Inter-Collegiate Sailing Championships dominated by East Coast schools

by Jan Harley on 4 May 2010 The second most important college sailing competition of the year was held over the weekend of May 1st and second, and for the second consecutive year the action was dominated by schools from the East Coast.

From the 200+ active racing programs that compete under the auspices of the Intercollegiate Sailing Association (ICSA), 36 schools were seeded based on performance, into one of the two semi-final rounds of the ICSA/Gill Coed National Championship: the ICSA National Championship Eastern semi-finals which took place at the College of Charleston (Charleston, South Carolina) or the ICSA National Championship Western semi-finals at the University of Washington (Seattle, Washington).

For the 18 schools competing at each location the stakes were high – only a top-nine finish would qualify them to progress to the championship finals, which will be hosted by the University of Wisconsin from May 25-June 3, 2010, in Madison, Wisconsin.

At the Western semi-finals in Seattle, light air on day one only allowed for the completion of four races – two each in A and B Division. When racing wrapped up on day two, with ten races completed in both divisions, the points spread among the top three teams was a good indication of the close competition.

Yale won the event with 89 points, St. Mary’s was second with 91 and Roger Williams was third with 98. Also qualifying to move on were Old Dominion University, Harvard University, Hobart & William Smith Colleges, Salve Regina University, SUNY Maritime College and Stanford University, who won the last race in B-Division to secure the coveted ninth spot.

'It was a great event,' said ICSA President Mitch Brindley who was at the Seattle semi-finals.

'The organizers did a super job with the conditions. On day two, boats were getting to the weather mark overlapped so it was exciting. Lots of boats were fighting for the spots, especially the battle for ninth. Everyone who showed up had to bring their national championships focus in order to qualify.'

At the Eastern semi-finals in Charleston the big story was the dominating performance of Boston College (BC). Fifteen races were sailed in both A and B Division, with BC winning 11. Even the addition of penalty points in one race couldn’t ground the Eagles and they won the event by a 35-point margin over the hometown team from College of Charleston.

While there were favorable weather and wind conditions – good breeze, air temperatures around 80 and sunny skies – the current on the Cooper River was a challenge for the competitors to master.

Georgetown University took third followed by the University of Vermont, Tufts University, Brown University, the U.S. Naval Academy, the University of South Florida and the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy.

From a geographic perspective, bragging rights were claimed by teams from the East Coast with all eight schools from the New England Intercollegiate Sailing Association (NEISA) conference qualifying for Nationals, along with seven from the Middle Atlantic Intercollegiate Sailing Association (MAISA) and two from South Atlantic Intercollegiate Sailing Association (SAISA). Stanford University will be the lone West Coast representative from the Pacific Coast Collegiate Sailing Association (PCCSC) to compete for the national title.

Teams qualifying from the semi-finals
ICSA National Championship Western Semi-finals

School	Hometown	Total points
Yale University	New Haven Conn.	89
St. Mary's College	St. Mary’s City Md.	91
Roger Williams University	Bristol R.I.	98
Old Dominion University	Norfolk Va.	112
Harvard University	Cambridge Mass.	116
Hobart & William Smith Colleges	Geneva N.Y.	125
Salve Regina University	Newport R.I.	133
SUNY Maritime College	Throggs Neck N.Y.	151
Stanford University	Palo Alto Calif.	175

ICSA National Championship Eastern Semi-finals

School	Hometown	Total points
Boston College	Chestnut Hill Mass.	114
College of Charleston	Charleston S.C.	149
Georgetown University	Washington D.C.	157
University of Vermont	Burlington Vermont	201
Tufts University	Medford Mass.	207
Brown University	Providence R.I.	214
U.S. Naval Academy	Annapolis Md.	217
University of South Florida	St. Petersburg Fla.	227
U.S. Merchant Marine Academy	Kings Point N.Y.	278

ICSA is the governing authority for sailing competition at colleges and universities throughout the United States and in some parts of Canada.

To learn more please visit: www.collegesailing.org.

ICSA is sponsored by Gill, Annapolis Performance Sailing, Marlow Ropes, Quantum Sails, LaserPerformance and US SAILING. For more information, please visit the following websites:

Gill: www.gillna.com
Annapolis Performance Sailing: www.apsltd.com
Marlow Ropes: www.bainbridgeint.com
Quantum Sails: www.quantumsails.com
LaserPerformance: www.laserperformance.com
US Sailing: www.ussailing.org