Georgetown leads College Nationals

Mount Pleasant, SC (June 1, 2017) – The first day of finals racing in the Gill Coed Dinghy National Championship began today on the Cooper River in Charleston Harbor. The top eighteen college teams in the nation advanced from the previous two days of racing in the semifinals to make it to this event and compete for the Henry A. Morss Memorial Trophy.

The day began with winds too light to compete with the current, so the race officials postponed in a wind delay to wait for the southerly sea breeze to fill in. Around 12:50 p.m. the sailors were on the water ready to race in a light sea breeze. The winds picked up to about 8 knots and temperatures were warm in the high 80s to low 90s.

Competing on on windward-leeward courses in FJs and Z420s, the wind increased to hiking conditions in the later afternoon with racing wrapping up just before 7 pm. The race committee was able to run ten races in both divisions today with eight races in each division remaining for tomorrow.

The sailing today was challenging and competitive. The sailors once again had to combat strong ebb current, making the downwind runs slow and nerve-racking. There were a few lead changes throughout the day, but at the end of the day Georgetown University finished on top 10 points ahead of Boston College in second place. Sitting in third is Dartmouth College four points behind Boston College.

“We sailed really well and I am really happy for the team,” says Mike Callahan, head coach for Georgetown University. “We had some rough races, as most of the teams out there did, but we tried to stay consistent. We will try to have good starts tomorrow and stay in the races. If you have two or three bad races, the fleet is so competitive, you can drop a lot in the standings, so we hope to stay in it.”

Sailing for Georgetown is: Campbell D’Eliscu ’19 with Meaghan MacRae ’18 in A-division and Sean Segerblom ’20 with Rebecca Fung ’19 in B-division.

“The team sailed really well and I am really proud,” says Greg Wilkinson, head coach for Boston College. “It’s such a deep fleet that you can be ahead upwind and sail downwind against the ebb and by the time you hit the leeward mark it’s 18 boats all lined up and you have lost the lead. It’s tough to come back from a mistake. The regatta feels virtually tied right now, someone will show up tomorrow and take it – and I hope it’s us.”

Sailing for Boston College is: Erika Reineke ’17 with Lizzie Bohan ’18 and Lily McGrath ’18 in A-division and Scotty Sinks ’18 with Allison Ferraris ’17 and Wade Waddell ’19 with Emma Perry ’19 in B-division.

Dartmouth is in third place with the teams behind them in hot pursuit and close together in points.

Sailing for Dartmouth is: Charles Lalumiere ’17 with Rebecca McElvain ’19 in A-division and Christopher Williford ’19 with Sophie Kerr ’17 and Nathaniel Greason ’17 in B-division.

Racing is set to begin at 10 a.m. tomorrow. No race can begin after 5 p.m. There will be a number of awards handed out after racing tomorrow including the podium finishers 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 and the All-Americans will be announced.

Top Nine, Finals Day 1 (10 races):
1. Georgetown University, 127
2. Boston College, 138
3. Dartmouth College, 142
4. College of Charleston, 152
5. Yale University, 158
6. Hobart and William Smith Colleges, 164
7. University of South Florida, 182
8. U.S. Naval Academy, 187
9. Tufts University, 187

Event details – Social feed – Final results – Live broadcast

Source: Jennifer Mitchell (words), Michael Wiser (photos)