Spring College Sailing Nationals all set for May 30

by Jennifer Mitchell on 29 May 2012 The Intercollegiate Sailing Association’s (ICSA) three national championships, Sperry Top-Sider ICSA Women’s National Semi-Final and Final Championship, ICSA APS Team Race National Championship, and the ICSA Gill Dinghy National Championship commence Wednesday, May 30 with the Women’s event, which will last for four days immediately followed by the Team Race Championship on June 3 and the Dinghy Championship on June 6, each lasting for three days.

All of the events will be sailed in Club Flying Juniors (CFJs). These exciting events are the highest caliber regattas in the collegiate sailing year and are the culmination of two seasons of intense competition.

The racing will take place in Austin, Texas on Lake Travis hosted by the University of Texas Sailing Team and the Austin Yacht. Lake Travis is technically a dammed river surrounded by a hilly and mountainous landscape. The two organizations hosted the National Championships last in 2005 where the competitors enjoyed shifty, but consistent wind speeds around 12-15 mph on clear water for nearly ten days straight. The conditions this year are expected to be similar; although a drought this year has dropped the water level quite a bit. Luckily the lake is deep and it will not affect the sailing.

The Women’s Semi-Final Championship begins Wednesday, May 30 with an 8 a.m. report time and first race warning set for 10 a.m. The event begins with a single round robin First Round of qualifying races for the 18 women’s teams who have made it to a semifinal round, but not yet made it to the final competition round. The First Round group will race until they complete at least the required number of races (16) for nine teams to join the nine previously qualified Finals teams to compete for the Gerald C. Miller Memorial Trophy. Once the 18 final teams have been determined the Finals racing will commence in a single round robin and continue until June 2.

For the nine women’s teams that did not make it to the Final round a Women’s Clinic will be run simultaneously for them to participate in.

The Women’s Championship will culminate in an awards banquet at 6:30 p.m. on June 2 with dinner and the announcement of the winners of the event. In addition to the racing awards, the announcement of the ICSA Women’s All-America Team will be made as well as the Quantum Women’s Sailor of the Year.

Racing will begin on June 3 for the ICSA/APS Team Race National Championship with an 8 a.m. report time for the teams. The 14 teams have been divided into two groups of seven and each group will complete a single round robin to determine a gold fleet of the top eight teams. Once the top eight teams have been determined that gold fleet will complete a double round robin to determine the top final four teams while a single consolation round robin will be held for the six remaining teams who were not in the gold fleet. The four top teams will compete for the Walter C. Wood Memorial Trophy. The racing will be completed on Tuesday, June 5 followed by an awards banquet at 7 p.m. to award the winners and enjoy dinner.

The ICSA/Gill Dinghy National Championship will commence on June 6 at 8 a.m. for 18 qualified collegiate coed teams. It will be a single round robin of racing scheduled to continue through June 8. The teams will be competing for the Henry A. Morse Memorial Trophy and the winners will be awarded at a banquet at 7 p.m. Other awards presented at this banquet will include the ICSA All-America Teams, the Fowle Trophy for the overall top team in the country, The Everett B. Morris trophy for the College Sailor of the Year, ICSA Sportsmanship Award, and the ICSA Student Leadership Award.

The field has been set and the nearly 30 schools scheduled to compete in the events have been practicing hard in the last week in preparation for the biggest regatta of their season, the National Championships. The ten days will cover a variety of different weather conditions and racing run and judged by premiere sailors in the sport. This is sure to be a series of challenging, but fun and exciting sailing.

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The Inter-Collegiate Sailing Association (ICSA) is the governing authority for sailing competition at colleges and universities throughout the United States and in some parts of Canada. Visit College Sailing to learn more. The ICSA National Championships are sponsored by Sperry Top Sider, Annapolis Performance Sailing, www.gillna.com!Gill_North_America, and US Sailing.