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FOUST Newsletter July 2011 |
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IN THIS ISSUE: Introduction / Alumni Regatta Recap / Sailor Profiles: Class of 2011 / Featured Alum: Kevin Richards / Welcome to Alison Saarela  Alumni, current team members, parents, and friends at the 2011 UCLA Sailing Team Alumni Regatta. Dear Friends,
It was great to see so many of you at our third annual alumni regatta on May 21. This newsletter includes a recap of the regatta, and profiles of the graduating class of 2011 (congrats guys!). This month's featured alum is Kevin Richards ('00), and we also have a warm welcome to Alison Saarela, the newest addition to the FOUST community. We held elections for FOUST officers at the regatta, and Lyzz Schwegler has taken over as President. Neha Bazaj ('10) and Emily Klopstein ('00) are sticking around for another year as Treasurer and Secretary, respectively. I've shifted to Vice President, and we're happy to welcome Drew Morton ('11) as our new Team Liaison! Big thanks to Taryn Aguiar ('10) for liaising for the past year. You'll be seeing Lyzz's name on more of the newsletters this year, but I'm handling this and the next one while she's in Scotland producing fellow alum Bobby Gordon's ('08) one man show at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. We all had a lot of fun at the alumni regatta, but ultimately FOUST was put together to support the team. That mission was put into action with the purchase of several sets of practice sails from Stanford before the regatta: team parents James and Mari Parker and Hal Ryan donated four sets, and alumni Kevin Richards ('00), Boris Gutman ('06), and Sarah Lewis ('07) chipped in for two more. These sails will make a huge difference for the team, and we know they're very grateful. But there is more work to be done. The team recently received a $4,000 grant from the Club Sports department towards buying a new boat - a new boat that will cost over $7,000. If you can, please help us raise the remaining funds to cover the difference. You can donate online, but please also send us an email so we can make sure that your contribution makes it through to the team. Thanks for your support, Sam Wheeler
The wind filled in early on yet another perfect Marina del Rey day and remained steady throughout the regatta. As in years past, sailing started with open rotation fleet racing in the morning and early afternoon. A Division skipper Judge Ryan ('14) ended up at the top of the fleet with a 1.5 average (although he only sailed two races), followed closely by seniors Shannon Walker ('11) and Drew Morton ('11).  Alumni regatta fleet racing. From left: Emelia Pelliccio ('13), Jake Muhleman (MIT '08), Neha Bazaj ('10), Oscar Jasklowski ('11), Kevin Richards ('00), Alex Adams ('09). Following a lunch break for some delicious Sanchez carne asada, the fleet was broken into teams based on the morning's results and the afternoon saw a full round robin of very competitive team racing. Everything came down to the final race, where Team D emerged victorious. Congrats to Oscar Jasklowski ('11) and Tatsuma Woo-Kawaguchi ('11), Sam Wheeler ('08) and Joana Que ('09), and Nils Resvik ('11) and Alex Adams ('09) on the win! FOUST would like to thank everyone who came out and made this regatta another big success! While the turnout drew largely from recent alumni, Kevin Richards ('00) represented a slightly earlier generation and Ben Schwegler and Allen Morton held it down for the parents. Craig Brown ('65) also made an appearance (and a generous donation) at the incredible barbecue and after-party hosted by the Schweglers in Long Beach.  The fleet reconvened at the Schweglers' house in Long Beach for a post-regatta dinner. This regatta was the debut of six sets of practice sails newly acquired from the Stanford team. Thank you to James and Mari Parker, Hal Ryan, Kevin Richards, Boris Gutman ('06), and Sarah Lewis ('07) for donating these sails to the team! FOUST officers Sam Wheeler and Lyzz Schwegler ('07), along with Steph Adams ('07), ferried the sails down from Stanford the day before the regatta.  Scott Barber ('11) and Morgan Glier ('11) show off one of the new sets of sails (left), a slight difference from the older set Allen Morton and Louise Lehman ('14) are using on the right. sailor profiles: class of 2011... By Drew Morton ('11), FOUST Team Liaison Mark Anders: By the time he reached UCLA, Mark already had experience in a variety of boats including El Toros, 420s, FJs, and 29ers. A great source of spunk and costumes, this varsity-grade skipper served for two years as one of the team's captains. He plans to carry on his passion for sailing as he pursues his Mechanical Engineering PhD at UCLA in hopes of working for some of California's best boat-designers. Scott Ford Barber: Scott transferred to UCLA two years ago, and in that time, his big boat experience has transferred to FJs. In addition to traveling to France for the Edhec Boat Cup this past spring, Scott also skippered to win the FJ division at one of Marina Del Rey's Friday Night Races. In addition to his efforts on the water, Scott utilized his playful manipulation to ensure our team dominated social gatherings as well. He will be missed, but adventure has called him to France for the summer. Carmen Bozina: A proud San Francisco native, Carmen came to UCLA with plenty of racing experience and immediately began competing as a Women's Varsity skipper. Between serving two years as a team captain and excelling in her ethnomusicology major with a thesis on Cuban music, Carm was quite busy. Yet she still found a way to be the center of every dance party.  