Stanford wins College Women’s Nationals

Stanford University won the 2026 College Women’s Fleet Race National Championship held May 15-18 in St. Petersburg, FL. This is the fourth consecutive year the Cardinal has won the Women’s Fleet Race title, a feat previously accomplished only by the Princeton team from 1974-1977.

Vanessa Lahrkamp ’26

After the 36-team field was narrowed to the best 18 teams in the semifinal stage, Stanford was led by skipper Vanessa Lahrkamp ’26 and crew Callie Hammond ’29 which won A Division by 47 points, with their B Division team finishing strong with skipper Sophie Fisher ’26 and crews Abby Baird ’28, Piper Blackband ’28, and Alice Schmid ’27.

“It feels kinda unbelievable,” said Lahrkamp. “For me it kinda tops off my whole entire sailing experience. It’s just been so incredible, and winning this is just kinda like a wrap around of how great it’s all been.”

Yale University finished second overall and won B Division with skipper Carly Kieding ’29 and crews Annabel Woodworth ’28 and Audrey Foley ’28.

Day one featured a wide range of conditions, beginning with sunny skies and a steady 12-knot easterly breeze before gradually fading through the morning to just four knots by the end of the first rotation.

Following an extended shoreside postponement, a southwest seabreeze filled in during the afternoon at 10-11 knots, allowing racing to resume. Passing afternoon thunderstorms east of the venue shifted the wind to the southeast for what would be the last set of the day.

With the wind calmed and six races in each division completed, competitors and race committee came ashore where a protest in the fifth B-division race left Stanford with a DSQ– temporarily bumping the Cardinal from their early perch atop the leaderboard. Yale led with 57 points, Stanford sat in second with 64 points, and Bowdoin rounded out the top three with 80 points.

Racing resumed on day two an hour ahead of schedule to make the best of the forecasted morning breeze– a steady 12-knot easterly that set off another incredibly close day of competition.

As the mid-afternoon breeze began to lighten up, just three points separated Stanford and Yale from third to sixth: Harvard, College of Charleston, Bowdoin, and Cornell. When light winds sent competitors ashore, Harvard maintained a tenuous perch on the podium just three points ahead of Bowdoin.

The race committee sent teams out one last time in a building late-afternoon easterly that had teams pushing to make a play for the podium all the way up to the 5 p.m. cutoff time. While race officials were able to successfully get off one last race in A-Division, a significant wind shift forced officials to abandon the B-Division race, leaving the scores unchanged and Stanford, Yale, and Harvard on the podium.

“It’s awesome to see so many women skippers out here and at co-ed, and it’s hopefully super inspiring to younger sailors too,” said Stanford’s B-Division skipper Sophie Fisher.

Lahrkamp also won the Women’s Sailor of the Year award, becoming the first woman to win the award three times.

The championship was hosted by University of South Florida and held in 2026 Zim 420Es and 2024 Zim FJs.

Event details – Finals results

2025-26 Season

2025 Fall National Championships:
November 8-9 – Women’s and Open Singlehanded Nationals – Old Dominion Univ / Norfolk, VA
November 15-16 – Match Race Nationals – St Petersburg Yacht Club / St Petersburg, FL

2026 Spring National Championships:
April 23-25 – Open Team Race Nationals – Tulane Univ / New Orleans, LA
April 26-27 – Women’s Team Race Nationals – Tulane Univ / New Orleans, LA
May 15-18 – Women’s Dinghy Nationals – Univ of South Florida / St. Petersburg, FL
May 19-22 – Open Dinghy Nationals – Univ of South Florida / St. Petersburg, FL

Source: Delaney Conlogue, ICSA Communications Committee