PCCSC News


Conference Championships!


Written by Chris Klevan, photos by Rob Migliaccio

There are moments, small and large, that cumulatively define a college sailor’s experience. It is hard to predict when these moments will materialize as something more than a single race or regatta. But if one had to guess, regattas like the War, Schell and Urn tend to hold their own place in the minds of college sailors past and present.

#1 Brown University won the Victorian Coffee Urn Trophy hosted by Bowdoin University. The Brown Bears edged #8 Boston College in the protest room after all other teams had left thinking Boston College won in a tie breaker.  The Urn was an event that featured 11 of the top 20 ranked women’s team in the nation.

In the final race of the regatta, Boston College’s A-Division boat, Sophia Reineke ‘21 and Tara Ferraris ‘19 were attempting to protect a 3 points lead against Brown. Brown’s A-Division boat, Hannah Steadman ‘20 with Maxine De Havenon ‘19, Annabelle Hutchinson ‘21 and Emily Ito ‘19 had been sailing extremely well, stringing together all top-3s from race 2 to race 10. However, the tandem had stumbled a bit in the latter stages of the event opening the door for BC to hold a slim lead going into the last set.

BC’s Reineke and Ferraris knew to beat Brown they had to put up a good score. Unfortunately, however, Reineke and Ferraris had to tack in the zone at the top mark to stay in position to hold off Steadman and Brown. They fouled with many witnesses present. After the DSQ in race 14A, BC found themselves 15 boats back from the regatta win.

Though the regatta ended in a protest, Brown’s win came largely due to a 12 point victory in B-Division by Sophie Hibben ‘19, Emma Montgomery ‘22 and Megha Malpani ‘19.

“Our B-division of Sophie Hibben '19 and crews Emma Montgomery '22 and Megs Malpani '19 have been steadily improving all fall and they really executed well at the Urn,” said Brown Coach John Mollicone, “Their starts were conservative but really good for most of the event and their speed and decision making was at the top of the fleet.” Mr. Mollicone continued to say:

“Winning both divisions was a plus, Hannah Steadman '20 has won her division three weekends in a row (Showcase at Brown and Yale Women's as well) so she has been really locked in as of late. Great starts and execution as well. She has a great group of crews that she sails with: Maxine de Havenon '19, Emily Ito '19, and Annabelle Hutchinson '21.”

“Right now we have a lot of women's depth, our other strong women's boat sailed B-division at the Schell. We are happy about how we have been doing but still lots of room for improvement, particularly in lighter breeze like we saw at Nationals last spring.”

“The entire group really dealt well with the cold, wet, and at times miserable conditions at the Urn. It was total group effort and they were mentally prepared for it and kept a positive attitude at all times.”

Brown seems to be the top women’s team in the nation as their typical A-Division starter, Ragna Agerup ‘20 and Abigayle Konys ‘19 sailed B-Division for Brown at the NEISA Coed Championship.

#2 Yale finished 3rd with 149 points.


 

#3 Hobart and William Smith won the War Memorial at Navy. HWS finished the full, 36 race regatta with 170 points, 11 better than #2 Georgetown. “The course was the right length at full 20 minute plus races and the top boats had time to sail to the front of the pack,” said HWS coach Scott Ikle. “It was shifty but not crazy shifty and the top 3 teams had a boat speed edge and did a better job playing the shifts.”

“The conditions were great, beautiful wind, everyone got to sail,” continued Ikle. “It was a great event and Navy did a great job running it. One race could have shuffled the top 3 teams.”

Both HWS boats, Hector Guzman ‘20 with Chase Carraway ‘22 and Maya Weber ‘20 in A-Division  and Charles Miller ‘19 with Lindsey Kloc ‘19 and Kyle Easton ‘20 in B finished second, including a 1,2,1 finish by Guzman and Weber to close out the regatta. Miller, Kloc and Easton finished with only 2 races outside the top-8 and Guzman, Carraway and Weber had 3. The B division boat had 9 finishes inside the top 3 while the A division boat scored 7.

The recent emergence of Charles Miller has been a game changer for the HWS team. The third skipper from last year’s team stepped into the starting role as Marlow College Sailor of the year finalist, Greiner Hobbs graduated. Miller, sailing primarily with Lindsey Kloc, has been one of the best in B-Division all year, displayed by a second place finish at the Showcase Finals last weekend. Ms. Kloc is one of the best crews in the nation this year and in their performance this is a team poised to challenge Yale in the spring. Miller and Kloc deserve a lot of credit for how HWS has finished the fall season and will be a major factor as they make a run at the National Championship in the Spring.

#2 Georgetown finished second with 181 points behind a B-Division win by Andy Reiter ‘19 sailing with Calire Mohun ‘19, Caroline Teare ‘21 and Haley Shea ‘19. Reiter, Mohun, Teare and Shea finished the regatta with 10 straight races inside the top-4. It was the effort of the B-Division boat that prevented HWS from pulling away.

#10 Navy finished 3rd with 198 points. Like Georgetown, it was the sailing of freshman Joseph Hermus with Kent Mathes ‘20 and Ana Mier ‘19 that kept the midshipmen in the hunt. Hermus, Mathes and Mier finished the regatta with 10 top-5s in the final 12 races sailed in B-Division.

“I was very impressed with Navy,” said Ikle. “I’m always impressed with Georgetown.”


 

The #1 Yale Bulldogs won the 78th Professor Schell Trophy held at Dartmouth College in a wintry mix. Patchy 0 to 10 knot breezes from various directions dictated the New England Championship as Lake Mascoma rewarded only sailors with refined boat handling and focus. Variable conditions coupled with extreme cold caused racing to develop slowly as races 8A and B were finished in absolute darkness with judge boats with running lights marked the finish line.

