NWICSA News


Gill Coed National Championship, Semifinal Day 1


Today was the first day of the Gill Coed National Championship Semifinals, co-hosted by San Diego Yacht Club and the Pacific Coast Collegiate Sailing Conference. The top 36 collegiate sailing teams in the nation reported to the regatta venue at the Port of San Diego to compete for 18 spots in the championship finals, which will begin on Thursday, June 2.

The semifinals are divided into two fleets, an Eastern and Western, each with 18 teams. The top nine teams from each fleet will advance to the finals on Thursday. The sailors are racing on windward leeward courses with four legs in FJs.

Due to a wind delay this morning, racing got underway about an hour later than planned around 11:30 a.m. The race committee waited for enough wind to run good races. Temperatures were in the low to mid 60s and winds were from the west around 5-10 knots.

The race officials were able to complete six races in A and B-division in both of the semifinal fleets. Racing finished up around 6 p.m.

Old Dominion University is leading the Eastern fleet after today closely followed by St. Mary’s College of Maryland and University of South Florida in third. Hanging on to a qualifying spot, in ninth place after racing today is Tufts University.

“We sailed pretty solidly,” says Mitch Brindley, head coach for Old Dominion. “We were able to turn some tough races around and that’s what we were looking to be able to do.”

“We will keep plugging away and take what we learned today and apply it to racing tomorrow,” Brindley says.

Sailing for Old Dominion is Esteban Forrer '16 and Gabriel Smith '17 in A-division and Augie Dale '18 and Kaylie Gallagher '16 in B-division.

On top of the Western fleet is the U.S. Coast Guard Academy who has a 15-point lead over Georgetown University in second place. Coast Guard’s B-division is just coming off of winning the Sperry Women’s National Championship and they finished the day with only 11 points winning half of the races today. George Washington University is in third behind Georgetown and holding on to qualifying in ninth place is Brown University.

“We approach this regatta just like every other regatta,” says Brian Swingly, head coach for Coast Guard. “We were able to put our boats in favorable positions on the race coarse including avoiding congestion that occurred at the starting line today.”

“We will hope to carry this momentum into winning the regatta,” says Swingly.

Sailing for Coast Guard is Avery Fanning '16 and Robert Turley '16 in A-division and Nikole Barnes '17 and Anna Morin '19 in B-division.

There are still 12 races to sail in both A and B-division in each fleet. The first warning for racing is at 10:30 a.m. tomorrow. No race can start after 5 p.m.

 

Top Nine Teams Eastern Semi-Final, Day 1:

1. Old Dominion University, 51
2. St. Mary’s College of Maryland, 58
3. University of South Florida, 65
4. U.S. Naval Academy, 72*
5. Boston University, 72*
6. Yale University, 86 **
7. Stanford University, 86**
8. Boston College, 86 b
9. Tufts University, 116 c

* Number of high-place (2) finishes
** Number of high-place (3) finishes
b Head-to-head tiebreaker
c Number of high-place (1) finishes

 

Top Nine Teams Western Semi-Final, Day 1:

1. U.S. Coast Guard Academy, 49
2. Georgetown University, 64
3. George Washington University, 67
4. College of Charleston, 85
5. Hobart and William Smith Colleges, 88
6. Connecticut College, 91
7. Dartmouth College, 92*
8. University of Pennsylvania, 92*
9. Brown University, 92*

* Head-to-head tiebreaker

The alumni Afterguard regatta is suppose to take place on Saturday, June 4th; however, the regatta has been cancelled due to low registration for the event.

To see more results and learn more about the teams competing in all of the events visit the event website: http://2016nationals.collegesailing.org/.

Dan Egan, of Degan Media, is providing live coverage sponsored by LaserPerformance and Gill North America. It is streaming from the event website, http://2016nationals.collegesailing.org/. Additional live coverage and social media updates will be available throughout the events on the regatta website.

Contact: Jennifer Mitchell | Toile à Voile for ICSA | media@collegesailing.org | 763-234-8286 m.
 

About SDYC
“The San Diego Yacht Club encourages and fosters an environment that helps and continues to produce the best in the world of yachting-related activities. Founded in 1886, SDYC has become a world renown yachting community recognized for its success in bay sailing, ocean racing, cruising, angling, and its world class youth sailing program. SDYC is consistently ranked among the top 5 yacht clubs in the U.S. and is recognized by the Club Leadership Forum as one of the finest facilities of its kind in the world.”

 

The ICSA sponsors and partners through the 2015-2016 season are: LaserPerformance (www.laserperformance.com), title sponsor of “LaserPerformance Men’s and Women’s Singlehanded National Championship”, title sponsor of “LaserPerformance College Sailing Team Race National Championship” and Official Boat Supplier of the ICSA Spring National Championships. Sperry (www.sperry.com), title sponsor of the “Sperry College Sailing Women’s National Championship”. Gill North American (gillna.com), title sponsor of “The Gill College Sailing National Championship”. Quantum Sail Design Group (www.quantumsails.com), official sponsor of the “Quantum Women’s College Sailor of the Year”. Marlow Ropes (www.marlowropes.com), presenting sponsor of the “Marlow Ropes College Sailor of the Year Award” and “Official Rope of College Sailing”. US Sailing (www.ussailing.org), supporting sponsor of the “ICSA National Championship Semi-finals”.

Photo Credit: Cynthia Sinclair Photography and Stacy Childers Photography & House of Style Studio