THE STANDINGS FOR THE WOMEN'S FINALS HAVE BEEN CORRECTED FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE May 31, 2012 Contact: Jen Vandemoer Mitchell | Toile à Voile for ICSA | [email protected] | 763-234-8286 m.
Photo Credit: Bruce McDonald Photography SPERRY TOP-SIDER/ICSA WOMEN’S SEMI-FINALS AND NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS, DAY TWO Austin, Texas (May 31, 2012) – Racing continued at the Austin Yacht Club venue on Lake Travis today wrapping up the Sperry Top-Sider/ICSA Women’s Semi-Final Championships and beginning the Sperry Top-Sider/ICSA Women’s National Championships. The teams, which represent the seven collegiate sailing districts in the nation, are competing for the Gerald C. Miller Trophy, named for the coach in the late 1960s at Boston University, who was one of the originators of the first women’s nationals. The sailors arrived to temperatures in the 80s, partly cloudy skies and a light 5-knot breeze from an easterly direction. The first race of the day was the seventh race in B-division in the Semi-Finals series around 9:30 a.m. CDT. Four races were completed this morning in the Semi-Finals series, one in A-division and three in B-division. The first race started in light breeze and was won by the University of Rhode Island, who are defending champions of the Gerald C. Miller Trophy. They were followed by Connecticut College and Washington College. In the second race, 8B, the boat side of the line was heavily favored and there were four general recalls before getting underway. When A-division took to the water the breeze built to 8-10 knots with 12-knot gusts. More shifts were seen across the course making it important for the sailors to get into the correct groove and hit the shifts accordingly. As a storm cell approached for the last two races of the Semis series the wind continued to build to a steady 15 knots and then up to 25-30 knots from the northeast. About a dozen capsizes littered the fleet as everyone worked hard to finish the last race. The nine teams that qualified from the Semi-Finals series, listed in order, include: Connecticut College, College of Charleston, Brown University, University of Rhode Island, Dartmouth College, Harvard University, University of Hawaii, St. Mary’s College of Maryland and Eckerd College. There was a 65-point spread between first and ninth place. St. Mary’s and Eckerd, the final teams to qualify, tied for eighth place. The National Championships got underway just after 2 p.m. The storm had passed and racing began under sunny skies in 5-7 knots of wind from the east-southeast. Over the next two sets of races the wind began to die to eventually nothing after the first race in B-division. The sailors were sent in to cool down from the hot Texas sun and wait for more wind to fill in. The wind came in from the north at about 5-7 knots around 5 p.m. The conditions continued to be shifty with the wind cycling up and down between 5 and 10 knots. At times the pin end was heavily favored due to left shifts, which made it important for the sailors to find a hole at that end to be in the top of the fleet off of the line. “Some of the shifts that came down the course were big and lasted almost the entire windward leg,” Greg Wilkinson, head coach of Boston College says. He says his team did their best to sail the shifts and stay in velocity. The girls also managed to get decent starts and put themselves in the front of the group off the line, he says. Sailing for Boston College is Annie Haeger ’12 and Laura McKenna ’13 in A-division and Briana Provancha ’12 and Beth Barnard ’15 in B-division. Four races were completed in A-division and two races were completed in B-division today in the final series for the Sperry Top-Sider/ICSA Women’s National Championship. Racing will continue at 9 a.m. tomorrow and conditions are predicted to be sunny in the high 80s with winds around 7 knots. Visit the event website for more information and compete results from each day’s racing, 2012nationals.collegesailing.org. There are two more days of competition scheduled for the women’s regatta. Top Nine Teams: 1. Boston College 2. Harvard University 3. University of South Florida 4. Connecticut College 5. Georgetown University 6. Yale University 7. University of Rhode Island 8. College of Charleston 9. Stanford University 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. 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]
