The UCSB sailing team went on the road yet again to participate in its third regatta of the season last weekend.

Santa Barbara went up to Treasure Island in San Francisco to race in the Women’s Fall Championship regatta and finished in third place.

The young Gauchos were able to stay strong in the face of some tough teams, including USC, Santa Cruz, Irvine, Stanford, Berkeley, Hawaii and San Diego.

All the teams were able to enjoy smooth waters for most of the regatta. The wind was light early Saturday but became strong and consistent later in the day. On Sunday, the wind was a little too light and the teams were only able to get in a few races.

Unfortunately, the Gauchos were unable to place high enough to improve their ranking for future regattas.

“We were really close to being able to meet up where UCI is at second place,” freshman Anna Brun said. “But we weren’t quite able to pull it off, so we are still lucky that we got up there.”

This regatta was the first women’s double-handed regatta that Santa Barbara has participated in this season. A double-handed regatta is one in which a boat is crewed by two people rather than one.

It was crucial that UCSB did well in this regatta because the placing in women’s regattas corresponds directly to the ranking system that determines how well a team does in districts, which in turn determines whether or not a team will be ranked well in nationals.

While women’s regattas are usually the most important, Santa Barbara doesn’t limit itself to only competing in women’s sailing events. It also competes in co-ed regattas as a way to get as much experience and training in the water as possible.

The Gauchos still have a fairly young crew, and while they have had recent success, they are still learning about their teammates and adjusting their crews.

“We have three main women’s skippers right now and we are just trying to find the best one and go from there,” Brun said.

The Division A boat skipper for this regatta was junior Kate Conway, and she was crewed by Brun, while the Division B boat was captained by junior co-captain Casey Pelletier and crewed by Andrew Allison and Brett Bradshaw.