College Nationals: Yale builds huge lead at Coed Championship

St. Mary’s City, MD (June 5, 2014) – The Gill Coed Dinghy National Championship continued today at St. Mary’s College of Maryland on the St. Mary’s River. The top eighteen collegiate teams in the nation advanced from the previous two days of competing in semi-finals to make it to the finals event today.

Racing got underway on time at 9:30 a.m. The conditions were some of the windiest this championship series has seen. The winds were 10-12 knots from the west-northwest causing whitecaps on the river. Temperatures were in the mid-70s. The winds were really shifty making for difficult racing. By the late afternoon the winds started to die and sailors were sent to shore to wait for breeze. After about an hour postponement, the race officials called the racing for the day.

A-division sailed in FJs and completed nine races and B-division sailed in 420s and completed 10 races. The fleets sailed on trapezoid course in the morning and windward leeward four leg courses in the afternoon.

The Gill Coed Dinghy National Championship concludes on Friday, June 6.

Yale University is leading after today’s racing with a 48-point gap between them and Tufts University, who is in second place. Yale was able to sail consistently today to stay on top of the leader board, especially in B-division, where they have a 27-point lead over the second place pairing, St. Mary’s College of Maryland.

“Zach [Leonard, Yale’s head coach] has been preaching to the team to stay consistent, sail for the pressure and stay in the lead group,” Bill Healy says, assistant coach for Yale. “Tomorrow we will aim to do the same,” he says. The prediction for tomorrow is a light northerly breeze.

Sailing for Yale is: Graham Landy ’15 with Eugenia Custo Greig ’14 and Katherine Gaumond ’15 in A-division and Ian Barrows ’17 with Amanda Salvesen ’14 and Marlena Fauer ’14 in B-division.

Tufts University finished the day in second place, six points ahead of third place. Tuft’s A-division sailors are also sailing consistently 16 points ahead of Yale’s A-division in second place.

“We are happy with how our A-division is sailing and in B-division we just had to work on starting,” says Ken Legler, head coach for Tufts. “We are trying to get off the [starting] line and use our speed,” he says.

“We are just focusing on our racing tomorrow and not looking at scores or other schools,” Legler says. Tomorrow will be the last day of racing.

Sailing for Tufts is: William Haeger ’14 with Paula Grasberger ’14 in A-division and Alejandro Ruiz-Ramon ’15 with Alexander Tong ’17 and Sam Madden ’15 in B-division.

Georgetown University is in third place after racing today with teams in hot pursuit behind them. Stanford University is just 11 points behind Georgetown followed closely by St. Mary’s and Boston College.

Sailing for Georgetown is: Nevin Snow ’16 with Katia DaSilva ’15 in A-division and Alex Post ’15 with Katie Olsen ’15 and Bettina Redway ’16 in B-division.

Friday is the final day of the event, with racing set to begin at 9:15 a.m., 15 minutes earlier than today to try and get a little extra time to race in the predicted light winds. No race can begin after 5 p.m.

An awards ceremony is scheduled to take place after racing at St. Mary’s College. Awards for podium finishers in this event will be presented, as well as the Marlow Ropes College Sailor of the Year, the Leonard M. Fowle Trophy for the best overall performing team and the Robert H. Hobbs Sportsmanship Award.

Top Nine Teams, Finals Day 1
1. Yale University, 87
2. Tufts University, 135
3. Georgetown University, 141
4. Stanford University, 152
5. St. Mary’s College of Maryland, 154
6. Boston College, 156
7. Old Dominion University, 160
8. Dartmouth College, 170
9. U.S. Coast Guard Academy, 174
Full results

Coed Championship website: 2014nationals.collegesailing.org/gill-coed-championship

Report by event media. Photo by Brian Schneider.

Background: The fall and spring seasons of college racing focuses on six National Championships. In the Fall season were the Match Race Nationals and Men’s and Women’s Singlehanded Nationals. The Spring season closes out with the ICSA/Sperry Women’s Nationals (May 27-30), College Sailing/APS Team Race Championship (May 31-June 2), and the College Sailing/Gill Coed Championship (June 3-6). Nationals website: http://2014nationals.collegesailing.org