NWICSA News

The in-conference half of the season has concluded as conferences square off at two major inter-conference regattas in New England along with the women showcase qualifiers.

Harvard University won the Danmark Trophy, hosted by the United States Coast Guard Academy. The Crimson finished 46 points ahead of second placed St. Mary’s, led by a dominant B-Division performance by Henry Burnes ‘21 and Lulianna Tarista ‘20. The tandem defeated Luke Arnone ‘23 and Meredith Ryan ‘22 of Yale by 36 points. Burnes and Tarista scored only one race outside the top-8 and only had 3 races outside the top-5; including five first place finishes, three in the last four races of the event. 

For the second day in a row, the sailors representing the ICSA defeated the visiting British sailors, this time 3-1, in the Laser 3v3 team race for the 2019 Performance Sailcraft Trophy.

The BUSA sailors showed up early to practice in Navy's rustic fleet of lasers and get used to ICSA's version of rule 42.  The format for the Laser team race was a first to three point series, with teams switching boats after the first two races. Team ICSA was represented by Ford McCann (Georgetown University), Connor Bayless (US Naval Academy) and Gavin McJones (US Naval Academy).  Since all three sailors from ICSA will be competing at the MAISA Men's Singlehanded Championship for the Van Duyne Trophy this weekend, spirits and confidence levels were high for this round of competition against the visiting competitors from BUSA.

The ICSA sailors defeated the visiting British sailors 2-1 in the 2019 Lord King Match Race.  The racing took place out of the US Naval Academy on Tuesday September 17 in two of the Academy's Navy 44s.  

As a courtesy to the visiting sailors, BUSA was given the option to choose either: Starboard entry for race one (and race three if necessary), or pick which of the Navy 44s to race in.  Seeing as the fleet of 44s are all equal, the savvy Brits chose starboard entry.  

The Intercollegiate Sailing Association (ICSA) honored three individuals for their contributions to the sport of college sailing by inducting them into the ICSA Hall of Fame over the course of the 2019 ICSA Spring National Championships hosted at Sail Newport Sailing Center at Fort Adams by Brown University with support from the New England Intercollegiate Sailing Association (NEISA), the University of Rhode Island, Harvard University and Dartmouth University.
 
Alyson Leigh Schwerdtfeger (Waltham, Mass.) was recognized with the James Rousmaniere Award for student leadership; Kenneth Legler (Reading, Mass.) was honored with the Campbell Family Award for Lifetime Service; Jesse Andrews (Honolulu, Hawaii) was awarded the Graham Hall Award for outstanding service by a college sailing professional.

At an awards ceremony following racing for the Gill College Sailing Coed National Championship at Sail Newport Sailing Center at Ft. Adams, the honors for the Marlow Ropes College Sailor of the Year, Robert H. Hobbs Sportsmanship Award sponsored by US Sailing and the Leonard M. Fowle Trophy for the Best Overall Team were presented. The names of the winners will be added to the ICSA Hall of Fame display located in the Robert Crown Center at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md.
 
The Everett B. Morris Trophy is awarded annually to the Marlow Ropes College Sailor of the Year for outstanding performance at the highest level of sailing in the collegiate year. The trophy is named in memory of a distinguished journalist who spent more than 30 years, as a yachting writer and editor.

This year there were three finalists for the prestigious award: Nicholas Baird (St. Petersburg, Fla.) Yale University ’19, Augie Dale (Pewaukee, Wis.) College of Charleston ’19 and Christopher Williford (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) Dartmouth College ’19.

Today was the last day of the Gill College Sailing Coed National Championship, the final of three high caliber spring college sailing national championships that were run out of host site Sail Newport Sailing Center at Fort Adams by host school Brown University with support from Dartmouth College and NEISA. It was very close racing in the harbor today in Newport, R.I. and it was not until the last beat of the last race that the College of Charleston came out on top winning the national title and the Henry A. Morss Memorial Trophy.

A wind delay this morning kept sailors onshore until enough filled in to have a 12:10 p.m. harbor start. Winds filled in from the southeast and stayed light to moderate in the afternoon. The last races of the day brought some stronger pressure and hiking conditions. There were big oscillating shifts across the racecourse challenging the sailors to stay in phase and sail fast.

The first day of Finals racing in the Gill College Sailing Coed National Championship began today hosted by Brown University with support from Dartmouth College and NEISA. The top eighteen college teams advanced from the previous two days of Semifinals racing to make it to this event and compete for the Henry A. Morss Memorial Trophy.

Winds were light this morning, so the sailors were delayed a little over an hour before the first race got underway. When the wind increased from the south the conditions for the day were light to moderate averaging about 6-8 knots with a few higher puffs – there were only a few moments of hiking conditions.

It was the final day of Semifinals racing in the Gill College Sailing Coed National Championships, hosted by Brown University with support from Dartmouth College and NEISA. The competition has been narrowed down to the top 18 teams, who will advance to racing in the finals tomorrow morning out of host site Sail Newport Sailing Center at Fort Adams.

Today was the lightest breeze day overall in the national championship series. The winds started strong in the morning up to about 12 knots from the north, but lightened up in the day. The winds were oscillating and right when it was getting to be too light at the end of the day, pressure built up again for the last races.
 
Hobart and William Smith Colleges held onto their lead from yesterday throughout the day today. Their A-division team placed in the top three in every race today and B-division stayed in the top ten, giving them a solid lead in front of second place team Yale University. Yale moved up from third place yesterday and Boston College finished the day in third place overall, moving up from fourth place yesterday.

Today was the first day of the Gill College Sailing Coed National Championship Semifinals hosted by Brown University with support from Dartmouth College and the New England Intercollegiate Sailing Association (NEISA). Host site Sail Newport Sailing Center in Fort Adams State Park is where the top 36 college sailing teams in the nation are vying for 18 spots in the championship finals, which will begin on Thursday, May 30.

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 in FJs and Z420s. Today the Eastern fleet sailed FJs and the Western fleet sailed Z420s. The fleets will switch boats tomorrow.

Racing was completed today in the LaserPerformance Team Race National Championship in Newport Harbor out of host site Sail Newport Sailing Center in Fort Adams State Park. This is the second of three, spring college sailing national championships hosted by Brown University with the New England Intercollegiate Sailing Association (NEISA) also supported by Harvard University. The top sixteen collegiate team racing teams in the nation competed for the national title and the Walter C. Wood Trophy and Yale University won the title.