FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE May 30, 2012 Contact: Jen Vandemoer Mitchell | Toile à Voile for ICSA | [email protected] | 763-234-8286 m.
SPERRY TOP-SIDER/ICSA WOMEN’S SEMI-FINAL CHAMPIONSHIP DAY ONE Austin, Texas (May 30, 2012) – The 2012 Intercollegiate Sailing Association’s series of National Championships began today on Lake Travis in Austin, Texas with the Sperry-Topsider/ICSA Women’s Semi-Final Championship. The Semi-Finals are the precursor to the Women’s National Championship slated to begin Thursday, May 31 at 1 p.m. CDT provided that all qualifying races are completed. The events are co-hosted by the University of Texas Sailing Team and the Austin Yacht Club. Nine teams have already qualified for the National Championship: Georgetown University, University of Michigan, Stanford University, University of Texas, University of South Florida, U.S. Naval Academy, Boston College, Yale University and Western Washington University. Nine more teams will qualify over the next two days from the 18 currently racing in the Semi-Finals. Teams arrived to cloudy skies, 77 degrees and a light rain this morning at Austin Yacht Club. Winds were from the south-southeast at about nine knots. As the day progressed the skies cleared to reveal sunshine on and off and temperatures soared to the high 80s and low 90s with south-southeast winds staying around 10 knots. Eager sailors in A-division crossed the starting line before the gun in the first race, causing the race committee to hail a general recall. The second start was a success and racing was underway around 10:30 a.m. Teams are sailing in Club FJ’s on a windward/leeward course 4 laps around. A-division completed eight races today while B-division completed six. There were a couple more general recalls in the beginning of the day as it was a priority to sail to the right side of the course where the wind and shifts were better making a good start at the pin difficult. “The conditions today were very nice and the breeze stayed pretty steady, 11 to 12 knots with not too much chop,” Mike O’Connor, head coach of Harvard University says. O’Connor says the shifts were pretty visible on the course and nothing like the dramatic shifts they are used to seeing where they sail on the Charles River. Sailing for Harvard was Emily Lambert ’12 and Isabel Ruane ’14 in A-division and Morgan Russom ’14 and Alexandra Jumper ’12 in B-division. Harvard is happy to be sitting in fourth place after the first day of racing, a qualifying position, but O’Connor says they hope to move up in the standings tomorrow. After a couple of difficult starts and a few missteps on the course in the middle of the day, the Harvard sailors were able to shake it off and come back with better finishes, O’Connor says. They learned from their mistakes and are ready to come back stronger tomorrow. The scores are close with the top two teams, the College of Charleston and Connecticut College, only one point apart, 70 and 71 points respectively. The University of Rhode Island and Harvard are tied with 89 points—however, Harvard loses the tiebreaker. Dartmouth College is only two points behind Rhode Island and Harvard with 91 points in fifth place. Semi-Finals racing will continue tomorrow morning starting at 9 a.m. Teams already qualified for the Nationals will arrive mid-morning to check in and hopefully fit in some practice in the boats before their start. When 16 races between A and B-division are completed, the National Championships are scheduled to begin. For more results and information about the regattas visit the event website: 2012nationals.collegesailing.org Top Nine Teams, Day 1: 1. College of Charleston 2. Connecticut College 3. University of Rhode Island 4. Harvard University 5. Dartmouth College 6. Brown University 7. University of Hawaii 8. St. Mary’s College of Maryland 9. Hobart and William Smith Colleges Watch live media coverage of the final day of the Sperry Top-Sider/ICSA Women's Semifinal on May 31 by clicking on the Live Media link at 2012nationals.collegesailing.org. The University of Texas will provide daily text and photo updates for each of the regattas and Chris Love Productions will provide video highlights, presented by Maclaren. *CORRECTION: There will not be a Women’s Clinic for the teams that do not qualify for the Sperry-Topsider/ICSA Women’s National Championship as stated in the previous release. 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). -- Jennifer Vandemoer Mitchell Toile à Voile, LLC for ICSA [email protected] 763.234.8286 m. ________________________________________________ icsa mailing list [email protected] http://www.collegesailing.org/mailman/?listname=icsa Unsubscribe: Send a blank email to [email protected]
