ICSA Match Racing Championships at Fort Worth BC

by Britt Feik on 20 Nov 2012 Fort Worth Boat Club hosted the Inter-Collegiate Sailing Association (ICSA) Match Racing Championships Friday Nov. 16th through Sunday Nov 18th. Ten teams qualified for the competition by winning their conference or placing as runner up in the larger conferences.

Friday the winds varied from calm to light and limited the competition to running six of the first nine round robins. Saturday the winds were a little more cooperative and the final three races of the round robin were completed allowing for the teams to be seeded into positions to compete in the quarterfinals. The racing was very tight and no team could be taken for granted. Three teams tied for the lead with 7-2 records and three teams tied for fifth with 4-5 records. St. Mary’s College, Tufts, Georgetown and Yale won their quarterfinal matches to advance to the Semifinals.

Sunday the winds picked up to the 10 to 20 mph range for the quarter finals. Tufts, skippered by Will Haeger, was the first to advance to the finals with three straight wins over Georgetown. Yale , skippered by Chris Segerblom, prevailed over St. Mary’s in their series in the fourth race setting up the Championship series between Tufts and Yale. Because of limited time the finals were reduced to the best of three series. No races can start after 3:00 to allow all of the teams to return to their schools in time for class Monday. Yale won the first race and Tufts won the second setting up the decisive third race. Tufts started from the Starboard end a little late allowing Yale to escape over them and race committee to the right side of the starting area.

After several dial ups and circling, Tufts led Yale back to the start forcing Yale to start behind them. Tufts tacked over Yale multiple times during the first windward leg pushing their lead to three boat lengths. The downwind leg was pretty uneventful as Tufts was able to keep their air clear with the heavy air and three boat length lead. After rounding the leeward mark clean they were able to separate to the left side to a big puff increasing their lead. At the last windward mark they were eight boat lengths ahead. With the lead they were able to do a simple run with a single jibe to the finish and victory.

The final placing of the teams is as follows:

1. Tufts (Haeger skipper)
2. Yale (Segerblom skipper)
3. Georgetown (Snow skipper)
4. St Mary's College of Maryland (La Dow skipper)
5. Univ. of Southern Florida (Stocke skipper)
6. Univ. of Washington (Haelsig skipper)
7. Eckert (Savoie skipper)
8. California Maritime Academy (Lancaster skipper)
9. Univ. of Michigan (Graham skipper)
10. Tulane (Krause skipper)