FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE June 3, 2014 Contact: Jen Vandemoer Mitchell | Toile à Voile for ICSA | [email protected] | 763-234-8286 m. Photo credit: Brian Schneider/www.ebrianschneider.com
GILL COED NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP, SEMI-FINALS DAY ONE St. Mary’s City, Md. (June 3, 2014) – Today was the first day of the Gill Coed National Championship Semi-Finals, hosted by St. Mary’s College of Maryland. The top 36 collegiate sailing teams in the nation reported to the regatta venue on the St. Mary’s River in St. Mary’s City, Md. to compete for 18 spots in the championship finals, which will begin on Thursday, June 5th. The semi-finals are divided into two fleets, an Eastern and Western semi-final fleet, each with 18 teams. The top nine teams from each fleet will advance to the finals on Thursday. The sailors are racing on an inner and outer trapezoid course in both FJs and Z420s. Each fleet sails one type of boat one day and swaps boats the next day. Today, the Western fleet sailed in 420s on the outer course and the Eastern in FJs on the inner course. This morning the skies were mostly sunny with temperatures in the high 70s, rising to the 80s by the afternoon. Clouds and a thunderstorm came through in the late afternoon. Racing got underway around 9:30 a.m. today, but the winds were light and spotty at around 5 knots from the southwest and dying. The race officials were able to complete two races in A-division and B-division in both of the fleets this morning, but the wind died out and the sailors went to shore to wait for more breeze. After trying to get on the water a couple of times this afternoon the breeze never filled in. A thunderstorm came through around 5 p.m. and the race officials were hoping for wind to fill after that, but unfortunately it still did not. By about 7 p.m. the officials called the racing for the day and they will try again tomorrow. After the few races today in really light conditions Yale University is in the lead in the Western fleet and Georgetown University is in the lead in the Eastern fleet. Yale did not place out of the top three in either division today and Georgetown got three firsts and a sixth place finish. “We had two great starts today and we didn’t get too trapped at the edges,” Bill Healy says, assistant coach for Yale. Despite the wind forecast for tomorrow predicting more light air, Healy says, “We are not worried about tomorrow. We had two great races today.” Sailing for Yale is: Graham Landy '15 with Katherine Gaumond '15 in A-division and Ian Barrows '17 with Meredith Megarry '17 in B-division. “Today was mostly about straight line boat speed,” Mike Callahan says, head coach for Georgetown. “We were happy to not have a bad finish,” he says. With so few races completed today and a final championship still to go Callahan says, “You don’t want to dial it back [in this portion of the event], but you need to balance not taking too many risks.” Sailing for Georgetown is: Nevin Snow '16 with Katia DaSilva '15 in A-division and Alex Post '15 with Bettina Redway '16 in B-division. There are still 16 races to sail in both A and B-division in each fleet. The first warning for racing is at 9:30 a.m. tomorrow. No race can start after 5 p.m. To view or purchase photos from this event or the previous championships visit this gallery on photographer Bill Schneider’s website: http://www.ebrianschneider.com/gallery-collection/2014-ICSA-National-Championships/C0000zZpBRnclJuY For additional regatta information and full results visit the event website: http://2014nationals.collegesailing.org/ Top Nine Teams Eastern Semi-Final, Day 1: 1. Georgetown University, 9 2. Connecticut College, 10 3. U.S. Naval Academy, 16 4. College of Charleston, 18 5. Dartmouth College, 23 6. Tufts University, 28 7. University of California at Santa Barbara, 35* 8. Stanford University, 35* 9. U.S. Coast Guard Academy, 35* * Head-to-head tiebreaker Top Nine Teams Western Semi-Final, Day 1: 1. Yale University, 8 2. Bowdoin College, 18 3. Brown University, 21 4. University of Hawaii, 22 5. St. Mary’s College of Maryland, 24 6. Old Dominion University, 25* 7. University of South Florida, 25* 8. Harvard University, 29 9. Eckerd College, 32 * Number of high-place (1) finishes To follow live media coverage of the Gill Coed Dinghy National Championship, click on the Live Media link at http://2014nationals.collegesailing.org/. Social media updates are provided daily by collegesailing.org. Gary Jobson and Chris Love will be filming portions of the Championships for an ESPNU segment, which will initially air on July 13. CORRECTION: In yesterday’s release following the APS Team Race National Championship, Natalya Doris '17 also competed on the Yale University winning team. 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 sponsors and partners are: LaserPerformance ( www.laserperformance.com), title sponsor of LaserPerformance Men’s and Women’s Singlehanded National Championships and Official Boat Supplier of the ICSA Spring National Championships. Sperry Top-Sider ( www.sperrytopsider.com), title sponsor of the Sperry Top-Sider / ICSA Women’s National Championship; Gill North America (www.gillna.com), title sponsor of the Gill / ICSA National Championship; Quantum Sail Design Group (www.quantumsails.com/), official sponsor of the “Quantum Women’s College Sailor of the Year”; Annapolis Performance Sailing (www.apsltd.com), title Sponsor of the APS / ICSA Team Race National Championship; Marlow Ropes ( www.marlowropes.com/), presenting sponsor of the “Marlow Ropes College Sailor of the Year Award” and Official Rope of College Sailing; US Sailing ( home.ussailing.org), supporting sponsor of the ICSA National Championships. CD1_brianschneider2.jpg <https://docs.google.com/a/collegesailing.org/file/d/0B9gT73D-LK0hY1JpdGlGdktIVnc/edit?usp=drive_web> CD1_brianschneider4.jpg <https://docs.google.com/a/collegesailing.org/file/d/0B9gT73D-LK0hcVBJck9ST2ppdms/edit?usp=drive_web> CD1_brianschneider3.jpg <https://docs.google.com/a/collegesailing.org/file/d/0B9gT73D-LK0hXzcxcUhvZ1BndVU/edit?usp=drive_web> CD1_brianschneider1.jpg <https://docs.google.com/a/collegesailing.org/file/d/0B9gT73D-LK0hODBiN2J0WXZQWTA/edit?usp=drive_web> -- Jennifer V. Mitchell | [email protected]
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