The Indiana club sailing team won their first regatta of the year, bringing home first place in the Rebecca ‘Becky’ Blank Regatta, winning the competition for the first team in the team’s history.
Hosted by Northwestern at Columbia Yacht on Lake Shore Drive in Chicago, Illinois, the event consisted of races between each of the 13 teams from the Midwest Collegiate Sailing Association.
Indiana, led by senior Nithya Balachander, sophomore Colin Herbolsheimer, freshman Sunny Sun, and junior Andrew Sugerman, was in the top three after the first day of racing. On the second and final day of racing, Indiana separated itself from the University of Saint Thomas. The University of Saint Thomas came in third place and finished with 82 total points while Indiana and Purdue finished with 66 total points. Meanwhile, Indiana competed with Purdue for first place and won in the tiebreakers. The lower the number of points, the better. Indiana finished with fewer total points than Purdue based on the previous races.
The regatta was Sun’s first race. While she faced some obstacles, including a lack of chemistry with her partner and the regatta being her first race, winning the competition gave her clarity on what she could potentially bring to the team in the future.
“On the first day, it was super windy, so we got as many races in as possible,” Sun said. "But on the second day, we weren’t prepared for the wind, and we were tired from the first day...this [first place] finish helped raise the spirits for the rest of our team.”
The regatta served as a stepping-stone for Sugerman, who was Sun’s partner. Sugerman, a Fairfield, Connecticut, native, joined the IU club sailing team to feel closer to home where he sailed his entire life.
“I joined the sailing team because I missed sailing,” Sugerman said. “I like the competitive nature of racing — it keeps me on my toes. I feel like it was a good activity to get into, and I really enjoyed the first experience I’ve had with it here. I hope to keep racing, both now and in the future.”
The experience for Sun and Sugerman provided a new perspective on teamwork. While they were assigned as partners for the regatta, they had never met each other prior to the race. Over the two days of races, they worked together and brought home first place as a team despite a lack of familiarity.
“It was a challenge because this is a partner-orientated sport — you have to have a high level of trust and work together,” Sun said. “It was hard syncing up with him at first, but as we did more races, we clicked together.”
