36 teams for College Women’s Nationals

The Inter-Collegiate Sailing Association’s (ICSA) three spring national championships will close out the school year of college competition when they are held May 22 through June 1 in Norfolk, VA.

The three events – Sperry College Sailing Women’s National Championship, LaserPerformance College Sailing Team Race National Championship, and the Gill College Sailing National Championship – will be hosted by Old Dominion University at the ODU Sailing Center, with racing on the waters of the Elizabeth River.

First up is the Sperry Women’s Championship where 36 teams have advanced from the seven conference qualifiers to compete in the LaserPerformance Club Flying Juniors (FJs) and Z420s.

The first stage will have the field divided in two 18-team fleets for the Semifinals on May 22-23. The top nine teams from each fleet will then advance to the Finals Round – an 18-boat regatta on May 24-25.

Defending champions Yale University enters the event as the top ranked team, but Boston College, Charleston, and Coast Guard are all capable of dethroning the Bulldogs. Here is the complete list of competing teams that qualified from their conference:

New England (11): Boston College, Boston University, Brown University, Connecticut College, Dartmouth College, Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Tufts University, U. S. Coast Guard Academy, University of Rhode Island, Yale University

Mid-Atlantic (9): Cornell University, Fordham University, George Washington University, Georgetown University, William Smith College, Old Dominion University, St. Mary’s College of Maryland, U. S. Naval Academy, University of Pennsylvania

Midwest (4): University of Michigan, University of Minnesota, University of Notre Dame, University of Wisconsin

Northwest (2): University of Washington, Western Washington University

Pacific Coast (4): Stanford University, University of California Santa Barbara, University of Hawaii, University of Southern California

South Atlantic (4): College of Charleston, Eckerd College, Jacksonville University, University of South Florida

South East (2): Tulane University, University of Texas

Follow the events live via the regatta app from US Sailing plus live video coverage on May 25 for the final day of racing.

Event details: http://2018nationals.collegesailing.org/events/womens-championship

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