College Sailing: Fall Season Update

Chris Klevan provides this week’s update on activity in the Inter-Collegiate Sailing Association (ICSA).

College of Charleston, ranked #6 nationally, won the 75th edition of the Danmark Trophy held at the Coast Guard Academy in New London, Connecticut. The Danmark traditionally is one of the most competitive interconference regattas of the fall season. Scheduled at the beginning of October, it marks the beginning of autumn and the period where the chips start to hit the table with Conference Championships looming at the end of the month.

After two days and 26 races of sailing in varied conditions, the Cougars of Charleston edged #12 MIT by 15 points. Clearly not out of their element in the first cold weekend of New England, the South Atlantic (SAISA) powerhouse picked up where they left off as last season’s champions.

This rendition of the contending team features recognizable seniors, Stefano Peschiera and Grace McCarthy, A-Division winners at the Danmark with 93 points. The B-Division team, however, is different than the one we saw at last spring’s championship. Finishing second in B-Division for the cougars was Augie Dale ’19 and Katherine Lounsbury ’20.

Last time we saw Mr. Dale was in his B-Division winning effort at the 2016 College National Championship (San Diego, CA) where Dale was then flying the colors of the Old Dominion University Monarchs. After taking the year off last year to adhere to ICSA transfer policies, Dale’s return, coupled with the stellar sailing of Peschiera, McCarthy and Lounsbury, helped to solidify the continued relevance of the defending champions.

Winning B-Division was Trevor Long ‘19 with Marcus Abate ‘20 and Julia Cho ‘20 of MIT. The Engineers edged Dale and Lounsbury by 1 point in contributing to MIT’s second place team effort.

The #18 Roger Williams Hawks finished 3rd overall at the event with 228 points.
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The lone interconference on the Women’s Sailing front was the Susan Rogers ‘75 Memorial Regatta. Sailed on the mighty Cayuga Lake off the shores of Ithaca, New York, home to Cornell University, the regatta featured a breezy northerly with plenty of fetch for significant waves. Cornell might be located in central New York but their sailing venue is very exposed.

After 8 races sailed in each division, the home team Cornell University won the event decisively. Finishing with 35 points, winning 10 of the 16 races sailed in the event, unranked Cornell defeated #4 University of Rhode Island by 26 points.

Hobart and William Smith sailors Bailer Carter ‘19 and Anna Flaherty ‘20 won A-Division with 21 points in 8 races. Cornell University’s B-Division boat, Gabby Rizika ‘20 and Tara Bergstrom ‘18, dominated their division by winning 7 of the 8 races sailed. That lone imperfection for the Big Red Ladies was a 2nd place finish.

The #19 William Smith ladies finished 3rd overall with 68 points after 16 races.
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#1 Georgetown University won the Intrepid Trophy held at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland.

The newest Mid-Atlantic (MAISA) Match Race Champion started the event off slow and qualified for the knockout stage as the 4 seed. Falling behind 1-0 to last year’s National Championship runners up, #4 Hobart and William Smith Colleges in the first round of the knockout, the odds were not in the Hoya’s favor.

However, Georgetown won the last 2 races of the best of 3 series to face #9 Navy in the finals. Georgetown swept the Midshipmen to win the event. Both teams advance to this year’s Match Race National Championship to be held November 10-12 at College of Charleston in Charleston, SC.

University of British Columbia won the Northwest (NWICSA) Match Race Championship held in British Columbia and in doing so, secured a berth to the ICSA Match Race National Championship, aforementioned above. Congratulation and good luck.
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College of Charleston’s Sophomore, Kelly-Ann Arrindell won the South Atlantic (SAISA) Women’s Singlehanded Championship last weekend held at University of South Florida. Winning 4 of the 6 races and finishing with 9 points overall, her effort was nothing short of dominant. Marian Frances Williams ‘21 of Charleston grabbed the final qualifying spot, finishing second at the event with 14 points. Both ladies qualified to compete in the Singlehanded National Championship to be held November 4-5 at St. Petersburg, Florida.
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The #9 College of Charleston Women won their women’s conference championship, the South Atlantic (SAISA) Women’s Fall. Serving as the conference’s qualifier for the Women’s Atlantic Coast Championship (ACC), the event brings out the best women in the conference. The regatta was a combined division event.

Charleston’s victory was led by Alie Toppa ‘20 and Caroline Bracken ‘19. The Cougar’s top boat won 4 of the 9 races and finished with 21 points. The South Florida Bulls finished second with 89 points while the Eckerd Tritons finished 3rd, rounding out those qualifying for SAISA’s three spots at ACC’s.

Background: The Inter-Collegiate Sailing Association (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