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.
Competitors raced on windward leeward courses, A-division sailors were in FJs today and B-division in Z420s. Tomorrow the divisions switch boats. The race committee was able to run 10 races in each division today. Racing finished up around 6:30 p.m. There are eight races left in each division in the regatta.
The racing stayed close all day with the top ten teams very close in scores and the top five teams constantly moving up and down the standings. Competitors were faced with not only tough competition, but also shifty conditions. No one avoided a double-digit finish today.
Host school Brown University is sitting in first place, 22-points ahead of second place team the U.S. Naval Academy. Navy moved up to second from fifth place in the span of the last set of the day. Navy’s A and B division boats both won their last races of the day helping them move up the leader board. Finishing the day in third place is Georgetown University
“Today was about pressure,” says John Mollicone Barry Family director of sailing and head coach for Brown. “Lane management was an important skill today and because the winds were light there was not a lot of length on the course, so having clear air and a lane was important.”
“We did a good job overall and our starts were good as well,” says Mollicone, “when we did not have a good start, we managed to stay in the race and find passing lanes to get ahead of boats. We had some bad luck – if we missed a puff or two it was also easy to lose five or seven boats. We sailed smart in both divisions and we were really fast in B-division in the Z420s.”
Sailing for Brown is: Patrick Shanahan '19 with Julia Reynolds '21 in A-division and Ragna Agerup '20 with Madeleine McGrath '22 in B-division.
Where some of the teams in the top of the fleet had some back luck at the end of the day on the racecourse, Navy was able to take advantage and make some good decisions to move them up the leader board to second place.
Sailing for Navy is: Parker Loftus '20 with Olivia de Olazarra '22 and Emma Remis '20 in A-division and Joseph Hermus '22 with Ana Mier '19 in B-division.
Georgetown University is sitting in third place tied in points with College of Charleston, but beating them in a head-to-head tiebreaker.
“Racing today was way harder than the Semifinals,” says Mike Callahan, head coach for Georgetown. “We tried to stay consistent and be in the top five. We did well in the beginning of the day but made some errors towards the end of the day and it’s hard to catch up in this fleet.”
“We started well and put ourselves in a good position for the first beat, but towards the end of the day, what was working on one beat, wasn’t working on the next and it was difficult to make big gains in the conditions and the challenging competition,” says Callahan. “Overall we are okay with where we are and looking forward to more racing tomorrow.”
Sailing for Georgetown is: Sean Segerblom '20 with Rebecca Fung '19 in A-division and William Logue '20 with Caroline Teare '21 in B-division.
Racing is set to begin at 10 a.m. tomorrow and the conditions are predicted to be light winds again. No race can begin after 5 p.m. There will be a number of awards given after racing tomorrow including the podium finishes in this event, the Everett Morris Memorial Trophy for the Marlow Ropes College Sailor of the Year, the Leonard M. Fowle Trophy for the best overall performing team, the Robert H. Hobbs Sportsmanship Award sponsored by US Sailing and the All-Americans will be announced.
Results Coed Finals, Day 1 (10 races):
1. Brown University, 116
2. U.S. Naval Academy, 138
3. Georgetown University, 143*
4. College of Charleston, 143*
5. St. Mary’s College of Maryland, 150
6. Yale University, 154
7. Hobart and William Smith Colleges, 157
8. Dartmouth College, 176
9. U.S. Coast Guard Academy, 184
10. Stanford University, 200*
11. Boston University, 200*
12. Tufts University, 219
13. Old Dominion University, 224
14. Bowdoin College, 225
15. Jacksonville University, 230
16. Boston College, 239
17. Connecticut College, 246
18. University of California at Santa Barbara, 277
*Head-to-head tiebreaker
To learn more about the teams competing in all of the events and to follow the racing and results visit the event website: https://2019nationals.collegesailing.org/
Dan Egan, of Degan Media, will provide some live coverage during the events, presenting sponsor is US Sailing and supporting sponsor of the live coverage is LaserPerformance, streaming from the event website.
Coed: May 31, full day coverage and awards; June 3, release of Coed recap.
Follow the events via the regatta app from US Sailing, learn how to sign up here: ICSA Nationals App
Additional social media updates will be available throughout the events on the regatta website.
Rob Migliaccio will be providing photos for these events.
Contact: Jennifer Mitchell |Toile à Voile for ICSA | media@collegesailing.org | 970-216-7072 m.
The ICSA sponsors and partners through the 2018-19 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), “The Robert H. Hobbs Sportsman of the Year Sponsored by US Sailing” and “The 2019 College Sailing Live Coverage Presented by US Sailing”. Professional Boats (www.professionalboats.com/), official sponsor of the 2019 ICSA Spring National Championships.