Brown and Yale win NEISA, Cornell and St. Mary’s win MAISA, Stanford wins the West and Charleston wins the South Atlantic to conclude the fall season

October  28, 2019– Written by Chris Klevan

Sadly, we must start by paying tribute to a legend and a multi-decade servant to College Sailing, Dan Winters, who passed over the weekend. In an email forwarded by ICSA President, Mitch Bridley, Maxwell Plarr, Head Coach at Christopher Newport University and successor to Winters had the following to say about his colleague and mentor; “Dan H. Winters fulfilled many roles in his life.  He was a husband, a father, a coach, a friend, a sailmaker, an animal lover, and when he was passionate about

something, a well respected adversary. Of all the titles and roles that Dan held during his eighty years on this earth we will remember him because of the great knowledge he bestowed upon us and his selfless dedication to the causes he upheld.  A man of moral and principle he taught thousands of people life lessons while becoming better sailors in the process.”

Coach Plarr continued, “Dan operated Winters Sailmakers for forty years and was the head sailing coach at Christopher Newport University for twenty two years. He was a two-time inductee to the College Sailing Hall of Fame being recognized in 2003 for the Graham Hall Outstanding Service by a Professional and in 2013 he received the Campbell Family Lifetime of Service Award.  After retiring from coaching in 2012, Dan continued to be the Mid-Atlantic Intercollegiate Sailing Association’s scheduler until his passing. He constantly tried to improve the multi-faceted layers of the conference to bring better and equal competition to all levels.”

“There will be no service at Dan’s request, and the family asks that expressions of sympathy take the form of contributions to the CNU Sailing Foundation.”

Yale University won The Victorian Coffee Urn, New England’s Fall Conference Championship. The two day event, held at Harvard featured a variety of conditions, ranging from light and variable to puffy and shifty. Harvard can be one of the hardest places to sail, located in the Northeastern Corner of the Charles River, surrounded by development in Boston to the South and Cambridge to the North. The construction of each new building on in Cambridge, across the river from Boston proper makes this venue even more difficult each successive year.

Despite the challenging weather, the Bulldogs of Yale University showed that they are a legitimate contender for next Spring’s Women’s National Championship as they defeated reigning champion, Brown in both divisions. Yale won the first race sailed and proceeded to hold the regatta lead throughout the entirety of the championship, completing the rare wire-to-wire victory.

Yale won the Urn by 25 points behind a strong performance in both A and B-divisions. One of the Women’s Sailor of the Year Finalist last year, Louisa Nordstrom, sailing with Claudia Loiacono ‘21, Catherine Mollerus ‘21 and Kathryn Clulo ‘21 won A-Division with 41 points after 12 races. The Yale A-boat found their stride midway through the event scoring all top-4 finishes from race 4A to 9A.

Yale’s B-Division boat of Christine Klingler ‘20, Catherine Webb ‘22 and Catherine Mollerus ‘21 won B-Division with 50 points in 12 races. Klingler won B-Division at 3 different regattas including the Jen Harris Women’s Showcase Finals at Navy two weekends ago. She won 3 for 3 of her B-Division attempts and won 2 for 3 in A-Division proving she’s not only one of the best B-Division sailors in the Nation but also one of the best Women’s sailors in the nation.

Brown finished second, 25 points behind Yale despite missing their best Women’s sailor and reigning Women’s College Sailor of the Year, Ragna Agerup ‘20. Hannah Steadman ‘20 shifted up to A-Division in Agerup’s stead and finished second with Annabelle Hutchinson ‘21 and Caroline Bayless ‘23.

Dartmouth finished 3rd with 151 points, URI was fourth with 155, winning a tie-breaker over fifth place finishing Harvard.

Cornell won the MAISA Women’s Fall Dinghy Championship by 9 points over UPenn. The Big Red jumped in front, winning 5 of the first 6 races sailed and 10 of the 24 races sailed to establish an early lead. UPenn would eventually catch and pass Cornell going into the last two races of the regatta but were disqualified from the final race in A-Division, giving the win to Cornell.

“We have had a strong group of lady sailors for a while now and we’ve completed well on the women’s circuit,” said Cornell Head Coach Brian Clancy. “We have really good speed, they’re smart and we have a lot of talent on this team. Last weekend we were well prepared and we worked well together as a team.”

