Repeat for Yale at Match Race champs

San Diego, CA (November 13, 2022) – Ten college sailing teams from across the country were hosted at San Diego Yacht Club for the 2022 College Sailing Match Race National Championship, November 11-13. Racing was held in the club provided evenly matched fleet of J/22’s on San Diego Bay, with ample viewing opportunity on the city’s waterfront.

In the end, skipper and local San Diego sailor Jack Egan ‘25, with crew Nicholas Davies ‘24, Megan Grimes ‘24 and Christophe Chaumont ‘23 of Yale University took home the title for the Bulldogs for the second straight year.

The majority of the first stage’s round robin was completed on day one of racing. Conditions were 6-8 knots out of the west/southwest. Stanford University and Yale University both led after day one with a record of 6-0.

“Going into the day, our goal was to get comfortable in the boat and nail the basics,” said Stanford sailing coach, Augie Dale. “The breeze was fairly shifty so being in phase was super important around the marks.”

On day two conditions were 7-9 knots out of the west after a short postponement waiting for the wind to settle in. The round robin and quarterfinal rounds were completed. Yale, Brown, Charleston and Georgetown made it to the semi-finals to be raced on the last day of the regatta.

“The Brown sailors have been getting stronger as the event has progressed,” said Stu McNay, coach of Brown University. “We prepared as well as we could before arriving, but there is no way to fully replicate the peculiarities of a given fleet of boats that will be used for the competition.

“Today, our sailors demonstrated their teamwork and grit in the quarterfinal elimination round with two come-from-behind wins against the Coast Guard Academy. Those wins advance our team to the semi-finals which will be raced tomorrow.”

On the last day of racing, the semi-finals, petit finals and final rounds were completed. After a short postponement, the racing got underway with an atypical wind direction out of the south for the first flight of the day, Winds shifted to the west for the rest of the day.

While Stanford and Coast Guard decided not to sail on the final day of racing and were excused, Yale and Charleston battled it out for the national championship. Georgetown and Brown competed in the petit finals for third and fourth place. Yale beat Charleston (3-0) and Brown was able to outduel Georgetown (2-1).

“The team kept their cool under pressure today,” said Ian Barrows, coach of Yale University. “In the semi finals, we had a close final race with two lead changes. I was proud of how they kept their heads down and kept on improving on little things. In the finals, the team did a great job with their down speed maneuvers in the pre-start and were able to start ahead.”

Final standings
1. Yale University
2. College of Charleston
3. Brown University
4. Georgetown University
5. Tulane University
6. Tufts University
7. US Coast Guard Academy
8. Stanford University
9. University of Wisconsin
10. US Merchant Marine Academy, King’s Point

Team Rosters
Brown University: Liam O’Keefe, Hunter Zonnenberg, Hannah Sellers, Thomas Styron
College of Charleston: Axel Stordahl, Lawson Levine, Lucy Klempen, Garrett Grenauer
Georgetown University: Jeffrey Petersen, Scott Mais, Eva Fortunato, Joseph Coyne
Stanford University: Wiley Rogers, AnnaClare Sole, Jack Baldwin, Konstantinos Michalopoulos
Tufts University: Jack Flores, Patrick Mulcahy, Cali Salinas, Harper McKerrow
Tulane University: Cameron Giblin, William Keenan, Abi Borggaard, Mia Hanes
University of Wisconsin Madison: Jonathan Bailey, Jack Schweda, Gavin Dempsey, Kate Thickens
US Coast Guard Academy: Nate Olmsted, Matt Kickhafer, Jake Earnshaw, Sydney Motherway
US Merchant Marine Academy, King’s Point: John McKenna, Lars Osell, Sunrae Sturmer, Jack Vanderhorst
Yale University: Jack Egan, Nicholas Davies, Megan Grimes, Christophe Chaumont

Event Website – Results – Facebook

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. Visit www.collegesailing.org to learn more.

Source: ICSA