FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 4, 2014
Contact: Jen Vandemoer Mitchell | Toile à Voile for ICSA | media@collegesailing.org | 763-234-8286 m.
Photo credit: Brian Schneider/www.ebrianschneider.com
GILL COED NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP: SEMI-FINALS DAY TWO
St. Mary’s City, Md. (June 4, 2014) – Today was the second and final day of the Semi-Finals for the Gill Coed National Championship, hosted by St. Mary’s College of Maryland. The top 36 college sailing teams in the nation competed on the St. Mary’s River in St. Mary’s City, Md. for 18 spots in the championship finals, which begin tomorrow, Thursday, June 5th. The 36 teams are divided into two fleets of 18 teams, Western and Eastern Semi-Final groups, the top nine from each fleet will make up the 18 teams who compete in the finals.
Today the Eastern fleet sailed in 420s and the Western fleet sailed in FJs. This morning, the A-divisions sailed on windward leeward four leg courses and the B-divisions sailed on inner and outer trapezoid courses. This afternoon all of the 420s sailed on the outer trapezoid course and all of the FJs sailed on the inner trapezoid course.
Racing began at 9:30 this morning. The temperature was in the high 70s and the winds were puffy and shifty from the northwest at about 5-10 knots. The winds slowly died around 12:30 p.m. and after completing two races in each division in each fleet, the sailors waited on shore for the wind to fill in.
By around 3 p.m. the sailors were back on the course to start racing. A southerly breeze around 5-7 knots filled in and remained pretty steady until around 4:15 p.m., when it lightened up again and became patchy on the race course. The sailors started to rotate boats on the water rather than from the dock to try and squeeze in as many races as possible.
The deadline for racing today was 5 p.m., so the race officials got in as much racing as the conditions would allow. The Eastern Semi-Final completed four races today in A-division and B-division for a total of six races for the event. The Western Semi-Final completed three races today in A-division and B-division for a total of five races for the event.
Yale University continued to dominate in the racing today and won the Western fleet. They did not place out of the top four in either division during the semi-finals. The light and patchy conditions were something that the sailors were prepared for.
“We like this stuff,” says Bill Healy, assistant coach for Yale. “We have a great spot to practice in any conditions [at Yale]. We tucked in close to shore to prepare,” Healy says.
Tomorrow the finals event begins and Healy says Yale’s head coach, Zach Leonard, “Has done a great job getting everyone psyched up for this long event. We are ready to go.”
Sailing for Yale is: Graham Landy ’15 with Katherine Gaumond ’15 in A-division and Ian Barrows ’17 with Meredith Megarry ’17 and Marlena Fauer ’14 in B-division.
Notable today was Old Dominion University who moved up from sixth place yesterday to second place today. Sailing for Old Dominion is: Esteban Forrer ’16 with Julia Wiesner ’14 in A-division and Andrea Luna ’15 with Chloe Constants ’14 in B-division.
Connecticut College overtook Georgetown University today and won the Eastern fleet. They moved up from second place yesterday, one point behind Georgetown, to one point ahead of them today. Sailing for Connecticut College is: Kevin Martland ’14 with Lea Bushnell ’15 in A-division and IG Schottlaender ’14 with Kim Bolick ’15 in B-division.
“It was hard to be consistent today,” says Mike Callahan, head coach for Georgetown. “Even the best sailors had trouble,” he says. Despite dropping to second place by just one point today, Callahan says their focus is on the next two days of racing.
“We are disappointed we did not win this regatta, but we will take lessons from it and focus on the finals – we will be racing in the hardest fleet of the year tomorrow with the top 18 teams in the nation,” says Callahan.
Sailing for Georgetown is: Nevin Snow ’16 with Katia DaSilva ’15 in A-division and Alex Post ’15 with Bettina Redway ’16 in B-division.
The US Sailing Grit Award is awarded to the teams who qualified for the finals in ninth place in each semi-final fleet; the recipients today were the University of Wisconsin at Madison and Boston College.
The scoreboard is wiped clean for the Gill Coed National Championship Finals tomorrow. The first warning for racing is at 9:30 a.m. The top 18 teams will be competing for the national title and the Henry A. Morss Memorial Trophy over the next two days.
To view or purchase photos from this event or the previous championships visit this gallery on photographer Brian Schneider’s website: http://www.ebrianschneider.com/gallery-collection/2014-ICSA-National-Championships/C0000zZpBRnclJuY
For full results and additional regatta information visit the event website: http://2014nationals.collegesailing.org/.
Final Nine Teams Eastern Semi-Final:
1. Connecticut College, 48
2. Georgetown University, 49
3. College of Charleston, 64
4. Stanford University, 73*
5. U.S. Naval Academy, 73*
6. Dartmouth College, 74
7. Tufts University, 78
8. U.S. Coast Guard Academy, 80
9. University of Wisconsin, 105
*Number of high place (1) finishes
Final Nine Teams Western Semi-Final:
1. Yale University, 19
2. Old Dominion University, 54*
3. Bowdoin College, 54*
4. St. Mary’s College of Maryland, 55
5. University of Hawaii, 60
6. University of South Florida, 63
7. Harvard University, 68**
8. Brown University, 68**
9. Boston College, 75
*Number of high place (1) finishes
**Head-to-head tiebreaker
To follow live media coverage of the Gill Coed Dinghy National Championship, click on the Live Media link at http://2014nationals.collegesailing.org/. Social media updates are provided daily by collegesailing.org.
UPDATE: Gary Jobson and Chris Love will be filming portions of the Championships for an ESPNU segment, which will air on Friday, July 11 at 7 p.m. ET, Saturday, July 12 at 4 a.m. and 9 a.m. ET and Sunday, July 13 at 8 a.m. ET. This will be the tenth time the ICSA/Gill Coed Dinghy National Championships have been covered on ESPNU.
The Inter-Collegiate Sailing Association (ICSA) is the governing authority for sailing competition at colleges and universities throughout the United States and in some parts of Canada. Visit www.collegesailing.org to learn more.
The ICSA sponsors and partners are: LaserPerformance (www.laserperformance.com), title sponsor of LaserPerformance Men’s and Women’s Singlehanded National Championships and Official Boat Supplier of the ICSA Spring National Championships. Sperry Top-Sider (www.sperrytopsider.com), title sponsor of the Sperry Top-Sider / ICSA Women’s National Championship; Gill North America (www.gillna.com), title sponsor of the Gill / ICSA National Championship; Quantum Sail Design Group (www.quantumsails.com/), official sponsor of the “Quantum Women’s College Sailor of the Year”; Annapolis Performance Sailing (www.apsltd.com), title Sponsor of the APS / ICSA Team Race National Championship; 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 (home.ussailing.org), supporting sponsor of the ICSA National Championships.