Gabby Rizika ‘20 and Adeline Sutton ‘21 won A-Division over Katherine Cox, Audrey Morin and Anna Flaherty of William Smith. Rizika and Sutton won five of the first six races and were in the top-4 in 7 of the 12 races sailed. Some deeper finishes prevented the Big Red tandem from running away with the regatta.

In B-Division, Daisy Holthus ‘21, Gabbi DelBello ‘23 and Jana Laurendeau ‘23 also narrowly won finishing one point ahead of Amanda Majernik ‘22 and Laura Whelan ‘20 of UPenn. Holthus has been sailing intermittently behind Rizika alongside Brooke Shacoy, who, this past weekend was sailing Coed B-Division at the War.

“Sailing Brooke in B at War was simple the best decision for the team. Sailing with Ethan in all races made it special, as his ability in the front of the boat is top notch in all conditions,” continued Coach Clancy. “The challenge was the event, not the personnel. We are deep at the women’s skipper position and therefore were well equipped for both events.”

William Smith finished 3rd with 103 points.

Brown University won the The 79th Professor Erwin Schell Trophy at MIT. MIT hosts the historic event every other year now.

John Mollicone, head coach at Brown had the following to say about the Schell. “The Erwin Schell Trophy is one of NEISA’s most historic and prestigious trophies and our New England Fall Dinghy Championship.  It is also one of the hardest ones to win.  The Charles River, the Fireflies, the late season weather always makes it a difficult and exciting event, especially when it is at MIT every odd year.”

“My favorite Schell Trophy was in 2004 after the Boston Red Sox won their first World Series since 1918,” continued Mollicone. “During the Schell Trophy, they shut everything down in Boston and had the entire Red Sox organization out on the Charles River in duck boats.  They all came right by the MIT docks in the duck boats while everyone watched from the docks and sailing was postponed for a bit.  We got to see the World Series Trophy and all of the players right off the docks.  Their have also been years with the first snowfall of the year at the Schell and tons of breeze, going to storm jibs on the FJs and small mains on the old Techs.  A lot of great memories at the Schell.”

Like Yale at the Urn and Cornell at the MAISA Women’s, Brown won both divisions. What was especially impressive was Ragna Agerup ‘20, Julia Reynolds ‘21 and Emma Montgomery’s ‘22 win in A-Division by 20 points over Shawn Harvey ‘21 and Graceann Nicolosi ‘20. Brown finished 2nd at the Women’s Champs without their reigning sailor of the year. This was the ninth full regatta sailed for Agerup, her 3rd division victory and her 7th top 5 as she’s not just a favorite for Women’s College Sailor of the Year for the second time running. In contrast, the other finalist for last year’s best female sailor, Allie Toppa only sailed 3 regattas this fall.

Brown’s Connor Nelson ‘23 with Madeleine McGrath ‘22 won B-Division. The young Brown boat found their stride late as they finished the regatta with a picket fence, three straight bullets.

“Our entire team has been working really hard all fall and we have a ton of team depth this season,” said Coach Mollicone. “Our other teams also finished 2nd at the Urn Trophy, 2nd at the Nickerson, and 2nd at the Dave Perry Team Race at Yale over the weekend, so it was a great weekend for the entire Brown team as they all work together and push and learn from each other.  It was great to see everything come together at the Schell for the win with a huge strength being good starts, making good decisions, and making comebacks when necessary.  They all sailed the boats really well and when it got windier on Sunday the Bears love breeze!”

When asked about the change to the fall season, now in its second year, Mollicone said, “I don’t think the feeling has changed too much.  Before the change from ACC’s to the new Showcase format in recent years, doing well at the Schell meant qualifying for ACC’s more than anything.  Now it is the final major dinghy event of the fall in NEISA, the New England Fall Dinghy Championship, and our biggest event in NEISA of the fall season in terms of performance ranking and scheduling for the next year.  It’s a great way to end the fall season and all of the hard work that the student-athletes put into the season.”

Yale was second with 137, 31 points back from Brown. Boston University was 3rd with 175, Dartmouth fourth with 183 and Harvard was 5th with 186.

