College of Charleston wins College Sailing Coed National Championship

by Jennifer Mitchell on 1 Jun 2013 Today was the last day of the ICSA/Gill Coed Dinghy National Championship, the last of three high caliber Spring College Sailing National Championships. The events were co-hosted by the University of South Florida, St. Petersburg, Eckerd College and the St. Petersburg Yacht Club on Tampa Bay. Windy and wavy conditions made for fast paced racing today. College of Charleston led the charge all three days of the event and won the national title.

The race officials, the University of South Florida, St. Petersburg and Eckerd College volunteers ran an incredible series of events. All three National Championships were expertly handled. Allison Jolly from the University of South Florida, St. Petersburg, executed a stellar set of Championships with great decisions on and off the water.

Today, competitors hit the water for the first race at 9:45 a.m. The wind was already up to about 18 knots blowing from the East. It was windier and choppier conditions than yesterday. It was another warm day with temperatures in the 80s.

Eight races total, four in each division, were completed today making the event total 18 races in both A and B-divisions. College of Charleston was hot out of the gate and won the first race of the day in A-division. Both divisions sailed well for Charleston and finished in the top of the pack in all the races today.

Charleston’s solid sailing this regatta and consistency helped them win the Championship and the Henry A. Morss Memorial Trophy. The trophy 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 was crucial to stay safe today and sail fast and conservative,' Greg Fisher, sailing director for Charleston says. It was Charleston’s plan all along to approach the racing conservatively and let other teams make mistakes.

'We couldn’t be more proud,' Fisher says of the Charleston sailors. Juan Maegli ’13 and his crew in A-division was incredibly fast the whole regatta. Both Maegli and B-division skipper Ben Spector ’13 and his crew rarely finished a race out of the top 10.

Although Charleston finished the regatta 20 points ahead of second place, Fisher says the depth of competition and sportsmanship of all of the sailors in the fleet was incredible.

Sailing for College of Charleston was Juan Maegli '13 with Septima McAdams '16 and Corinna DeCollibus '13 in A-division and in B-division Ben Spector '13 sailed with Alicia Blumenthal '15, Brooks Clark '13, Sarah Somes '13 and Jeffrey Aschieris '13. Mac Mace ’13 also skippered in B-division.

Notable today was Stanford University who worked their way through the fleet over the course of the regatta moving up nine places. After the first day of racing they were in 15th place overall. After yesterday’s racing the team was in 10th place overall. The Cardinal sailors rallied today and finished in sixth place overall. Their B-division boat, Oliver Toole ‘14 and Helena Scutt ’14, finished second in the division after scoring three firsts and a second today.

Georgetown University won the Oxford University Trophy, awarded to the second place team in the ICSA/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.

Georgetown also sailed a consistent regatta. Maintaining their second place position after yesterday’s racing. Going into today they were 16 points behind Charleston. After the first race they had lost some points against them in A-division, but had gained a lot in B-division. They were hoping Charleston might make a mistake to help give them an edge.

'Charleston was hard to beat in the conditions today,' says Mike Callahan, head coach for Georgetown. 'If the winds had been lighter, maybe it would have been different,' he says. Due to the strong winds Georgetown ended up sailing people who had never sailed together before to get the proper weight and strength combinations in the boats.

Georgetown felt a little bit of pressure going into the sailing today as the defending champions of the event. 'It would have been nice to have back-to-back wins,' Callahan says, 'But I am really happy with how the event went.'

'It was a hard regatta. I am very proud of the team and they should all be proud of how they sailed,' he concludes.

Sailing for Georgetown was Chris Barnard '13 with Katia DaSilva '15, Hilary Kenyon '15, Leslie Cowen '13, Sean Golden '16 and Daniel Eichler '13 in A-division and Nevin Snow '16 with Victoria Lynch '13, Nancy Hagood '14 and Sean Golden '16 in B-division.

Dartmouth College came in third place winning the Metropolitan Sailing League Trophy, which was first presented in 1971. Dartmouth beat out Brown University for a podium spot today.

'We focused on executing today. We improved our starts in B-division throughout the regatta, so we focused on sailing well today and it paid off,' says Justin Assad, co-head coach of Dartmouth.

Dartmouth was lucky in that they did not have to make many crew changes today. 'Our starting crews are fit and could hang,' says Assad. 'Our team is well conditioned and I am really proud of how they performed,' he says. The Dartmouth Women’s team had success earlier in the week when they won the Sperry-Topsider/ICSA Women’s National Championships.

Sailing for Dartmouth was Matthew Wefer '14 with Avery Plough '14, Carissa Crawford '14 and Ian Storck '1 in A-division and Scott Houck '15 with Margaret Wilson '13 and Carissa Crawford '14 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 ICSA/Gill Coed Dinghy National Championship. Juan Maegli '13 with Septima McAdams '16 and Corinna DeCollibus '13 (College of Charleston) won A-division with 69 points, 41 points ahead of second place. Tommy Fink '13 with Ashley Noble '13 and Kristin Altreuter '14 (Brown University) won B-division with 88 points.

Final Results

1. College of Charleston, 215
2. Georgetown University, 235
3. Dartmouth College, 256
4. Brown University, 265
5. Boston College, 291
6. Stanford University, 301
7. Roger Williams University, 309
8. Yale University, 313
9. Old Dominion University, 324
10. St. Mary’s College of Maryland, 336
11. U.S. Naval Academy, 345
12. Tufts University, 347
13. University of South Florida, 359
14. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 366
15. SUNY Maritime College, 369
16. Hobart and William Smith Colleges, 461
17. University of Virginia, 510
18. University of Wisconsin, Event website