Top 36 Teams Compete at College Coed Nationals

San Diego, CA (May 31, 2016) – The Gill Coed National Championship Semifinals got underway today, with the top 36 collegiate sailing teams in the nation competing on San Diego Bay for 18 spots in the championship finals, which begins on Thursday, June 2.

The semifinals are divided into two fleets, an Eastern and Western, each with 18 teams. The top nine teams from each fleet will advance to the finals on Thursday. The sailors are racing on windward leeward courses with four legs in FJs.

Due to a wind delay this morning, racing got underway about an hour later than planned around 11:30 am, with temperatures in the low to mid 60s and winds were from the west around 5-10 knots. Six races in A and B-division for both fleets were finished up around 6 pm.

Old Dominion University is leading the Eastern fleet after today closely followed by St. Mary’s College of Maryland and University of South Florida in third. Sitting on the bubble in ninth place is Tufts University.

“We sailed pretty solidly,” says Mitch Brindley, head coach for Old Dominion. “We were able to turn some tough races around and that’s what we were looking to be able to do. We will keep plugging away and take what we learned today and apply it to racing tomorrow.”

Sailing for Old Dominion is Esteban Forrer ’16 and Gabriel Smith ’17 in A-division and Augie Dale ’18 and Kaylie Gallagher ’16 in B-division.

On top of the Western fleet is the U.S. Coast Guard Academy with a 15-point lead over Georgetown University in second place. Coast Guard’s B-division is coming off of winning the Sperry Women’s National Championship and finished the day with only 11 points, winning half of the races. George Washington University is in third behind Georgetown with Brown University on the bubble in ninth place.

“We approach this regatta just like every other regatta,” says Brian Swingly, head coach for Coast Guard. “We were able to put our boats in favorable positions on the race coarse including avoiding congestion that occurred at the starting line today. We will hope to carry this momentum into winning the regatta.”

Sailing for Coast Guard is Avery Fanning ’16 and Robert Turley ’16 in A-division and Nikole Barnes ’17 and Anna Morin ’19 in B-division.

There are still 12 races to sail in both A and B-division in each fleet. The first warning for racing is at 10:30 am tomorrow. No race can start after 5 pm.

Top Nine Teams Eastern Semi-Final, Day 1:
1. Old Dominion University, 51
2. St. Mary’s College of Maryland, 58
3. University of South Florida, 65
4. U.S. Naval Academy, 72
5. Boston University, 72
6. Yale University, 86
7. Stanford University, 86
8. Boston College, 86
9. Tufts University, 116

Top Nine Teams Western Semi-Final, Day 1:
1. U.S. Coast Guard Academy, 49
2. Georgetown University, 64
3. George Washington University, 67
4. College of Charleston, 85
5. Hobart and William Smith Colleges, 88
6. Connecticut College, 91
7. Dartmouth College, 92
8. University of Pennsylvania, 92
9. Brown University, 92

Event details – Eastern Semi-Final results – Western Semi-Final results – Photos – Facebook

Online livestream coverage begins June 2….click here.

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.