St. Mary’s won the War Memorial by 8 points over Navy at King’s Point. The Seahawks traded blows with almost half of MAISA as Navy, Georgetown, HWS and Fordham all held the lead at some point during the event. St. Mary’s sailed great when it mattered most, scoring only inside the top seven throughout the final 10 races sailed of the 26 race regatta.

While Saturday’s racing was rather pedestrian, Sunday was anything but. According to the regatta report, seven races were sailed in 25 knots, falling to 12 throughout the day and MAISA sat out sailing when breeze got above 25.

Hector Guzman ‘20, sailing with Maya Weber ‘20 and Charles Carraway ‘22 won A-Division with 63 points- 1 point ahead of Sean Segerblom, Annabelle Ayer, Edward Cook and Jack Hogan of Georgetown.

Lewis Cooper ‘21, Sophia Taczak ‘21 and Thoms Walker ‘21 of St. Mary’s won B-Division by 13 points. The Seahawk boat never finished outside of the top-9.

Navy finished second with 131, Georgetown was 3rd with 144, HWS fourth with 144 and Fordham was 5th with 185.

Stanford won the Women’s Pacific Coast Championship hosted by Cal Poly. The nine team, 18 total race event featured light air and strong current. Stanford’s B-Divsion boat of hallie Schiffman ‘23 and Laurel Foster ‘22 were the standouts winning 8 of the nine races sailed in B and finished second in the only race they did not win. Stanford’s 23 point victory over USC was propelled by Schiffman and Foster’s 30 point B-Division victory.

Emi Stephanoff ‘21 and Gabrielle Harrington ‘23 of California Maritime won A-Division with 20 points. The Keelhauler tandem won 6 of the 9 races sailed in A-Division. Cal Maritime finished third, three points behind USC.

College of Charleston won the SAISA Fall Women’s Champs at UNC Wilmington. Chalreston won both divisions as Alie Toppa ‘20 and Laura Masterson ‘20 topped Charlotte Rose ‘22 and Caroline Bourgeois ‘22 of Jacksonville in the 8 race series. Toppa and Masterson won 4 of the 8 races.

Marian Frances Williams ‘21 and Natasha Scott Morton ‘22 won B-Division for the Cougars, winning all but two races sailed. Charleston finished with 27 points overall. Jacksonville had 43 and South Florida had 51.

All USA sailors wishing to compete at the International 420 World Championships must qualify and be selected by the US I420 Class Association. Sailors may qualify to apply by earning qualification points based on the formula outlined below or by being selected as a “wild card” by the US I420 Class Association Selection Committee.

The US I420 Class Association will begin accepting Worlds Team USA Acceptance Applications and sailors will have until the deadline below to submit their application. The Class will post the final Class qualifying points results and US I420 Class Association Selection Committee will then begin notifying the Class Membership of the Teams that are invited to compete in the Championship Event, per the schedule.

Please note that only qualifying points earned by the Helm are eligible, but an application is valid only when both helm and crew are included in the application.
KEY DATES/DEADLINES February 1 US Class begins accepting Applications February 19 US Class posts final points qualification standings (following midwinters) February 28 Deadline for submission of Applications March 15 US Class begins notifying sailors of their acceptance on Team USA June 27 Team USA pre-regatta training begins in France

Boston University showed poise in trying conditions at Connecticut College

October  21, 2019

Written by Chris Klevan– Boston University won the Coed Showcase Championship Finals hosted by Connecticut College in mostly light and uncertain conditions. Competitors waited on shore for much of the first day of competition before hitting the water for 11 total races between the two divisions on Saturday. The breeze on Saturday started from the SSW and sailors were hiking . However, as the sun set the breeze clocked right to the SW as the day got late. The heavy current and shifty breeze on the Thames made for tough work for the race committee. The final races of the day Saturday were sailed on extremely skewed courses due to the extreme ebb.

