Top Eight Advance at College Team Race Nationals

San Diego, CA (May 29, 2016) – Racing continued today in the LaserPerformance Team Race National Championship on North San Diego Bay. The winds were out of the west at around 5-8 knots for most of the day and temperatures stayed in the mid to high 60s. Due to holiday boat traffic, the conditions also included choppy and lumpy water.

The first round, with all 16 teams, was completed today. There were 36 races left in the round and places 9-16 were determined as well as the top eight teams, who advanced to the next round of racing. Sailors are competing in FJs on a digital N course. The scores from each round of racing carry over to the next.

A sail off between Dartmouth College and Brown University, Brown and Old Dominion University, and Dartmouth and Old Dominion took place at the end of the first round to break ties and determine who would advance to the top 8. Each team won a race and lost a race, but once the total wins, losses and points were calculated, Brown and Dartmouth advanced to the round of 8 teams and Old Dominion just missed out.

First Round Robin Results (wins and losses)
1. Yale University, 14-1
2. Boston College, 13-2
3. St. Mary’s College of Maryland, 13-2
4. Georgetown University, 11-4
5. College of Charleston, 11-4
6. Stanford University, 10-5
7. Dartmouth College, 8-7
8. Brown University, 8-7
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9. Old Dominion University, 8-7
10. U.S. Naval Academy, 7-8
11. University of California at Santa Barbara, 6-9
12. Eckerd College, 5-10
13. Texas A&M University at Galveston, 2-13
14. University of Michigan, 2-13
15. University of Wisconsin, 2-13
16. University of Washington, 0-15

Top 8 racing got underway around 4 p.m. and wrapped up around 5 p.m. Nine races were completed in the second round today with 19 more to go. The winds in the afternoon were so light with the choppy water that the race committee called the racing earlier than they had anticipated for the day.

Yale University, the defending champion of the event, continues to hold onto their lead from yesterday with only one loss that they suffered in the preliminary round to St. Mary’s College of Maryland.

“It is unbelievably tight competition for the final four,” says Bill Healy, assistant coach for Yale. “We struggled in every race today, especially in the first half of our races – our downwinds were good.”

“Our most notable difficult race today was with Georgetown,” Healy continued, but Yale did come back to win it in the end. “Tomorrow we hope the conditions are similar, although they are tough, they are what our crews are feeling most comfortable in.”

Yale’s team is made up of the same sailors that won the event last year, except for freshman skipper, Nicholas Baird.

Sailing for Yale is Sailing for Yale is: Ian Barrows ’17, Meredith Megarry ’17, Malcolm Lamphere ’18, Chandler Gregoire ’17, Nicholas Baird ’19 and Charlotte Belling ’16.

Holding onto second place from yesterday is Boston College who went into the top 8 round with only two losses and then sustained two losses in the round of 8, however, they are one of only two teams that sailed three races in the top 8 today.

“All of the races are really challenging,” says Greg Wilkinson head coach for Boston College. “We made some mistakes on the starting line today, but our team is quite quick. We are aiming to start better tomorrow, because we can’t give anyone a head start.”

Sailing for Boston College is Sailing for Boston College is Raul Rios ’16, Allison Ferraris ’17, Harry Koeppel ’17, Hannah Lynn ’17, Charles Sinks ’18 and Katherine Downey ’16.

In third place, losing a tiebreaker with Boston College is St. Mary’s College of Maryland. St. Mary’s also managed to hold onto third place, where they finished up after yesterday’s racing.

“We had a long break after the preliminary round waiting for the sail offs and we went back into the top 8 and lost the first two races,” says Bill Ward, director of sailing for St. Mary’s. “So it was good to win our third race against Boston College. Tomorrow we will go out fresh, able to start and be even with everyone, and convert the races to wins.”

Sailing for St. Mary’s is Alexander Curtiss ’16, Shelby Jacobs ’17, Edmund Cooper ’17, Mariah Leffingwell ’16, Markus Edegran ’16 and Kaitlyn Noreen ’16.

Racing is scheduled to continue tomorrow at 10:30 a.m. Once the top 8 round is completed racing will begin in the final four round. No race can start after 5 p.m. An awards ceremony for the competitors will be held after racing at the San Diego Port Pier.

Top Eight Results (wins and losses)
1. Yale University, 16-1
2. Boston College, 14-4
3. St. Mary’s College of Maryland, 14-4
4. Georgetown University, 13-4
5. College of Charleston, 12-5
6. Stanford University, 11-6
7. Dartmouth College, 9-8
8. Brown University, 8-9

Event details – Scoreboard – Photos – Livestream – Facebook

Background: The Intercollegiate Sailing Association’s three spring national championships – Sperry Women’s National Semi-Final and Final Championship, LaserPerformance Team Race National Championship, and the Gill Coed Dinghy National Semi-Final and Final Championship – will be held May 24-June 3, with schools racing Club and Collegiate FJs on San Diego Bay in San Diego, CA. The three events will be co-hosted by San Diego Yacht Club and the Pacific Coast Collegiate Sailing Conference.

Report by ISCA. Photo by Cynthia Sinclair Photography and Stacy Childers Photography & House of Style Studio.