SAN DIEGO (November 18, 2016) – The 2016 College Sailing Match Racing Nationals kicked off today on San Diego Bay hosted by the San Diego Yacht Club (SDYC). Ten collegiate teams are racing in SDYC’s J/22s and are vying for the Cornelius Shields Sr. Trophy. Teams compete in a round robin format, and depending on breeze there will be a semi-final and final rotation to determine the winner.
Racing got underway shortly after 11:00am after the AP flag was lifted. The wind remained light all day- under 6 knots for most of the afternoon and under 4 knots towards the end of the day. Race Committee was able to fit in 4 flights before wrapping up around 4:00pm. Though the wind was light, the sun was shining and temperatures were in the low-70s.
Since today's winds were lighter than expected, competitors focused on boat speed and finding breeze on the course to help with acceleration.
A number of experienced match racers are competing in this championship, including Christophe Killian ’18 (College of Charleston) who is the number one ranked match racer in the country and has won the U.S. Youth Match Racing World Championship twice.
Greg Fisher, the College of Charleston Coach, explained that one of CofC’s challenges today was overcoming an undesirable first race. “We had a rough first race for a number of reasons, but we were able to remind ourselves to stay in the game which is important at this level of competition and in this breeze. We never want to give up because there’s always an opportunity to come back. Christophe is on his game all the time and he knows what he’s looking for.”
Also sailing for CofC is John Thompson '18, Laura Masterson '20, and Howard Meyers '17. CofC finished the day with 3 wins and 1 loss.
Boston College won three of their four races today. The team has prepared for this championship by practicing out of a community sailing center in Boston that has J/22s. Boston College Coach, Greg Wilkinson, plans to take this championship one day at a time and focus on putting their boats in the right wind.
Sailing for Boston College is Scotty Sinks ’18, Erika Reineke ’17, and Peter Lynn ’19.
The University of Wisconsin team is new to sailing in J/22s, but despite having two good pre-starts, they were not able to pull off a win yet. However, according to Coach Dave Elsmo, they are planning to work on accelerating tomorrow. “Our team is in a very positive state of mind. Since the team is so new to these boats, they are very receptive to talking about changes at the dock and making tomorrow a new day.”
Kate Flanagan ’17, Rachel Cohen ’19, Athina Ebert ’17, and Hayden Potter ’20 are sailing this weekend on behalf of the University of Wisconsin.
Hobart & William Smith College and Georgetown University remain undefeated after day one.
Results After Day 1
Hobart & William Smith College 4-0
Georgetown University 4-0
College of Charleston 3-1
Boston College 3-1
Dartmouth College 2-2
University of South Florida 2-2
University of Southern California 2-2
University of Wisconsin 0-4
Texas A&M University Galveston 0-4
University of Washington 0-4
To see more results and learn more about the teams competing, visit the event website: http://2016matchrace.collegesailing.org/race
The 2016 ICSA Match Racing Championship is supported by Marlow Ropes.
For more information or media inquiries, please contact Emily Willhoft.
Emily Willhoft
SDYC Communications Director
o: 619-758-6316
e: emily@sdyc.org
About SDYC
The San Diego Yacht Club encourages and fosters an environment that helps and continues to produce the best in the world of yachting-related activities. Founded in 1886, SDYC has become a world renown yachting community recognized for its success in bay sailing, ocean racing, cruising, angling, and its world class youth sailing program. SDYC is consistently ranked among the top 5 yacht clubs in the U.S. and is recognized by the Club Leadership Forum as one of the finest facilities of its kind in the world.
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.