After Saturday’s racing it was #6 Harvard that held the lead as Henry Burnes ‘21 and Catherine Tang ‘19 had the day’s low score, finishing with three bullets in the 8 races sailed with and 6 of the 8 races were finished inside the top-3. “They couldn’t make a bad call.” said Harvard coach Bern Noack.

Despite the impressive sailing by Harvard, both Yale and #13 Dartmouth were within striking distance after Saturday at 12 and 6 point back respectively. Dartmouth hung around the entire event as Chris Williford ‘19 and Rebecca McElvain finished with only two races outside the top-7 en route to a second place finish in A-Division. Such consistency was especially impressive due to the instability of the conditions.

The conditions seemed to be getting the best of Nicholas Baird ‘19 and Sonia Lingos-Utley ‘21 as they scored three double digit finishes in the first 6 races sailed, a score-line uncharacteristic for Baird, a serious candidate for this year’s Marlow Coed College Sailor of the year, and Lingos-Utley, one of the best young crews in the game today. However, Baird and Lingos-Utley clearly figured it out after 6A, streaking 7 straight top-3 finishes, helping to spark Yale’s comeback.

“Graceann went in with Nic B for races 7&8A to end the day on a high note in the Z420’s,” said Yale Coach Bill Healy. “On Sunday with Sonia it was just focusing on the course; wind angle, wind location, fleet behavior, things like that. They had a good understanding of how to get off the line without being immediately at risk of missing the angle and puff that would take a group out of reach of the other group. That's what hurt them on Saturday.”

If it was Baird and Lingos-Utley catching fire that spurred Yale’s come-from-behind victory, it was the efforts of Nick Hernandez ‘19 and Catherine Webb ‘22 in B-Division that kept Yale in position to win. Hernandez and Webb won B-Division with 70 points in 14 races and nothing outside the top-11. While they only won one race, they managed to finish inside the top 5 in ten of the 14 races sailed, clearly posting the most consistent scoreline at the event.

“Nick H and Catherine were just Steady Eddies's,” said Healy. “Nothing flashy.  They took very little risk and didn’t try and earn something that wasn’t there.  Good starts and a VERY GOOD understanding of how to work the shifts and velocity changes on the beats. They were fantastic. That was their strong suit.”

Hernandez is having a sneaky good season in winning his division at the NEISA Conference Champs and the Showcase Finals along with 3 other top-4 finishes in A-Division at interconference events this fall.

Mr. Healy continued, “It was cold and wet and making sure we had the right gear on helped.  It was hard for crews to stay warm and I think our crews did a little better than most in that respect.  This helped them stay engaged on all races mentally and physically. Dartmouth is a tough place to be consistent against such strong competition.  Instead of getting down after a tough race, it was ‘What did we learn from that last race to help in the future’?”

Connor Harding ‘19 and Jen Agell ‘19 of #9 Roger Williams University won A-Division in impressive fashion. Harding and Agell went on a run early in the regatta where they posted firsts in 4 of 5 straight races. Both sailors embody the spirit of college sailing as they’ve proven throughout this fall season that with hard work and a commitment to the sport you can beat anyone regardless of junior sailing resume.

Dartmouth finished second with 165 points, 18 points behind Yale. Harvard finished third with 180.


 

College of Charleston won both the SAISA Women’s and the SAISA Coed Championship last weekend. The perennial team to beat in SAISA maintained their impressive record against their conference. The Women’s event took place on Saturday alone and the Coed regatta was started Saturday and sailed primarily on Sunday.

Alie Toppa ‘20 and Annabel Carrington ‘19 won A-Division at the Women’s event handily, winning 6 of the 10 races sailed. The other 4 races were finished with seconds.. Toppa and Carrington have been one of the best women’s boats throughout the fall season. Liza Toppa ‘20 with Caroline Bracken ‘19 won B-Division capping another dominant in-conference regatta for Charleston.

#11 Charleston finished with 39 points in 20 races. Jacksonville finished second with 57 and USF finished 3rd with 62.

#10 Charleston won the SAISA Fall Coed Champs, also winning both divisions. Jack Brown ‘21 and Caroline Bracken won A-Division and Alie Toppa ‘20 and Annabel Carrington ‘19 won B. Brown and Bracken finishing inside the top-2 in 7 of the 9 races sailed and toppa and Carringot sailed with all top-4 finishes.

Eckerd finished second with 80, 36 points behind Charleston's 44 and USF finished 3rd with 80 as well.


 

UC Santa Barbara won the PCCSC Fall Women's Champs with 143 points after 17 races in each division. The Gauchos finished first and second in the combined division event behind the low score by Kerri Luttrell ‘21 and Olivia Beers ‘21, finishing with 65 points. Finishing second was Madeline Kraud ‘20 and Mary Toomey ‘21.

University of Southern California finished second with 211 and University of California at Los Angeles finished 3rd with 263.


 

While last weekend capped off competition in dinghy sailing. The Men’s and Women’s singlehanded national championship is set to take place next weekend and the ICSA Match Racing Championship will be sailed in two weekends.

Yale’s Nick Baird ‘19 will sail the Men’s Singlehanded championship despite finishing 5th, one spot outside of qualification at the NEISA Men's Singlehanded Championship. The change occured because Boston University’s Javier De Urdanibia Panos ‘21 is in the hospital. We wish Javier a speedy recovery.


 

All information on the Intercollegiate Sailing Association can be found at collegesailing.org. All scores can be found at scores.collegesailing.org. Thank you for your support!