2015 College Sailing Coed National Championship - Day 1

by Jennifer Mitchell on 2 Jun 2015 Today was the first day of the Gill Coed National Championship Semi-Finals, co-hosted by Brown University, Salve Regina University and New York Yacht Club. The top 36 collegiate sailing teams in the nation reported to the regatta venue at Sail Newport and New York Yacht Club on Narragansett Bay to compete for 18 spots in the championship finals, which will begin on Wednesday, June 3rd.

The semi-finals are divided into two fleets, an eastern and western semi-final fleet, each with 18 teams. The top nine teams from each fleet will advance to the finals on Wednesday. The sailors are racing on windward leeward courses with three and four legs in both FJs and Z420s. Each fleet sails one type of boat one day and swaps boats the next day. Today, the eastern fleet sailed in Z420s and the western sailed in FJs.

A nor’easter blew in overnight turning what has been warm sunny weather for the last few days, into rainy and cold conditions. Temperatures were in the low to mid 50s and winds were from the northeast around 10 knots, which built to around 15-18 knots at times in the afternoon. Light rain persisted most of the day, but for the last few races it rained steadily.

Racing got underway around 9:30 a.m. and finished before 6:30 p.m. The race officials were able to complete eight races in A-division and B-division in both of the fleets.

After the racing today Boston College is leading the eastern fleet followed closely by College of Charleston and Georgetown University. Stanford University is leading the western fleet winning a tiebreaker with Yale University in second and followed by St. Mary’s College of Maryland in third.

“In the beginning of the day we were feeling things out and didn’t’ have a great second race in either division, but after that we stayed in the top ten,” says Mike Callahan, head coach for Georgetown.

Georgetown’s A-division skipper, Nevin Snow ’16, comments on today’s racing, “Our starts were not working for us – we had horrible starts – but our boat speed was awesome and we ground back in all of our races and kept top finishes,” Snow says.

“It was close racing today and we are balancing experimenting on the course without taking too many risks for this portion of the regatta,” Callahan says.

Sailing for Georgetown is: Nevin Snow '16 with Katia DaSilva '15 and Nancy Hagood '15 in A-division and Alex Post '15 and Sean Golden '16 with Bettina Redway '16, Katie Olsen '15 and Jack Welty '16 in B-division.

On top of the western fleet is Stanford University who only had one race out of the top ten.

“The windier conditions with chop is something we practice in a lot in the spring at Stanford, so we feel pretty comfortable in it,” says John Vandemoer, head coach for Stanford. “I was happy with our starting, it was important for us to really find the line and get in fleet racing mode after so much team racing,” Vandemoer says.

“Our plan is to continue to get comfortable fleet racing especially since we are switching fleets,” Vandemoer says.

Sailing for Stanford is: Kieran Chung '15 with Haley Kirk '15 and Samantha Steele '16 in A-division and Antoine Screve '16 with John Cannistraro '17 and Daniel Ron '17 in B-division.

There are still 10 races to sail in both A and B-division in each fleet. The first warning for racing is at 9:30 a.m. tomorrow. No race can start after 5 p.m.

Top Nine Teams Eastern Semi-Final, Day 1:

1. Boston College, 76
2. College of Charleston, 82
3. Georgetown University, 89
4. U.S. Naval Academy, 94
5. Fordham University, 95
6. Tufts University, 101
7. U.S. Coast Guard Academy, 113
8. SUNY Maritime, 125*
9. Harvard University, 125*
* Head-to-head tiebreaker

Top Nine Teams Western Semi-Final, Day 1:

1. Stanford University, 64*
2. Yale University, 64*
3. St. Mary’s College of Maryland, 95
4. Roger Williams University, 96
5. Brown University, 97
6. Old Dominion University, 102
7. University of Wisconsin, 107
8. USMMA Kings Point, 129*
9. Bowdoin College, 129*
* Head-to-head tiebreaker