2026 ICSA Men’s Singlehanded Nationals Selections Preview
Contributed By S1D Community Member Charles Barclay
The 2026 ICSA Men’s Singlehanded Nationals for the Robert Foster Trophy will be held November 7–8 at American Yacht Club in Rye, New York. Selections for the event are expected to be announced this week.
The championship rotates through districts, with teams bidding to host the event. Lacking a varsity team, MCSA typically does not bid to host. ZIM Sailing transports more than 36 boats to each event in concert with the ISSA singlehanded championship (the Cressy) the week before. SEISA’s Tulane hosted the event in 2023 and will again in 2027. Old Dominion hosted in 2025. South Florida hosted in 2024.
Past winners and a who’s who of singlehanded talent can be found in the Glen S. Foster Trophy Hall of Fame.
Previous winners have had illustrious careers in sailing, including Olympians, America’s Cup winners, and pro sailors. Occasionally, a club team sailor like Texan Bruce Mahoney will win. More recently, Olympic hopeful Daniel Escudero of Webb Institute won in 2025. Canadian sailors from Kingston’s Queen’s University have won three times.
Runners-up earn a spot on the George Griswold Trophy, also stacked with talent.
How the Field of 18 Is Determined:
Six Districts, Six Berths
The first six berths go to the winners of each District Championship. District Championships are held beginning the second weekend of the season and continue into October.
NEISA (New England) and MAISA (Mid Atlantic) are the biggest districts, with 20 or more sailors competing. Historically, these two districts send the lion’s share to the Foster Trophy. MAISA is so big they hold two qualifiers (North and South) to get into the District qualifier (Carl Van Duyne Trophy)! In comparison, the SEISA district had only four competitors this year. SAISA had fifteen competitors.
Results for 2026 District Championships, in order of occurrence:
Twelve At-Large Berths
Twelve berths are awarded based on sailors’ performance in ICSA events only. ILCA events outside of ICSA are not to be considered.
The next rule is that everyone above an at-large selectee in the District Championship must also be selected. So if the committee selects an athlete who finished seventh in the District Championship, then second through sixth place must also get berths. This level of fairness is something that a résumé alone does not provide.
This selection process favors upperclassmen with ICSA records and freshmen who compete every weekend until selection. Those are the rules.
The selection committee is made up of five members serving multi-year terms. All are seasoned and of strong repute.
2026 District Winners, My Rankings, and a Bit About Them
1. SEISA: Hamilton Barclay* | Tulane ’27
As a freshman and a junior, Barclay won the runner-up Griswold Trophy (’23, ’25). A shoulder injury ended his season in 2024. He won three SEISA Championships with 13 wins in 14 races, and is a member of US Sailing’s ODP.
Barclay won the 2025 Jr. Pan Am Games and the ILCA 7 Senior National Championship (2024 and 2026). He benefits from the author’s admitted bias (related).
2. PCCSC: Thomas Sitzmann | Stanford ’27
Sitzmann is not an ILCA sailor but will be an ICSA Hall of Fame candidate in the future. He is a phenomenal sailor. He finished third last year in the Foster with little time in the boat.
He is a multi-time national champion in ICSA and ISSA doublehanded sailing and World Champion in the I420 in high school. Sitzmann led his Severn Academy to dominate the Mid Atlantic high school scene.
3. SAISA: Will Rucker* | College of Charleston ’28
This is Rucker’s third trip to the Foster. He’s won the SAISA District Championship twice and placed third last year.
Rucker won the 2026 ILCA ACC event in Charleston this June. He is a technically very proficient sailor, both on tactics and boat handling, and doesn’t mind working for results.
4. NEISA: James Pine* | Brown ’30
Pine is considered a generational talent by some. Pine’s exceptional fall record includes winning NEISA’s match racing championship and beating Yale’s highly accomplished keelboat team twice.
Pine is undersized for the ILCA 7, but was one of the best in the ILCA 6. If the wind is light to moderate, he will win races.
5. MAISA: Cole Fanchi* | Navy ’30
Fanchi sailed with the Lauderdale Yacht Club program. He won the last race of the MAISA Championship to take the lead.
Fanchi has solid boat handling skills and a keen sense of course tactics in the ILCA. He placed in the top 10 in ILCA 6 Grand Prix rankings and in numerous national events.
6. MCSA: Chris Draper | Purdue ’29
Draper finished second in the MCSA Championship in ’25, and scored five of six bullets in the 2026 MCSA Championship.
Unfortunately, MCSA has no varsity teams to sharpen his skills. Draper does not appear in any ILCA class events, but perhaps he can build on his dominant performance at the District and make magic happen at the Foster Trophy.
