ICSA/APS Team Race National Championships day 1

by Jennifer Mitchell on 4 Jun 2012 Today was the first day of racing for the ICSA/APS Team Race National Championships on Lake Travis in Austin, Texas.

The event is co-hosted by the University of Texas Sailing Team and the Austin Yacht Club. Fourteen collegiate teams from across the nation qualified to compete for the Walter C. Wood Trophy, awarded to the winning team at the ICSA/APS Team Race National Championship. The trophy honors Walter C. 'Jack' Wood, MIT's first sailing director and, whom in conjunction with Leonard M. Fowle, was a founder of college racing.

Racing got underway around 10:30 a.m. CDT under partly cloudy skies and winds from the south-southeast at around 12 knots. Temperatures were in the mid 80s.

The format for the event started with group matches, two seven-team single round robins. In group one: St. Mary’s College of Maryland, Roger Williams University, University of Wisconsin, Brown University, College of Charleston, University of Texas A&M Galveston and the University of Michigan. In group two: Boston College, Georgetown University, Stanford University, Hobart and William Smith Colleges, University of Oregon, University of Miami and the University of California at Santa Barbara.

The top four teams from each group advance into a Gold round, which is a double round robin. The races from the initial Group round carry over into the Gold round, so in the first Gold round robin only teams that did not sail each other in the Group round will compete against each other.

Once the Gold round robins are complete, the top four teams will sail a single round robin, or a 'final four,' to determine the final top teams. A single Silver round robin is also sailed to determine places 9-14.

Today the competitors were able to complete the Group rounds and the first Gold round robin, 58 races in all. The races are being sailed on a collegiate N course, which has a windward mark, a windward offset mark and then down to a leeward mark—all marks to starboard—and finish upwind. The N course allows for long upwind and downwind legs as well as a being great course to run multiple races on at once.

The group rounds went off without a hitch as the winds behaved and Principal Race Officer Chris Gaffney and his team ran racing efficiently. The course was close enough to shore for great spectating and rotating between races. The round ended with, in group one Brown and Charleston on top with five wins and group two Hobart and Stanford were on top with five wins as well.

The top four teams from group one (in order): Brown, Charleston, St. Mary’s and Roger Williams. The top four from group two (in order): Hobart and William Smith, Stanford, Boston College and Georgetown.

The Silver round robin will include: Wisconsin, Texas A&M Galveston, Michigan, University of Calif. Santa Barbara, Miami and Oregon.

The Gold round got started around 3:30 p.m. and finished around 6 p.m. The air was warm around 88 degrees and winds continued to come from a south-southeasterly direction around 10-12 knots with puffs around 15 knots—pretty perfect team racing conditions.

The top eight teams competing in the Gold round are very evenly matched and Adam Werblow, head coach for St. Mary’s College says, 'Any team can win.' He says the rest of the regatta will be a game of who can play the game best. St. Mary’s ended the day in second place with 5 wins, just as the College of Charleston and Brown University did.

He says their team had some real battles today on the racecourse, coming out on top in some, but losing others—showing just how tough the other seven teams are going to be to beat in the coming races. Werblow says their plan is to just keep winning races. They know they have seven races tomorrow and will hope to do well enough that after the Gold round they will have more to sail.

Werblow says their star of the day was Ben Lezin ’12 (Santa Cruz, Calif.), who crewed when the winds got heavier, 'He was a difference maker, he was able to out hike people,' Werblow says. They were able to roll a few boats to leeward and get out ahead, he says. The other sailors representing St. Mary’s today were skippers Victor Diaz de Leon’12, John Wallace ’14 and Joshua Greenslade ’13 with crews Katie Gluskin ’13, Kelly Merryman ’14 and Kayla McComb ’13.

Teams will report tomorrow at 9 a.m. and racing in the Silver round will begin around 10 a.m. followed by the second Gold round. The conditions for tomorrow are predicted to be a little warmer in the low 90s with winds 8-12 knots from the south-southeast. There are two more days of racing for the ICSA/APS Team Race Nationals.

Day One Results
Gold Round 1 – number of wins out of seven races

1. College of Charleston - 5
2. St. Mary’s College - 5
3. Brown University - 5
4. Boston College - 4
5. Hobart and William Smith - 3
6. Stanford University - 3
7. Roger Williams University - 2
8. Georgetown University - 2

Complete results and regatta information on website

Watch live media coverage of the ICSA/APS Team Race Championship by clicking on the Live Media link at 2012nationals.collegesailing.org. The University of Texas will provide daily text and photo updates and Chris Love Productions will provide video highlights of the opening day of racing, with live streaming video coverage of the final two days, June 4-5. Video coverage presented by Maclaren.

To view or purchase photos of the action from Team Race Nationals, visit the link for photographer Bruce McDonald. He will be updating the gallery daily: http://www.mcdonaldphoto.com/Sailing/2012-Intercollegiate

Maclaren is the pre-eminent lifestyle brand for parenting. For nearly 50 years Maclaren has stood for excellence, empowerment and innovation, and is best known for the creation of the first umbrella buggy, which revolutionized baby transport. Like Maclaren, the sport of sailing encompasses a complete lifestyle with a rich heritage. In an effort to spread the positive impact of sailing, the Maclaren Sailing Sponsorship Programme promotes participation and retention in the sport of sailing on a global basis. Maclaren sponsors a variety of sailors and regattas around the world including training and community initiatives. Please visit www.maclarenbaby.com for more information.

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 www.collegesailing.org to learn more. The ICSA National Championships are sponsored by Sperry Top-Sider (www.sperrytopsider.com), Annapolis Performance Sailing (www.apsltd.com), Gill North America (www.gillna.com), and US SAILING (home.ussailing.org).