extremely light, so we entered Kate Conway sailing with Heather Perry. Together they weighed around 40 lbs. less than the next lightest boat. Our all girls team sailed to finishes of 2,2,3,6, before the wind came up and we went back to our starters. In the end we finished strong with a 1st in the last race in A division and a 2nd in the last race in B division. Unfortunately, the inconsistent races caught up with the team and they finished 5th in A, 5th in B, and 5th overall. Hopefully, with more commitment by the team members to practice and compete in regattas next year, and the graduation of several of the other top skippers in the district: our team can improve on its 5th across the board in PCCs. For complete results check the college sailing website at www.collegesailing.org/pciyra/regattainfo.htm.