Tulane wins 2022 Dinghy Nationals

New Orleans, LA (May 22, 2022) – The 4-day College Sailing Dinghy National Championship began with two sets of 18 teams competing in a round robin series that advanced the top nine from each semifinal series for a chance to win the Henry A. Morse Memorial Trophy. The next two days among the top 18 teams saw Tulane’s Cameron Giblin ’23 and Andrea Riefkohl Gonzalez ’24 top A Division to lead the Green Waves to the National title.

“I hope that the whole team, and everyone who has been a part of our program for the past 4 years feels a sense of pride for being able to host the National Championships this year,” said Head Coach Charles Higgins of Tulane University. “Every year for our program has been a progression toward future goals, and this is certainly a huge step along the way.

“No one here takes for granted what being a host for this event truly means. I hope our team will be able to look back on this in the years to come and reflect on what this event ultimately meant to them. People often ask what it’s like at Tulane, as though we’re some destination apart from college sailing. But in reality New Orleans is an amazing place to be, and the sailing here is second to none.

“After years of planning, postponement due to a pandemic, preparing throughout finals, and now competing through graduation, it absolutely means the world for our team to be here hosting the nation’s top teams for the ultimate prizes in College Sailing. Let the good times roll!”

With the finals on May 21-22, racing on day one had A Division in 420s and B Division in FJs. Competitors saw conditions with breeze coming from the Southeast at around 12-15 knots. Racing was halted for the day at around 2:45pm due to thunderstorms.

Leading the regatta was home team Tulane University with a total of 102 points. Boston College sat in second place with 108 points. Dartmouth and Brown University were tied for third with a total of 111 points. Dartmouth also held a head to head tiebreaker over Brown.

Greg Wilkinson, Boston College Head Coach, stated after racing yesterday, “The racing is incredibly close. You miss one shift near the top mark and you can drop eight or ten boats. We had a few nice comebacks. Looking forward to tomorrow.”

At the conclusion of day one, Robert Bragg ‘23 and Eloise Burn ‘21 of Dartmouth College led A Division with a total of 36 points. JC Hermus ‘22 and Fiona Lobon ‘22 of the United States Naval Academy trailed them in second with a total of 51 points. Cameron Giblin ‘23 and Andrea Riefkohl Gonzalez ‘24 of Tulane University sat in third place with a total of 52 points.

Eloise Burn ‘21 of Dartmouth College stated, recapping day one on the water: “I would say the sailing today has been pretty shifty and there were big puffs rolling through the course. Sometimes it could be hard to predict but at the end of the day we’ve been comparing it to the Charles River which I think most people here have sailed and everyone in NEISA is very familiar with.”

Lachlain McGranahan ‘24, Marbella Marlo ‘24 and Pomaika’i Ogata ‘24 of Harvard University led the B Division with 36 points. Jack DeNatale ‘22 and Michaela O’Brien ‘24 trailed them in second place with 38 points. Asher Zittrer ‘23, Ciara Rodriguez-Horan ‘22, Gillian Perrell ‘24 and Kit Stoll ‘23 were in third place with a total of 50 points.

Racing on day two kicked off at 10:00 am with breeze coming from the Southeast shifting east throughout the day. Winds started around 10-12 knots and died gradually throughout the day. A Division sailed FJs and B Division sailed 420s.

Home team Tulane University was able to hold on and secure the regatta win with a total of 223 points. Yale University finished the regatta in second with a total of 224 points. Brown University finished in third with 246 points.

Cameron Giblin ‘23 and Andrea Riefkohl Gonzalez ‘24 of Tulane University won A Division with a total of 98 points. Jack Parkin ‘21 and Sammy Pickell’ 22 of Stanford University finished in second with a total of 101 points. Shawn Harvey ‘22 and Sonia Lingos-Utley ‘22 of Yale University finished in third with 105 points.

“We were really looking forward to this event and going in today winning is the dream scenario,” said Cameron Giblin ‘23. “You know you couldn’t ask for a better situation going into the second day of the regatta. Really proud of the team just staying composed and getting the job done. Really happy to bring home a win.”

Giblin’s crew, Andrea Riefkohl Gonzalez ‘24 added, “It’s really exciting to get a win on our home turf. So we are really excited we have our whole team here to celebrate.”

Lachlain McGranahan ‘24, Marbella Marlo ‘24, Pomaika’i Ogata ‘24, and Christopher Wang ‘23 of Harvard University won the B Division with a total of 114 points. Following them were Jack Egan ‘25 and Catherine Webb ‘23 of Yale University and they finished with 119 points. Rounding out the top 3 were Asher Zittrer ‘23, Ciara Rodriguez-Horan ‘22, Gillian Perrell ‘24, Kit Stoll ‘23, and Lucy Spearman ‘25 of Tulane University finishing with 125 points.

“I guess going into that last race we didn’t know that we were under that much pressure to get the exact score we needed to clinch the win,” admitted Zittrer. “We just had a really tough first one and we really wanted to make sure we didn’t get bogged down by it and have a good second one.

“We didn’t actually know that was the last set either. We thought that we were going to have a lot more racing after that. I guess I’m glad that no one told us because we didn’t have any pressure.”

Zitter’s crew Gillian Perrell added, “Like Asher said, we had no idea. So after that second to last rough one I was just like keep your head straight and just get a good one off. The moment we knew was when I looked at my teammates on the pin boat smiling and we couldn’t believe it. We were like no way. The rest is history.” ‘24 continued about the final race and how surreal the moment was to clinch the regatta victory.

This was Tulane’s second fleet racing national championship and first one in 49 years.

Event information – Results – Facebook

2022 College Spring Nationals
May 16-18 – Open Team Racing
May 19-22 – Open Doublehanded Fleet Racing
May 23-26 – Women’s Doublehanded Fleet Racing

Source: ICSA