NWICSA News

The ringing of eight bells signifies the end of one's watch at sea and traditionally marks the passing of a sailor.  

Dan H. Winters fulfilled many roles in his life.  He was a husband, a father, a coach, a friend, a sailmaker, an animal lover, and when he was passionate about something, a well respected adversary. Of all the titles and roles that Dan held during his eighty years on this earth we will remember him because of the great knowledge he bestowed upon us and his selfless dedication to the causes he upheld.  A man of moral and principle he taught thousands of people life lessons while becoming better sailors in the process.  

MARBLEHEAD, MASS. (October 24, 2019) – The Intercollegiate Sailing Association (ICSA) Match Race National Championship for the Cornelius Shields, Sr. Trophy, is set to begin on Friday, November 1st and will last through Sunday, November 3rd at Corinthian Yacht Club in Marblehead, Mass. The event is hosted by Corinthian Yacht Club with support from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Racing will take place in Sonars in and around Marblehead Harbor.

The top ten teams from across the nation have qualified from their conference to compete in this championship. The Sonars will have four crew members, one of which must be female. The ten schools competing are: University of Washington, Stanford University, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Tulane University, Eckerd College, Jacksonville University, Georgetown University, Fordham University, Tufts University and Bowdoin College.

Boston University showed poise in trying conditions at Connecticut College

Boston University won the Coed Showcase Championship Finals hosted by Connecticut College in mostly light and uncertain conditions. Competitors waited on shore for much of the first day of competition before hitting the water for 11 total races between the two divisions on Saturday. The breeze on Saturday started from the SSW and sailors were hiking . However, as the sun set the breeze clocked right to the SW as the day got late. The heavy current and shifty breeze on the Thames made for tough work for the race committee. The final races of the day Saturday were sailed on extremely skewed courses due to the extreme ebb.

The Women of Brown University stay atop women’s sailing in winning the Jen Harris Women's Showcase Finals

Brown University won the Jen Harris Women’s Showcase Finals held at the US Naval Academy in what was a truncated, 20 race event due to lack of wind. The Brown Bears showed their depth throughout the event as they were the only team to place in the top-4 in both the A and B Divisions. 

Brown is the reigning Women’s National Champion, winning last year’s main event in big breeze at home in Newport, RI. However, after this victory, at what is the equivalent of the Atlantic Coast Championship in medium to light conditions, Brown proved they are still the team to beat in all conditions.

The Coed sailors qualify for the Coed Showcase Finals- The Fiske Harriman Sleigh at Connecticut College; Stanford and Harvard look strong before the Women’s Showcase Finals.

The United States Naval Academy won their side of the Coed Showcase Qualifiers, at home. The regatta was a full 36 race event and the drama extended throughout the event as Georgetown, the regatta leader from race 1B to race 17A were overtaken by Navy during the final set of the regatta. 

Navy’s success came as a team effort as sophomore phenoms, Joseph Hermus and Sally Johnson won A-Division narrowly over Sean Segerblom ‘20 and Annabelle Ayer ‘22 of Georgetown. Meanwhile, Parker Loftus ‘20 and Kimmie Leonard ‘22 of Navy finished the regatta with a 1,2,1,1,1 to spark Navy’s run to pass the Hoyas. Navy has now won the last four doublehanded, fleet race regattas sailed at home. 

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.