It’s no secret people love upsets. The underdog Giants beating the undefeated Patriots to win Super Bowl XLII. Rocky Balboa stunning the arena by knocking down heavyweight champion Apollo Creed. Pete Buttigieg winning the Iowa Caucuses. These events draw millions to stadiums, movie theaters, and TV sets across the country. However, it’s somewhat unexpected when an upset of this caliber happens in Northern Wisconsin.
On October 2 and 3, 2021 New Trier Sailing competed at the MISSA Keelboat Qualifier, battling against 15 fearsome schools for just one qualifying spot. The NTS crew included Abby O’Keefe ’23, Cal Lutton ’22, George Barton ’22 and Tara Hecht ’25. On the first day, the Trevians dominated their qualifying group with a lights-out performance featuring two first place finishes. This allowed them to move on to gold fleet the next day to fight for a chance to go to tropical St. Petersburg, Florida in December. However, the wind was all sucked up by a large rain cell, meaning that the race committee could only run one very shifty race in variable breeze for all the marbles on Sunday. New Trier put up a fundamentally strong race and placed 3rd. We would like to thank our hosts at the Sheboygan Youth Sailing Center for a fun weekend of close competition, and Mrs. O’Keefe and Mrs. Barton for chaperoning.