2022 SailPack Oriental Intercollegiate

With an opening ceremony on Saturday morning including a welcome from Oriental town council and breakfast provided by the three dinghy clubs of Oriental, the Oriental Dinghy Club, the Sailing Club of Oriental, and the Neuse Sailing Association, the 2022 SailPack Oriental Intercollegiate Regatta was underway. After a two-year hiatus due to the pandemic, the 2022 revival delivered as expected with competitive sailing, outstanding conditions, great fun, and unrivaled community hospitality. As more than 150 college sailors and coaches from SAISA, SEISA, and MAISA conferences descended on the Sailing Capital of North Carolina, the town welcomed them with fanfare, banners, and open homes.

Saturday morning conditions offered a consistent westerly breeze of 8 to 10 mph in which the NC State Wolfpack, Jacksonville University Fins, and Univ. of Texas Longhorns found the front of the fleet early. In three race sets in the 20-boat fleet, the two divisions raced on the Neuse River with spectators and teammates watching from ashore at the historic Stallings House or picturesque Oriental waterfront. As the day progressed, Eckerd, USC, and CNU found their way into the mix while the entire fleet remained competitive. As the afternoon progressed, conditions continued to build and the RC was able to complete 8 races in A-Division and 6 in B-Division before sending sailors to shore for evening festivities. As the day wrapped, NC State, Eckerd, and Jacksonville held podium positions going into Sunday.

Sunday morning brought similar sunny skies, warm weather, and a now-easterly breeze as sailors filed into Bow to Stern Boating Center after a Saturday evening of hospitality in Oriental including an authentic North Carolina barbeque, live band event, and a celebration bonfire, an Oriental regatta tradition. Sailor, coaches, and spectators once again lined the shoreline from the Stallings House to Lou Mac Park on South Avenue for the start of Sunday racing. Host NC State continued to hold the lead while Jacksonville and Eckerd College jockeyed for the remainder of the podium. Further down the scoreboard, competition was intense with USC, CNU, Texas, Florida Tech, and North Texas all within points of each other as the regatta progressed. In the afternoon, the easterly wind began to shift and lighten while the RC worked hard to keep the course square. With no races starting after 2 pm, 12 races were completed in A-Division while only 11 were finished in B-Division so the final A-Division result was dropped for all competitors. In the end, the host NC State Wolfpack won the regatta with first place finishes in both divisions holding on to their 2019 regatta title, followed by the Jacksonville Fins and Eckerd College Tritons rounding out the podium.

This is a special event in college sailing with an unprecedented embrace of the event and competitors by the host community. Many thanks to the hard-working race committee, mark boats, and regatta organizers, especially our friends at Bow to Stern Boating Center. Thanks to the volunteers in Oriental, generous housing hosts, and members of the NC State team who put in hours of work to make this regatta possible.

Photos from several photographers can be found online in the Compiled- 2022 SailPack Oriental folder (https://bit.ly/2022SailpackOrientalPhotos). Don’t forget to include a photographer attribution if using photos and feel free to add your own photos to the folder.

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.