CHARLESTON, S.C. -- CGA Sailing kicked off their Offshore Spring season this past weekend, racing at the Southern Collegiate Offshore Regatta, also known as the SCOR. The SCOR is a top tier collegiate offshore event held each year in Charleston, S.C. hosted by the College of Charleston, the Charleston Ocean Racing Association and Carolina Yacht Club, with the boats generously lent by local racers.

The Bears were led by seniors Rachel Pelton, Charles Tulevech, Nate Olmsted and Kurt Biedermann, sophomores Parker O'Sullivan, Kobi Weiland, Hailey Johns, Andrew Nichols, and freshman Connor Boudreau. The team excelled in the extremely windy and rainy conditions on Saturday, navigating in winds up to 30 knots from the Northeast. Finishing that day with a strong 1-1-2 score-line, the Bears entered Sunday with a 3 point lead against the College of Charleston.

Sunday initially provided nearly opposite conditions with a Sunny 5-10 knots from the Southwest, and a significant increase in current pushing all the teams over the starting line. The Bears were able to claw back from a few early mistakes in the first two races with two 5th places. The third race began as a squall blew into Charleston Harbor, bringing the most extreme winds and rain of the weekend. The Bears responded well to the big breeze and grabbed 3rd in the final race of the day. The 5-5-3 score-line secured them First Place in A-division with a 5-point lead over Navy and 5.5-point lead over URI.

The Offshore Bears will be racing in the prestigious Harbor Cup in their next event in early March, held by California Maritime and raced out of the Port of Los Angeles. The Dinghy Team has kicked off practice racing in the Thames River and will race their first Spring event in Charleston in early March.