NEISA News


Yale University Wins LaserPerformance Team Race National Championship


Today was the third and final day of the LaserPerformance Team Race National Championship on North San Diego Bay. This event is the second of three collegiate sailing national championships co-hosted by San Diego Yacht Club and the Pacific Coast Collegiate Sailing Conference this spring. After three days of racing Yale University is the national champion and winner of the Walter C. Wood Trophy for the fourth year in a row.

The day began with completing the top eight round robin. Racing got underway around 10:30 a.m. Competitors sailed in FJs on digital N courses for the top eight and final four rounds. The remaining 19 races were completed in the top eight round today. The conditions were cloudy with light winds to start the day from the west northwest and the winds picked up a bit in the afternoon around 12 knots under sunny skies. Temperatures stayed in the mid to high 60s.

The race officials kept the races going and by about 2:30 p.m. the competitors were into the final four racing. The final four was completed around 3:30 p.m. and a total of 157 races were completed in the event.

Today the teams were fighting to advance into the final four round. Due to the competitiveness of each team in this event, no one went through undefeated. Yale finished the top eight round with two losses, Boston College with four, Georgetown University with one and St. Mary’s College of Maryland with three. Going into the final four any one of the four teams had a chance at winning the regatta. However, after Yale won their second race against St. Mary’s, they clinched the regatta.

This is Yale’s fourth team race national championship title and Walter C. Wood Trophy win in a row. The last team to win four in a row was Tufts University in 1996.

“We are stoked,” says Bill Healy, assistant coach for Yale University, “Everyone sailed well and kept their heads on through the whole regatta.”

“Every race was tough and all of the competition was really good,” Healy says. “We were able to execute really well at the bottom mark on the course.”

Everyone on the Yale team will be returning next year, except for senior Charlotte Belling, who was on each of the four winning teams during her college sailing career.

The winning team members are Ian Barrows '17, Meredith Megarry '17, Malcolm Lamphere '18, Chandler Gregoire '17, Nicholas Baird '19, Charlotte Belling '16, Clara Robertson '17 and Joseph Kiss '17.

There were six total races scheduled in the final four, however in the first race of the round between Georgetown and St. Mary’s one of the tiller extensions in a St. Mary’s boat broke and they went from winning the race to losing it, so they were allowed a re-sail. Therefore seven races took place and St. Mary’s took the win. This meant that they displaced Boston College and took third overall while Georgetown clenched second place after beating Yale in the last race of the final four.

“Yale was tremendous and the best team won,” says Mike Callahan, head coach for Georgetown. “We had a lot of opportunities in the races that we lost, but we didn’t do it. We did have the best record in the final four, and that felt good,” he says.

Georgetown will graduate four seniors from their team race team this year.

Sailing for Georgetown was Sean Golden '16, Isabelle Ruiz De Luzuriaga '16, Nevin Snow '16, Meaghan MacRae '18, AJ Reiter '17 and Bettina Redway '16.

St. Mary’s winning their re-sail with Georgetown allowed them the last podium spot.

“We are really happy to be on the podium,” says Bill Ward, director of sailing for St. Mary’s. “All of our races were really close and we made some mistakes. It has been a long season and this was a good way to finish up considering where we came from.”

Sailing for St. Mary’s was Alexander Curtiss '16, Shelby Jacobs '17, Edmund Cooper '17, Mariah Leffingwell '16, Markus Edegran '16 and Kaitlyn Noreen '16.

Final Results, Top 8 (wins and losses)

1. Yale University, 21-4
2. Georgetown University, 19-6
3. St. Mary’s College of Maryland, 18-7
4. Boston College, 17-8
5. College of Charleston, 15-7
6. Stanford University, 13-9
7. Dartmouth College, 11-11
8. Brown University, 8-14

To see more results and learn more about the teams competing in all of the events visit the event website: http://2016nationals.collegesailing.org/.

This evening at San Diego Yacht Club, the Competitor’s Briefing will take place for the final regatta in the College Sailing Spring Nationals, the Gill Coed National Championship. This event begins with two days of qualifying racing in the Semifinals and continues with two more days of racing in the Finals June 2-3.

Dan Egan, of Degan Media, is providing live coverage sponsored by LaserPerformance and Gill North America. It is streaming from the event website, http://2016nationals.collegesailing.org/. Additional live coverage and social media updates will be available throughout the events on the regatta website.

Contact: Jennifer Mitchell | Toile à Voile for ICSA | media@collegesailing.org | 763-234-8286 m.

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 ICSA sponsors and partners through the 2015-2016 season 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”. US Sailing (www.ussailing.org), supporting sponsor of the “ICSA National Championship Semi-finals”.

Photo Credit: Cynthia Sinclair Photography and Stacy Childers Photography & House of Style Studio