2017 SailPack Oriental Intercollegiate

ORIENTAL, NC (April 1-2, 2017): After a community sponsored, catered breakfast, and a skippers’ meeting in which the Mayor of Oriental offered an official welcome to the more than 120 sailors and coaches at the regatta, sailing commenced under sunny blue skies and a crisp morning chill in the high 50s. In a healthy but shifty northwesterly breeze of 9-10 with gusts to 16, strong early finishes from Jacksonville and Florida State set the pace of a competitive field. South Carolina, Drexel and Stony Brook showed fast improvement as the day continued and held their position with strong A-fleet finishes. In B-fleet, Jacksonville and Florida State found themselves facing a charge from MAISA challengers Virginia Tech, Washington College, and William & Mary.

As the day warmed up considerably reaching a high of 75 and perfect regatta spectating weather, the shoreline of Lou Mac Park and South Avenue in Oriental was full of spectators watching the college racing on the Neuse River. By 2:30 PM the wind shifted even more dramatically to a southeasterly, then just died completely thereafter. Shore-side accommodations were really great and rotations were hosted from the dock at the historic Stallings House whose yard provided an almost festival-like feeling for teams, sailors, and spectators. Lounging, cornhole, curated tunes provided by one of the SailPack’s own sailor and college-radio DJs, and stunning vista porches for doing just a little homework created a great on-shore college sailing atmosphere.

With no breeze, racing was called for the day and all teams returned to shore for a special community BBQ (featuring a North Carolina authentic pig roast) with a great live band hosted in their honor with over 350 people there including the college sailors that attended the regatta as competitors and spectators. Not only that, but the community in Oriental housed and sponsored the housing of all of the visiting teams. From the Welcome banner across Broad Street reminding visitors of Oriental’s proud status as the Sailing Capital of North Carolina, to local businesses’ employees all decked out in the regatta’s t-shirt, the hospitality element of this event was very clear to participants. This was North Carolina’s largest-ever collegiate sailing event, and from the turnout in Oriental to the enthusiasm of the participating teams, that may be a record that lasts until next spring’s edition.

Sunday’s racing started strong with a northerly breeze from 10 to 15 mph and two additional rotations were completed before racing was called around 1PM. Day two saw strong racing results from Georgia Tech, University of Maryland, and the host NC State Wolfpack finishing seventh, eleventh, and thirteenth respectively, higher in the field than their start on Sunday morning.

A short trophy presentation was held at Bow-to-Stern Sailing Center where podium finishes were rewarded with a special 3D printed trophy and the regatta’s “No Macho” award was given to UGA’s Erica Trotter who in both the SailPack regatta and her previous 4 years in college sailing demonstrated great bravery and humble leadership to her teammates and fellow competitors. Congratulations to the Jacksonville University Dolphins for the regatta win in sure fashion. Thanks to all of the NC State sailors who helped run a weekend-full of great events, a stellar Race Committee who ran great races all weekend, and the overwhelming hospitality and kindness of all of Oriental and Pamlico County, North Carolina for a regatta experience none will forget.

"We aimed to make this a regatta that draws college sailors to one of our favorite places, the coastal home of the SailPack, Oriental, North Carolina while also providing the mostly-club-based teams an opportunity to have a high-caliber, competitive regatta outside of conference competition," said NC State volunteer head coach and regatta organizer Dana Magliola. "It turned out great and we've heard from literally every school that participated that they'll be gunning for berths to this event in their conference drafts next fall. We hope they'll come back and there's no doubt Oriental will welcome them back."

Photos from the event are located: http://bit.ly/SailPack17Photos

The following chart shows the relative rank of the teams as of the race indicated. Note that the races are ordered by number, then division, which may not represent the order in which the races were actually sailed.

The first place team as of a given race will always be at the top of the chart. The spacing from one team to the next shows relative gains/losses made from one race to the next. You may hover over the data points to display the total score as of that race.