Slow Start to College Match Racing Nationals

San Diego, CA (November 18, 2016) – The 2016 College Sailing Match Racing Nationals kicked off today on San Diego Bay hosted by the San Diego Yacht Club (SDYC). Ten collegiate teams are racing in SDYC’s J/22s and are vying for the Cornelius Shields Sr. Trophy. Teams compete in a round robin format, and depending on breeze there will be a semi-final and final rotation to determine the winner.

Racing got underway shortly after 11:00am after the AP flag was lifted. The wind remained light all day – under 6 knots for most of the afternoon and under 4 knots towards the end of the day. Race Committee was able to fit in 4 flights before wrapping up around 4:00pm. Though the wind was light, the sun was shining and temperatures were in the low-70s.

Since today’s winds were lighter than expected, competitors focused on boat speed and finding breeze on the course to help with acceleration.

A number of experienced match racers are competing in this championship, including Christophe Killian ’18 (College of Charleston) who is the number one ranked match racer in the country and has won the U.S. Youth Match Racing World Championship twice.

Greg Fisher, the College of Charleston Coach, explained that one of CofC’s challenges today was overcoming an undesirable first race. “We had a rough first race for a number of reasons, but we were able to remind ourselves to stay in the game which is important at this level of competition and in this breeze. We never want to give up because there’s always an opportunity to come back. Christophe is on his game all the time and he knows what he’s looking for.”

Also sailing for CofC is John Thompson ’18, Laura Masterson ’20, and Howard Meyers ’17. CofC finished the day with 3 wins and 1 loss.

Boston College won three of their four races today. The team has prepared for this championship by practicing out of a community sailing center in Boston that has J/22s. Boston College Coach, Greg Wilkinson, plans to take this championship one day at a time and focus on putting their boats in the right wind.

Sailing for Boston College is Scotty Sinks ’18, Erika Reineke ’17, Peter Lynn ’19, and Harry Koeppel ’17.

The University of Wisconsin team is new to sailing in J/22s, but despite having two good pre-starts, they were not able to pull off a win yet. However, according to Coach Dave Elsmo, they are planning to work on accelerating tomorrow. “Our team is in a very positive state of mind. Since the team is so new to these boats, they are very receptive to talking about changes at the dock and making tomorrow a new day.”

Charles Bocklet ’17, James Sitter ’17, Benjamin Witman ’16, and Indigo Leslie ’17 are sailing this weekend on behalf of the University of Wisconsin.

Hobart & William Smith College and Georgetown University remain undefeated after day one.

Results After Day 1
Hobart & William Smith College 4-0
Georgetown University 4-0
College of Charleston 3-1
Boston College 3-1
Dartmouth College 2-2
University of South Florida 2-2
University of Southern California 2-2
University of Wisconsin 0-4
Texas A&M University Galveston 0-4
University of Washington 0-4

Event details – Scoreboard – Facebook

List of Teams:

SAISA (South Atlantic)
• College of Charleston: Christophe Killian ’18, John Thompson ’18, Laura Masterson ’20, Howard Meyers ’17
• University of South Florida: Sean Cornell ’18, Brendan Feeney ’18, Scott Ewing ’18, Mandi Dickie ’18

NWICSA (Northwest)
• University of Washington: Kate Flanagan ’17, Rachel Cohen ’19, Athina Ebert ’17, Hayden Potter ’20

MAISA (Middle Atlantic)
• Hobart and William Smith Colleges: Greiner Hobbs ’18, Sam Hallowell ’16, Noah Barrengos ’18, Maya Weber ’20
• Georgetown University: AJ Reiter ’17, Meaghan MacRae ’18, Sean Segerblom ’20, Roger Dorr ’18

MCSA (Midwest)
• University of Wisconsin: Charles Bocklet ’17, James Sitter ’17, Benjamin Witman ’16, Indigo Leslie ’17

SEISA (Southeast)
• Texas A&M Galveston: John Hanna ’19, Haley Walker ’18, Ian Beck ’19, Jonathan Sager ’20

PCCSC (Pacific Coast)
• University of Southern California – Matthew Hecht ’16, Melissa Schem ’18, Paul Chyz ’18, Peter Wong ’18

NEISA (New England)
• Boston College – Scotty Sinks ’18, Erika Reineke ’17, Peter Lynn ’19, Harry Koeppel ’17
• Dartmouth University – Charles Lalumiere ’17, Nathaniel Greason ’17, Rebecca McElvain ’19, Madeline Cooney ’17

Source: SDYC, College Sailing