My Twelve At-Large Picks (Plus Two)
1. Peter Barnard ’27 | Georgetown
Previous winner of MAISA District. Barnard is the only senior who competed in the last three Foster Trophies. His finishes at the Foster have been 11th, sixth, and eighth. He’s keen to move up.
Barnard was the 2022 ILCA 6 Men’s World Champion. He knows how to win and was a dominant ILCA 6 sailor from mid-2021 through mid-2023.
Barnard’s record for Georgetown
2. Jake Homberger ’29 | Boston College
Runner-up NEISA, member of US ODP.
Homberger is quiet and very, very effective. Along with Barnard, he learned his skills at Lauderdale Yacht Club. The Floridian is ideally sized for the ILCA and was competitive last year as a freshman, even in the light wind at ODU.
Homberger’s record for the Eagles
3. William Baker* ’29 | Brown
Third place NEISA and 2025 Youth Champs winner.
Baker finished second in the 2022 ILCA 6 Men’s Worlds. Baker has good speed, especially in medium to light air. This will be his first trip to the Foster.
4. Tommy Kraak ’28 | College of Charleston
The Californian lives very near the site of the 2028 Olympics. He is tall and hikes hard.
Kraak placed second in SAISA this year and 13th in the Foster in 2025. He is a US ODP member.
5. Zack Brown* ’30 | Texas A&M Galveston
Another Texan and runner-up in SEISA, member of US ODP.
Brown placed first or second in his three regattas as a freshman, all without a coach! Brown won the 2025 ILCA Grand Prix and was runner-up at the 2026 ILCA US Nationals.
In the heavy air SEISA qualifier at Corpus Christi, he led races until the last hundred or so feet. Brown’s challenge is scarcity of events (three) for the Sea Aggies.
6. Jackson Bjorklund* ’29 | Miami
Third place SAISA, one point behind Kraak.
Bjorklund currently leads 2026 ILCA 7 Grand Prix points. He finished third at the 2026 US ILCA Nationals. Bjorklund splits his time between Florida and New Jersey.
7. Nicholas Mueller ’27 | Cal Maritime
Mueller competed in the Foster as a freshman and sophomore. Last year, his focus was on gaining sea time.
He represented the US in 2023 at the ILCA Youth Worlds in the ILCA 6.
8. Tate Christopher ’29 | Tulane
Christopher competed as a freshman last year at the Foster, and in 2024 won the Cressy in the ILCA 7.
His substantial record can be found here: Christopher’s record
9. Owen Fretwell ’30 | St. Mary’s
Third in MAISA.
Fretwell has competed in five regattas this fall for St. Mary’s and has a strong record as a freshman.
10. Richard Pokorny ’29 | Coast Guard
The New Jersey sailor placed fourth in NEISA Championships. Richard and his father Rick are prominent Barnegat Bay sailors.
He has extensive results sailing for USCGA and is no stranger to the ILCA.
11. Reece Schwartz ’29 | Roger Williams
Fifth place in NEISA, with an extensive record for RWU.
12. Oscar Parzen ’30 | Georgetown
Placed fourth in MAISA Championship. Has four events for G-Town as a freshman.
On the Bubble
Nathan Pine* ’30 | Brown
N. Pine is an immensely talented sailor in ILCAs to keelboats, and even foiling. He and twin James hail from South Carolina and will be, if not already, a tremendous addition to any roster.
Connor McHugh* ’28 | Roger Williams
McHugh won the 2024 Youth Champs and finished 14th in the 2025 Foster Trophy. McHugh speaks the language of racing, works hard, and has had some bright spots in his career at RWU. He is part of the US ODP squad.
Final Thoughts
Gary Jobson, a two-time winner in ’72 and ’73, said to me in 2015, “In order to win the singlehandeds I did not have to win every or the majority of races. I averaged a five (5) or slightly higher each year I won.”
Consistency and good starts will be keys to success in the Foster Trophy. I’ll be there watching.
Author’s Disclaimer
Of the twenty sailors here, I’ve seen or observed closely at regattas eighteen (18), and coached either at a clinic, training, or regattas nine or ten (asterisks “*” after their names), and am related to one. It’s been a privilege working with each one of these sailors.
About the Author
Charles Barclay is a three-time ILH High School Coach of the Year and holds US Sailing Level 3 Race Coach and Performance Keelboat certifications. He serves as Secretary of ILCA District 15, has coached male and female US Sailing Olympic Development Squads since 2026, and has been head coach of the Leiter Clinic for women ages 13–18 since 2024. His coaching career includes leading high school and regional sailing programs in Hawaii, Maine, and Texas, with his sailors earning multiple national championships in ILCA and youth sailing.
Photos published with permission from Ben Schill.
