While many people will be warm, cozy and contemplating Thanksgiving dinner, four members of the MSU Sailing Club will be braving the cold Chicago weather as they race against 15 other schools in the 56th annual Timme Angsten Memorial Regatta this weekend.

"This is our biggest competition for the fall," said Mary Vorel, a pre-veterinary sophomore and team racing captain.

She said she hoped MSU placed in the top three in the Midwest. MSU last won the regatta 10 years ago.

Competing teams include the best eight in the Midwest and eight from around the country.

Haley Pingree, spokesperson for the Chicago Yacht Club, which is sponsoring the regatta, said it is an accomplishment for MSU to qualify for the event.

"MSU qualified for this, which is huge because it's not an easy thing," Pingree said. "You have to sail consistently well all season."

Other Big Ten schools to qualify include Northwestern University, The Ohio State University and the University of Michigan. U-M is last year's regatta winner.

Vorel, advertising junior Jaime Ziegler, chemistry freshman and no preference freshman Joe Rotonda make up the two teams the club is sending to the race.

Each school will send two teams to Chicago for the regatta, which begins Friday morning and ends with an awards ceremony Sunday afternoon.

While MSU qualified for the regatta last year, they placed second to last.

But Vorel said this year's team is more qualified than last year's.

Schoenherr said this is the latest into the season he has ever sailed, and the team will have to wear dry suits to keep warm on the water.

The weather forecast for Chicago is temperatures in the low to mid 40s this weekend.

"It's going to be freezing out," Vorel said, adding the possibility of lines freezing is just one more thing to worry about during the race.

Schoenherr said the club is always recruiting and that anyone can join - with or without experience.

"It's been a lot of fun," he said. "I've been to pretty much a regatta every weekend