The Georgetown Match Racing Team consisted of A.J. Reiter ’17 (skipper), Roger Dorr '18 (main and spinnaker trimmer), Meaghan MacRae '18 (jib trimmer), and Sean Segerblom '20 (bow). Their coach is Janel Zarkowsky, currently ranked #3 in the U.S. herself. This is Janel’s fifth season of coaching at Georgetown, and her teams have now won three of the last five ICSA Match Race Nationals, and finished third in the other two!
The following are excerpts from an interview with the Team after the Championship.
Other than steering, I found that what I was doing most was keeping communication between the teammates happening. I would check in with Sean about our fleet racing decisions, Meaghan about our boatspeed, and Roger about our next match racing decision, and from that point formulate our next move. This helped ensure everyone was on the same page and a part of the conversation on how to get our boat around the racecourse.
The points where we shined during the regatta were crew work and boatspeed. We spent the most time out of any team practicing by ourselves, working on tacks, gybes, and increasingly complicated match racing maneuvers in order to be prepared for the event. When we got to the event, no tack/gybe set was out of the question for us because we had spent so much time working on our maneuvers. As for boatspeed, Meaghan reigned supreme. She was in charge of making sure that before we made any decision whatsoever we were moving fast through the water. Being so light, it was very easy to start pinching and get the boat really wound up, but we were able to keep the sails eased and the bow down in order to put ourselves in favorable positions.
We were down 0-1 in the semifinals and losing the second race going into the last downwind. We had fought back throughout the race to grind down the leader, and around the weather mark had the best set we had had all regatta. From that point, we focused on sailing our own VMG and hurting them when we had the speed to. Sean made a call for pressure on the far left and we gybed to starboard, leading over to the new favored side. We then executed two perfect roll gybes in order to establish a leeward overlap and push the race past the pin. From there it was all about being confident and calm, as the other team started flagging for mark room at the finish. Our team stayed focused and quiet, and I waited until we had all four of their crew members looking back at us before executing one more gybe to the finish to win the race. From that point on I knew we had the boatspeed and ability to win the Nationals, and it was in our hands to make it happen. I'd say it was the most important victory we had all weekend, and one that I'll remember for years!
My position on the boat was main and spinnaker trim.
My responsibilities varied depending on the leg of the course. During the pre-start, I communicated the time and distance back to the line as well as the distance to the nearest laylines depending on our position. Upwind, my job was to let A.J. know the position of the other boat relative to ours. More importantly, however, was that I served as the liaison between our jib trimmer (Meaghan), our bowman (Sean) and our skipper (A.J.). They would communicate to me the favored side of the course, where the pressure was, and our distance to the nearest laylines. Given the position of the opponent, ultimately it was my responsibility to make decisions on how to react when the other boat made a move and recommend a countermove to A.J., who made the final decision. Basically, I took the fleet racing information given to me and combined it with the general rules of covering and match racing and tried to make the most strategic and tactically sound decision given the circumstances. Downwind, my eyes were glued to the spinnaker the entire way.
I believe our communication was successful because as a team we were able to identify our racing strengths and adjust our roles given that information. For example, early in the season it was my role to provide relatives of the other boat (i.e., how fast/high they were compared to us). However it became clear as time went on that Meaghan and Sean were more accurate in that regard then I was, so they took over that responsibility. We mixed and matched numerous other responsibilities even if it didn't follow more traditional match racing communication. I think this was critical for us because by identifying who was the best at conveying certain information, we trusted each other more because the "best" person was making decision. It was a great way for us to put our own egos aside and combine all of the talent and knowledge that we had in the boat in the most efficient and effective way possible.
I was the bowman.
As a bowman I was in charge of many little tasks, but doing these little tasks well made for a much smoother running boat. A few suggestions would be to keep the boat organized: keep lines tidy, make sure the pole is always ready for use, be ready to help the jib trimmer at all times, and always make sure the kite is going to go up smoothly. Also as bowman I was in charge of helping the skipper with lay lines and pressure on the course. Being able to make the skipper less stressed and sailing in the right direction is a huge factor that will help the boat immensely.
Janel, how many years have you coached a team at the ICSA Match Race Nationals? I have been coaching sailing at Georgetown since fall of 2012. This will be my fifth season with the Hoyas.
I was lucky to start coaching the Hoya match racers when Nevin Snow was just starting at Georgetown in 2012. He was a great match race skipper before coming to college, and made podium at Match Racing Nationals all four years with 2 titles and two 3rd place finishes.
After trimming main and spinnaker for Nevin 3 years in a row, it was an easy choice to have A.J. move back to the helm this year. A.J. transitioned quickly from the middle of the boat to the tiller, and helped the team to another Match Racing National title!
I would like to add how fantastic the crews have been for both Nevin and A.J. over the years. Anyone who has matched raced knows how challenging and rewarding it is to be the trimmer, the tactician or the strategist. I think the crew really makes the difference between good teams and national championship teams. Georgetown has been lucky to have a number of great sailors as crew.
So that adds up to 3 Collegiate Match Racing titles in my 5 years of coaching for Georgetown!
I do a lot of match racing on my own throughout the year with my all-female team, Epic Racing. That has kept me up to date on rules and interpretations, and boat handling in all the positions. That makes it easy for me to hop in as a crew during a practice, spar against the team in a second boat, or talk about match racing situations I have seen at my own events. That being said, I try to schedule a match racing practice and some sort of classroom session every week in the fall. Even when daylight savings kicked in, we would still push for short practices as the sun was setting.
But most effective of all was participating in the North U Collegiate Match Racing clinics the last two years. Dave Perry does such a great job covering so much material in one weekend! That clinic has become invaluable for preparation.
That's a funny one to answer because I think once the event starts, my only goal is to keep them fed and hydrated. Sometimes I can provide a little insight related to boat speed, sail trim or tactics, but mostly I just force them to eat and drink after every race. This year we were lucky to have Nevin Snow around during the Nationals hosted by his home yacht club. He coached alongside me the last day of the event! He would talk to the team one-on-one between races and make sure they were smiling before they left the dock for the next race.