The Oregon Sailing Club will start the new year off with a bang when it faces some of the top sailing programs in the country at the 20th Annual Rose Bowl Regatta in Long Beach, Calif., this weekend.
“This will be the best competition we have faced in four years,” club coordinator George Yioulos said. “It’s the coolest
regatta this year.”
The event, hosted by No. 2-ranked
Southern California at the Alamitos Bay Yacht Club, will welcome over 85 collegiate and high school sailing teams. The Rose Bowl
Regatta, three times the size of normal sailing events, pits teams from across the nation in one of the most anticipated intersectional events of the season. Yale, Brown and other elite East Coast schools will be on display at the largest combined collegiate and high school regatta in the country.
Yioulos, whose team competes in the Northwest division of the Intercollegiate
Sailing Association, views the meet as the
climax of several years of hard work.
“It’s a reward to finally have the funds to travel and make a name for ourselves,” he said.
The Oregon squad will field “A” and “B” teams composed of two men each. The teams alternate in races throughout the weekend. Similar to cross country, points are awarded based on place (1 point for first, 2 points for second, etc.) and the regatta winner is the
program whose combined total is the lowest. Teams will race multiple 20-to-30 minute races from dusk Saturday to 4 p.m. Sunday.
The boats used in collegiate sailing are 14-foot Club/Collegiate Flying Juniors, or “sailing bathtubs.”
“They’re round and not super fast,”
Yioulos said. Like an old muscle car though, the Flying Juniors “reward patience and
paying attention to the boat.”
“It’s all about feeling the boat,” said Yioulos, who won the Northwest Inter
collegiate Sailing Association’s Leadership Award in 2004.
The meet will also serve as a gauging point for the Ducks as they head into the NWICSA spring season. Washington, which normally dominates the division, again is the chief
obstacle in the way of a national regatta
invitation for the Ducks.
The winner of the NWICSA receives an
automatic berth to the national regatta in Galveston, Texas, later this year.
“Races like this make you glad to go
sailing,” Yioulos said about the extravaganza in California. “The breeze, the sun, the water, the people — you’re just dialed in.”
Cycling team gains
experienced new coach
Although not competing until March, the Oregon Cycling Club team started
winter term workouts immediately upon return from break.
The Ducks began their two-to-four rides per week program Sunday, putting in more than 20 miles each ride.
“We’re a much more experienced team,” club coordinator Jason Thorpe said. “And we’re a lot better trained.”
The Ducks return a more seasoned squad after having only two riders last year with any kind of competitive
cycling experience.
Also adding optimism is the hiring of Jenette Rose, an expert-level coach.
“This is the first year that we’ve had a real coach,” Thorpe said.
The Ducks, who also field a women’s team, compete in the Northwest Collegiate Cycling Conference that includes Washington, Oregon State, Western Washington, Washington State and Portland State, among others.
Collegiate cycling events, called
omniums, consist of multiple races during a two-day period.
Road races, usually divided into “A”, “B” and “C” races if there are enough participants, consist of 30-to-70 mile treks, depending on the omnium.
On the same day, team trials are run. These are six-to-nine-mile sprints where “it’s not uncommon to be really sick after,” Thorpe said.
Most exciting are the criteriums, where several blocks in the host city are roped off, and race participants compete for 45 minutes plus two laps in a free-for-all.
Oregon has its first omnium March 19 in Walla Walla, Wash.

Beau Estes is a freelance reporter for the Daily Emerald