A quick recap of the IOR experience from the University of Toledo:
10/14/21 -
This weekend we had the distinct privilege of sailing a Figaro 2 at the Intercollegiate Offshore Regatta in Larchmont, NY. The Figaro 2 class was stacked with prestigious sailing programs like the Naval and Coast Guard academies, and we came into the weekend ready to give it our all. While we were unable to practice thoroughly on Friday, we hit the water early on Saturday morning to get some extra time on the boat. We had a great time maneuvering to the start and sailing around the starting area. Initially, we went out with a full main and full jib but changed over to a smaller jib and left the full main. With winds building to high 20's low 30's we tucked a reef and began playing with the boat some more, seeing what she was made of.
They launched the first two classes after a short postponement with little to no problems. Winds now reaching gusts of 39.9 kts we tacked around to watch the third start and saw a gust of 42.2 kts come across. As the third class was in sequence, they made the safe decision to abandon all races for the day; Recalling all boats back to their respective harbors. With all of that being said UT looked around and decided to tack out into the sound to gain some ground and head home. As we tacked back in there was a dinghy regatta going on in the AYC harbor. As we looked at our options to avoid and make it into AYC without grounding or hitting sunken objects we notice our main had sustained some damage at the reef points. We immediately tacked over and headed dead to the wind. We dropped our sails and started the motor. Once in and tied up we cleaned up and inspected our sails to see the extent of the problem and to make the calls necessary to inform NEKA and Webb institute of the issue. After we packed away our boat, we joined the rest of the competitors at Larchmont Yacht Club for dinner and enjoyed socializing with college sailors from around the nation for the rest of the night.
Racing was called off early on Sunday due to exceedingly high winds, but the team stuck around for lunch to meet more of our peers before heading back home. Despite the lack of racing, we learned a lot of valuable lessons from sailing the Figaro 2 and made a lot of great connections with sailors from around the country. In particular, we were extended an open invite by the governing body for our class to sail the Figaro 2 whenever we find the time. Several representatives of the Storm Trysail Club also congratulated us profusely on our continued high-caliber performance on keelboats and stated that they're excited to see us continue to step up into challenging regattas and grow as competitive keelboat sailors. We cannot express enough gratitude for all of those involved with IOR and Storm Trysail for everything they do for this event. We never leave without smiles on our faces.