NEISA News


Sperry Women’s National Championship Finals, Day 1 Results


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 27, 2015
Contact: Jen Vandemoer Mitchell | Toile à Voile for ICSA | media@collegesailing.org | 763-234-8286 m.
Photo credit: Photos to follow from Rob Migliaccio

SPERRY WOMEN’S NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP, FINALS DAY 1

NEWPORT, R.I. (May 27, 2015) – The Sperry Women’s National Championship continued today on Narragansett Bay, co-hosted by Brown University, Salve Regina University and New York Yacht Club. Eighteen collegiate teams advanced from the previous two days of competition in the semi-finals to make it to the finals racing. The teams are vying for the national title and the Gerald C. Miller Trophy.

Racing got underway at 9:30 a.m. and wrapped up just before 4 p.m. today. The temperature hovered around 70 degrees with a mix of sun and clouds. The winds stayed strong, much like yesterday. The morning started with southerly winds around 10-15 knots and slowly built to 15-20 knots. For the last races the wind was back down to around 15 knots.

Today A-division sailed Z420s and B-division sailed FJs. Tomorrow the divisions will swap boats. The sailors are competing on windward leeward courses with three and four legs. Nine races were completed today in both A and B-division with nine races left in each division to complete the regatta.

Where the last two days of racing saw straight-line speed as a winning tactic, today the shifts and current played more of a role in addition to speed. Especially at the end of the day the strategy was to play the left side of the course to stay out of the current.

“There were definitely some shifts out there,” says Nancy Hagood '14, the A-division skipper for Georgetown University. “It was about keeping your eyes open for those shifts, but where ever you were just going fast,” says Hagood. Hagood sailed with Meaghan MacRae '18 and Madeline Higgins '16 today and finished the day in third place on a tiebreaker in A-division. Georgetown is currently standing in sixth place overall.

Racing was close all day with teams moving up and down the scoreboard. After the first nine races, Boston College is in the lead just one point ahead of Brown University in second and two points ahead of Yale University in third.

“The field is really deep in both divisions,” says Greg Wilkinson, head coach of Boston College. “Today had a different feel than the previous two days of racing because there are that many more top sailors on the course,” he says.

“Where the top sailors could rely on speed to get back in a race if they fell behind, today it was more difficult,” Wilkinson says. The plan for tomorrow’s racing, “We are looking to perform,” he says.

Sailing for Boston College is Erika Reineke '16 with Elizabeth Barnard ‘15 and Katja Sertl ’16 in A-division and Allyson Donahue '17 with Emily Schalka '15 and Madeleine Loosbrock '17 in B-division.

“We had really long courses with big chop and tricky conditions,” says John Mollicone, head coach of Brown University and co-host of the event. “It was about weighing current versus velocity and shifts on the course today,” Mollicone says.

“The racing was really tight and there was room for leverage on both sides of the course,” says Mollicone. In Brown’s first race of the day they started in second and finished in 17th because they made a wrong decision on which side of the course to sail.

“We felt like we left a lot of points on the table today and we hope to clean it up tomorrow,” Mollicone says. “If we sail better tomorrow than we did today, we will do well in the regatta,” he says.

Sailing for Brown is Megan Grapengeter-Rudnick '17 with Lydia Whiteford '15 and Alexandra Swanson '16 in A-division and Johanna Kincaid '15 with Jessica O'Dell '16 and Kelly McGlynn '15 with Ragna Eide '16 in B-division.

Racing is set to begin at 9:30 a.m. tomorrow. No race can begin after 5 p.m. The day will culminate in an awards ceremony and dinner scheduled right after racing hosted by Salve Regina University at the Sail Newport Sailing Center.

The top three women’s teams will be presented with the Gerald C. Miller Trophy for first place, the New England Women’s Trophy for second place and the Ann Campbell Trophy for third place. The Quantum Women’s College Sailor of the Year will also be awarded to a female sailor who has consistently performed at the highest competitive level in the 2014-2015 season.

Top Nine Teams, Finals Day 1
1. Boston College, 114
2. Brown University, 115
3. Yale University, 116
4. Dartmouth College, 127
5. College of Charleston, 131
6. Georgetown University, 139
7. University of Rhode Island, 141
8. Stanford University, 149
9. U.S. Coast Guard Academy, 164

Makena Masterson contributed to this report.

To learn more about the teams competing in all of the events and to follow the racing and results visit the event website: http://2015nationals.collegesailing.org/.

A video feed, sponsored by LaserPerformance will be available for some portions of the Sperry Women’s Nationals and LaserPerformance Team Race Nationals and live coverage and social media updates from collegesailing.org will also be available throughout the events. Gary Jobson and Chris Love Productions will be filming portions of the Gill Coed Nationals for an ESPNU segment, which will first air on Friday, July 10 at 5:30 pm ET.

The 2015 College Sailing National Championships are co-hosted by: New York Yacht Club, Brown University and Salve Regina University.

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.

The ICSA sponsors and partners through the 2014-2015 are: LaserPerformance (www.laserperformance.com), title sponsor of “LaserPerformance Men’s and Women’s Singlehanded National Championship”, title sponsor of “LaserPerformance College Sailing Team Race National Championship” and Official Boat Supplier of the ICSA Spring National Championships. Sperry (www.sperry.com), title sponsor of the “Sperry College Sailing Women’s National Championship”. Gill North American (gillna.com), title sponsor of “The Gill College Sailing National Championship”. Quantum Sail Design Group (www.quantumsails.com), official sponsor of the “Quantum Women’s College Sailor of the Year”. Marlow Ropes (www.marlowropes.com), presenting Sponsor of the “Marlow Ropes College Sailor of the Year Award” and “Official Rope of College Sailing”. Beneteau (www.beneteau.com), “Sponsor of the College Sailing Scoreboard”. North Sails (www.northsails.com), “Supporting Sponsor of the ICSA National Championships”. US Sailing (www.ussailing.org), “Supporting Sponsor of the ICSA National Championship Semi-finals”.