PCCSC News


College Sailing Nationals Set to begin in Oregon


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

May 19, 2011
Contact: Jennifer Vandemoer Mitchell
763-234-8286
toileavoile@gmail.com

The teams have been finalized and the 2011 Intercollegiate Sailing Association’s National Championships will begin next week and continue for nine days including three regattas.

Cascade Locks, OR (May 20, 2011) – The Intercollegiate Sailing Association’s three national championships, Sperry Top-Sider / ICSA Women’s National Championship, APS / ICSA Team Race National Championship, and the Gill / ICSA Dinghy National Championship commence Monday, May 23 with the Women’s event, which will last for four days immediately followed by the Team Race Championship and the Dinghy Championship consecutively 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 Cascade Locks, Oregon approximately 40 minutes east of Portland, on the Columbia River Gorge where the currents and winds can be particularly strong and challenging for the competitors. The strong winds are due to temperature gradients between the desert and Pacific coast while the cold and quick moving currents are due to the large volume of water the river carries and the chilly snowmelt and runoff that flow into the river. The Columbia Gorge Racing Association (www.cgra.org) and the Northwest Intercollegiate Sailing Association (www.nwicsa.com) are hosting the events and have been working diligently to arrange for a series of races at their beautiful venue. To learn more about which teams are competing and to follow the racing live, visit the event website (2011nationals.collegesailing.info).

The Women’s Championship starts Monday morning with an 8 a.m. report time, 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 May 26.

For the nine women’s teams that did not make it to the Final round there will be a clinic for them to participate in May 25 -26, run by head coach Jen Morgan-Glass, a board member of the Skiff Sailing Foundation and President of the U.S. 29er Class. Kyle Eaton, the Regatta Coordinator for the events, is particularly excited to have Morgan-Glass come with a team of skiff coaches, 29ers and 29erXX boats for the women to practice in, “with the ISAF announcement of the Women’s Skiff Class in the 2016 Olympics, this is a great opportunity for women sailors to be introduced to the class. They will be sailing on site with the Finals racing which adds another element of excitement.” The clinic will include drills and racing for the women to rotate through and gain a solid introduction to the boats.

The Sperry Top-Sider / ICSA Women’s Championship will culminate in an awards banquet at 6:00 p.m. at the Port of Cascade Locks Pavilion, with dinner and the announcement of the winners of the event. Jen Morgan-Glass will also be a guest speaker at the banquet. 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 May 27 for the APS / ICSA 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. Group One will race first in the morning and Group Two will commence racing at 1 p.m. on May 27. 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 May 29 followed by an awards banquet at 6 p.m. at the Port of Cascade Locks Pavilion to award the winners and enjoy dinner.

The Gill / ICSA Dinghy National Championship will commence May 30 at 8 a.m. for 18 qualified collegiate coed teams. It will be a single round robin of racing scheduled to continue through June 1. The teams will be competing for the Henry A. Morse Memorial Trophy and the winners will be awarded at a banquet held at the Port of Cascade Locks Pavilion at 6 p.m. Morgan Larson, a world celebrated American sailor will be a guest speaker for the evening. Other awards presented at this banquet will include the ICSA All-America Teams, the Fowle Trophy for the overall top team in the country, 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 9 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. To learn more and follow the racing live visit the event website: 2011nationals.collegesailing.info

 

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).