CHARLESTON, S.C. – The Roger Williams University Sailing team began its Spring season this past weekend at the Bob Bavier Team Race down in Charleston, where the team came away with fifth place out of ten teams.
“It was our opening weekend, a week earlier than past years,” said Head Coach Amanda Callahan. We chose the regatta so we could get some early season practice and regatta experience. We only had two days of practice on the water before the event, so we were a little rusty to start, compared with many of the teams competing who have been practicing for weeks, and in some cases months.”
Skippering the races for the Hawks were Jonathan Enright (Bristol, R.I.), Bjarki Gunnarsson (River Vale, N.J.), and Sean Bouchard (Bermuda), while Adrienne White (Duxbury, Mass.), Tyler Wilson (Woodville, Mass.), and Bianca Rom (Amityville, N.Y.) served as crews for RWU.
The racing format for the regatta set up as a double round-robin, with nine races sailed in the first session and between five and six races for the second. The Hawks went 4-5 in the first round, placing them in a tie for fifth along with Old Dominion University.
In the second round of racing, RWU greatly improved from its first-round performance, going 7-2 and tying for the second-best record of the round. The 11 wins put RWU into the final six, where the team went 2-3 against the final five teams and ending the regatta 13-10.
Host College of Charleston won the regatta with a 20-3 performance, including a perfect 5-0 record in the final six.
Of the Hawks’ 13 wins, 11 were over nationally-ranked teams, including #4 St. Mary’s, #6 Charleston, #11 Navy, #18 Old Dominion, #19 Stanford, and #20 Rhode Island.
“We went into the event with open minds, trying to get the most out of the weekend that we could, and we certainly got what we needed.”
The Hawks will be back on the water this weekend with events in Maryland, Connecticut, and Rhode Island.