MIT takes lead at College Coed Finals

Norfolk, VA (May 31, 2018) – The first day of Finals racing in the Gill College Sailing Coed National Championship began today hosted by Old Dominion University on the Elizabeth River. The top eighteen college teams in the nation advanced from the previous two days of Semifinals racing to make it to this event and compete for the Henry A. Morss Memorial Trophy.

The day began with light winds about ranging from 5 to 10 knots from the southwest. The sheers of pressure and long shifts across the racecourse tested the sailors. The winds were light most of the day in hot and humid air.

In the later afternoon the wind increased to about 9-15 knots and the long shifty and streaky conditions continued. By the time racing was wrapping up there were storms around the area. Racing finished up around 6:30 p.m.

Three protests and one scoring inquiry was filed after racing that resulted in College of Charleston and Yale University both getting disqualified from races and the third protest was disallowed. The scoring inquiry was disallowed, closed, re-heard and finally re-scored.

The sailors competed on windward-leeward courses in FJs and Z420s. The race committee was able to run 12 races in both divisions today there are six races remaining in each division for the regatta.

Sitting in first place is Massachusetts Institute of Technology, forty-three points ahead of College of Charleston. MIT sailed fast today holding onto their lead for most of the day. Charleston and Hobart and William Smith Colleges worked to close the gap on them, which they did slightly by the end of the day.

“It’s all a product of consistent effort day in and day out,” says Matt Lindblad, head coach of MIT about the sailors’ success today. “Just being patient, trusting our abilities and sending it. We had huge support and team effort from multiple crews and skippers today.”

Sailing for MIT is: Ty Ingram ’18, Sameena Shaffeeullah ’19 and Greta Farrell ’18 in A-division and Trevor Long ’19, Julia Cho ’20, Greta Farrell ’18 and Marcus Abate ’20 in B-division.

College of Charleston, the defending champions of this event are in second place nine points ahead of third place.

Sailing for Charleston is: Stefano Peschiera ’18 with Grace McCarthy ’18 in A-division and Augie Dale ’19 with Katherine Lounsbury ’20 in B-division.

Hobart and William Smith Colleges are sitting in third place, just one point ahead of Georgetown University.

Sailing for Hobart and William Smith Colleges is: Greiner Hobbs ’18 with Lindsey Kloc ’19 in A-division and Hector Guzman ’20 with Maya Weber ’20 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 (12 races):
1. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 121
2. College of Charleston, 164
3. Hobart and William Smith Colleges, 173
4. Georgetown University, 174
5. Roger Williams University, 207
6. Stanford University, 209
7. Yale University, 216
8. George Washington University, 218
9. U.S. Naval Academy, 229
10. Dartmouth College, 236
11. Old Dominion University, 242
12. St. Mary’s College of Maryland, 243
13. University of Rhode Island, 246
14. Boston College, 261
15. U.S. Coast Guard Academy, 269
16. University of South Florida, 293
17. University of California Santa Barbara, 297
18. Eckerd College, 310

Event details – Results – Facebook

Follow the events live via the regatta app from US Sailing.

Background: The ICSA is the governing authority for sailing competition at colleges and universities throughout the United States and in some parts of Canada. There are seven Conferences that schedule and administer regattas within their established geographic regions, with ICSA hosting two national championships in the fall (singlehanded, match racing) and three national championships in the spring (team, women’s, coed). collegesailing.org

2018 Spring Nationals – Norfolk, VA
5/22-25 – Women’s National Championship
5/26-28 – Team Race National Championship
5/29-6/1 – Coed National Championship

Source: Jennifer Mitchell |Toile à Voile for ICSA