Wellahan Trophy

The Wellahan was held under superb conditions, sun, fall foliage and breeze from the west from 6 to 15 and up to 20+ in huge puffs. Teams sailed a WL twice around with offset and gates. A couple of aggressive general recalls led to line sags in the next start. Judging was done on the water by Kevin Buruchian who spoke with several competitors. Infractions ranged from a team saying that they were in last so why spin after hitting a mark to, "they didn't hail protest" after several fouls, "so why should we spin?".

There were several situations where a competitor instead of finishing or checking to see if they had finished (all competitors had their sail numbers called upon finishing) sailed parallel to the finish line to rotate for the next set.

Probably the most exciting and heart pumping parts of the day were the many capsizes, both on the finish line as well as the course. The most spectacular was a 5-10 second massive gust death rolling 7 -8 boats which resulted in audible oohs from shore as they watched boats turning turtle immediately.

Thanks to John the Coast Guard coach for being the NEISA rep, and to Andrew Angione for running the mark boat and repairing odds and ends when needed. Thanks also to the UNH Crew Team for lending us three additional boats and engines to allow coaches, mark boat and judge to be on the water.

Thanks also to the many competitors who found some scoring glitches.

Congratulations to the Conn College Camels for an outstanding win, especially in B division of this years Wellahan Trophy.