2015 Gill Coed Dinghy National Championship - Winner announced

by Jennifer Mitchell on 6 Jun 2015 Today was the last day of the Gill Coed Dinghy National Championship, co-hosted by Brown University, Salve Regina University and New York Yacht Club. This is the last of three high caliber spring college sailing national championships that were run out of the Sail Newport Waterfront Center at Fort Adams. After four days of intense competition Yale University has won the national title and the Henry A. Morss Memorial Trophy.

The sailors hit the water to begin racing this morning, but the winds were too light and the current was too strong, so racing was postponed for a couple of hours. By 11:15 a.m. racing began. A steady southeasterly breeze filled in and built to around eight - twelve knots with higher gusts this afternoon. The sun was out and temperatures stayed around 60 degrees.

The race committee was able to complete nine races today in both divisions for a total of 18 races for the regatta. A-division sailed in Z420s and B-division sailed in FJs today. The sailors competed on windward-leeward four leg courses.

Yale finished 68 points ahead of second place overall and won the Henry A. Morss Memorial Trophy, which was donated by a group of nationally known yachtsmen as a memorial to Henry A. Morss, a Boston yachtsman and 1907 Bermuda Race winner, as well as an MIT alumnus and benefactor.

“It feels amazing,” says Bill Healy, assistant coach for Yale of their win. Yale swept the 2015 series of spring national championships, something that has not been done since 1991 when the U.S. Naval Academy won the women’s, team race and coed events. It is also the second year in a row that Yale won this coed dinghy championship.

“We had the same skippers last year and then got to practice with this team, including the women’s team, all year – and had great, great practices,” Healy says. “It’s been an amazing year,” he says.

“Today we had a pretty good gap between second place, so we were pretty calm,” Healy says. “The only bit of stress was that Graham [Landy] and Katherine [Gaumond] were probably a little overpowered in the Z420 today, but they were comfortable to stay together,” he says.

“Everyone is really ecstatic and we have a lot of parents here celebrating too,” Healy says, “Brown and Salve ran an awesome event.”

Sailing for Yale: Graham Landy '15 with Katherine Gaumond '15 and Charlotte Belling '16 in A-division and Ian Barrows '17 with Meredith Megarry '17 and Clara Robertson ‘17 in B-division.

U.S. Coast Guard Academy held onto second place after yesterday and finished 10 points ahead of third place overall and won the Oxford University Trophy. It has been many years since Coast Guard has been on the podium for this event.

The Oxford University Trophy is awarded to the second place team in the Gill Coed Dinghy National Championship. The Oxford University Yacht Club team and its captain Jeremy Thomas presented this trophy in 1954 on the occasion of the first of a continuing series of college regattas between British and North American teams held alternately in the United States and Great Britain every two years.

“We are thrilled – it’s been decades since the school has been on the podium,” says Brian Swingly, head coach for Coast Guard. “We were comfortable in the conditions and especially this afternoon, the conditions were similar to our New England championships a few weeks ago,” Swingly says.

“We were calm today because we knew we had time to get races in and that the wind would fill – we were antsy to get going,” Swingly explains.

“We have a pretty young team and are happy with how things came together at the end of this season and are excited to continue and improve next year,” he says.

Sailing for Coast Guard: Avery Fanning '16 with Robert Turley '16 and Hannah Herring '18 in A-division and Nikole Barnes '17 with Jennifer Lane '15 and Andrew Britton '16 in B-division.

Boston College finished in third place, for the second year in a row, winning the Metropolitan Sailing League Trophy, which was first presented in 1971. Boston College had an incredible day today and climbed up the scoreboard to third from finishing yesterday in ninth place.

“We didn’t talk about doing anything special today other than to do what we practice,” says Greg Wilkinson, head coach for Boston College. “The difference between today and yesterday, is that yesterday we didn’t do that,” Wilkinson says.

“It was a great fleet, very strong and it was a game of inches – one third of a boat length could make a huge difference on the starting line,” Wilkinson says.

“As proud as I am of my team, the story is Yale, who accomplished what a lot of teams set out to accomplish every year and it’s something that hasn’t been done in over 20 years,” he says.

Sailing for Boston College: Raul Rios '16 with Allison Ferraris '17 and Alex Palfrey ‘17 in A-division and William Bailey '15 with Katherine Wysocki '15 in B-division.

The Robert Allan, Sr. and Robert Allan, Jr. Trophies are awarded to the low point 'A' and 'B' teams, respectively, in the Gill Coed Dinghy National Championship. Graham Landy '15 with Katherine Gaumond '15 and Charlotte Belling '16 from Yale won A-division with 104 points, six points ahead of second place. Ian Barrows '17 with Meredith Megarry '17 and Clara Robertson '17, also from Yale, won B-division with 82 points, 49 points ahead of second place.

Final Overall Results

1. Yale University, 186
2. U.S. Coast Guard Academy, 255
3. Boston College, 265
4. College of Charleston, 299
5. Georgetown University, 314
6. St. Mary’s College of Maryland, 319
7. Roger Williams University, 324
8. U.S. Naval Academy, 325
9. Tufts University, 339
10. Old Dominion University, 340
11. Stanford University, 344
12. USMMA Kings Point, 355
13. Brown University, 387
14. Fordham University, 392
15. Harvard University, 415
16. Bowdoin College, 426
17. SUNY Maritime, 430
18. University of Wisconsin, 442