UCLA Sailing Team Class of 2011 Top: Mark, Scott, Carmen, Morgan, Oscar, Drew Bottom: Nils, Anna, Shannon, Linda, Tats Morgan Glier: This Chicago-native has been the team's photographer since joining her Freshman year. She can roll with a joke like none other. "Mo" was the Daily Bruin's lead Photo Editor and just returned from a scholarship-funded reporting trip to Vietnam where she followed the service efforts of a UCLA student group. Oscar Jasklowski: As soon as you meet Oscar, you can tell something's a bit bent about him, in all the best of ways. The young-boy-in-a-giant's-body exudes a contagious positive excitement that has powered the team through both the good and the bad. A great catch for the team, Oscar is not only extremely likable but also a natural sailor. He quickly picked up sailing as a sport his freshman year, only to fight his way into a Varsity Skipper spot his senior year and help lead UCLA to its first Semi-Nationals since the 70's. Nils Resvik: This past year, the team has been honored by the presence of one of Sweden's most outgoing goofballs, Nils Resvik. A lover of conversation and adventure, Nils managed to join what seemed like the majority of UCLA's student groups while passing difficult engineering classes. Between his beaming smile and the stories of his ice-boat, Nils was always a pleasure to have around. While he is currently working as a skipper for "Yacht Week" in Croatia, I hope his career ultimately follows a dream he once mentioned: to bring Chipotle to Sweden. Anna Schönbrunner: After racing in high school, Anna brought a wealth of crewing experience to team when she joined at the end of her freshman year. She spent her entire junior year at St. Andrews University in Scotland, where she had get used to rain and wearing a dry-suit as she practiced team racing with the school's best sailors (including UCLA's own Danielle Ryan ('09), there for grad school). She was missed. Not only is Anna arguably the team's best cook, but she is also one of the group's nicest and most supportive members. She is currently applying to medical schools, and given her brains and compassion, will make a wonderful future doctor.  Seniors at the Alumni Regatta: Shannon and Anna in the foreground with Scott and Morgan hiking hard behind them. Shannon Walker: Shannon is an algae-growing, rainforest-loving, world-traveler that joined the team as a Freshman. Though her work over the last couple of years drew her away from practice, she remained a key member of the circle of sailing friends and would occasionally come out to the MAC to remind us she can still dominate the FJ. We wish her the best of luck, but the truth is she probably won't need it. This lucky goose has found a job next year that lets her hang out on the Catalina Islands. Linda Wennerström: We were lucky enough to accept two traveling Swedes onto the team. Linda's lively personality was an instant team asset, and she had no problem making friends. With Linda present, most social gatherings seemed to somehow end with the tossing of cherry tomatoes from the kitchen towards awaiting mouths. Tatsuma Woo-Kawaguchi: Known by those-in-the-know as "Tats," this team member loves bacon, coffee, good music, football (aka soccer), and mustaches. I would venture to say that he contributed logic to at least 60% of the team's on-shore philosophical debates. Tatsuma was a defining member of the team for two years before graduation caught up to him. We'd like to thank Drew, our newest FOUST officer, for putting this section together while he's also working on med school applications. For a profile of Drew (also a member of the class of 2011), written by teammate Oscar Jasklowski, see our last newsletter. featured alum: kevin richards ('00)... By Emily Klopstein ('00), FOUST Secretary Kevin Richards grew up in South Coastal LA (Cabrillo Beach and Alamitos Bay) sailing Naples Sabots. He distinguished himself at age 12, winning the Sabot II World Championships ("it's a small 'world' in So Cal"). From the early days Kevin recalls "going out 'racing' with my Dad and his friends...really I played down below with my Star Wars action figures burrowing Hoth Caves in the doused spinnaker. I'll never forget one spinnaker set when Luke Skywalker went flying towards certain death, and my dad's buddy was able to catch him mid-hoist barely breaking stride... it was right about then that I remember admiring sailors and wanting to be one." Kevin sailed Laser IIs in high school and went to more than a few Youth Champs in those and 420s.  Kevin (left) with his brother and nephew at the 2011 Alumni Regatta. Photo credit: Morgan Glier ('11). Starting at UCLA in the fall of 1995, Kevin studied Civil Engineering. His commitment to the sailing team was boundless, and necessitated ye olde 5-year-plan to complete the degree. Kevin was Team Captain in '98 and '99 - Tons of good times were had during Kevin's tenure. Many of us will (or will try to) recall many a North/South (pranking Stanford & Julio keeping us all awake); Coach Scott; Post-college Kevin trained for and contemplated an Olympic 49er Campaign - but ended up focusing on grad school instead. As a Master of Engineering at MIT, Kevin specialized in numerical modeling of water systems. Now he lives in the San Francisco Bay Area and uses that knowledge doing water supply forecasting for the East Bay. Kevin continues to race wind-powered machines - 18-foot skiffs, three US Team Racing Championships (one teamed up with Coach Colin!), some ocean racing, and most recently the world-class San Francisco kiteboard course racing scene (Team Amerika, F Yeah!). Kevin's advice to the team: "Make it your own (and watch out for that Trojan coach)." The FOUST family wishes to welcome our newest member, Alison Aila Saarela. Born to Ossi ('98) and Susan Saarela on May 7, 2011 (6lb 10oz, 19.5 in).  Alison Aila Saarela |
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