Boston University, while struggling in A-Division, put on a clinic in B behind the stellar sailing of Maia Agerup ‘20 and Grace Mooradian ‘21. The Terrier tandem put up a 7, 3, 5, 4, 1, 4 scoreline on Saturday in conditions where quick thinking was paramount and execution was much easier said than done. Agerup and Mooradian continued their efforts in light and variable conditions on Sunday with a 6, 2, 5 scoreline in the 3 races sailed in B-Division to end the event. They won the division by 19 points over Harvard’s Henry Burnes ‘21 and Julianna Taritsa ‘20.

“We executed pretty well Saturday afternoon,” said BU Coach Chris Lash. “I think the team did a good job maintaining focus after having a long wind delay all of Saturday morning. We raced until almost 6pm and it’s difficult to stay fully dialed in going into the last set, but our team was able to.”

“In our conversations we emphasized using smart decisions later in the race and boatspeed to get ahead rather than trying to win races with more aggressive starting,” continued Coach Lash. “We also really reinforced not sailing extra distance on the racecourse by overstanding marks. I thought a lot of boats were giving up gains they made early in the upwind by overstanding towards the top.”

Agerup and Mooradian also won B-Division at the Coed Showcase Semifinals at St. Mary’s earlier this year and finished second in A-Division at the Women’s Showcase Finals.

BU’s A-Division boat, Javier De Urdanibia Panos ‘21 and Katherine Bertolini ‘21 struggled in the 5 races sailed on Saturday only scoring one race inside the top 10. Oddly, that one race outlier was a bullet. However, things changed for the Terriers in A on Sunday as the twosome scored a 1, 5, 4, 8 on the final day to finish the regatta and hold off Stanford.

“The group we had sailing is mentally strong,” stated Coach Lash. “They always believe they can make gains even when they are behind and they usually did.”

Stanford finished second overall with 117 points, 14 points back from BU. The success of the Cardinal came behind an impressive A-Division win by Jack Parkin ‘21, sailing with Sammy Pickell ‘22 and Taylor Kirkpatrick ‘20. Parkin, Pickell and Kirkpatrick scored only top-9 finishes and were the only A-Division boat to achieve such an accomplishment. Consistency amid ever-changing conditions in what is supposed to be the hardest fleet in college sailing rewarded Parkin and company with a 14 point division win.

Photo: HDFAPhotography.com

Harvard finished third overall with 132 points and Georgetown was 4th with 149, tied with Dartmouth and winning the tiebreak.

“I think the quality of the event was high. It is the major event of the fall and includes all the top teams in the country,” said Coach Lash when asked about the quality of the championship and the new fall schedule at large. “The fall season is shorter now which I don’t think is the best. I think the weather at the end of the fall is much better than the weather in the early spring. Often the best breeze of the fall is late Oct and early Nov so I think it would be beneficial to find a way to set up better for that. In general I’d say the fall season needs to be longer and the spring a bit shorter.”

Yale won their home event, The Yale Women’s over a Brown University team that was missing their top two boats. The win for the Bulldogs came behind a dominant win in A-Division by  Christine Klingler ‘20 and Catherine Webb ‘22. Klinger and Webb defeated Stanford freshman phenoms Michelle Larhkamp and Abigail Tindall by 37 points after 12 races sailed.

Klingler and Webb won 4 races and never finished outside the top-5. No other team’s boat in the 17 team event successfully recorded a scoreline without even a top-10 finish in either division, yet Klingler and Webb made it look easy on home waters. This division win marks the 4th for Klingler who also won A at the Mrs. Hurst at Dartmouth and B-Division at the Showcase Finals at Navy and the Stru Nelson at Connecticut College.

Rookie Payton Thompson ‘23 and Carlota Hopkins Guerra ‘22 of Dartmouth won B-Division with 65 points. The Big Green team only scored one race outside the top-9 and had nine finishes inside the top-5.

Yale finished with 154 total points, Brown had 169 and Dartmouth had 174.

Written by Chris Klevan

The Women of Brown University stay atop women’s sailing in winning the Jen Harris Women’s Showcase Finals.

Brown University won the Jen Harris Women’s Showcase Finals held at the US Naval Academy in what was a truncated, 20 race event due to lack of wind. The Brown Bears showed their depth throughout the event as they were the only team to place in the top-4 in both the A and B Divisions.

Brown is the reigning Women’s National Champion, winning last year’s main event in big breeze at home in Newport, RI. However, after this victory, at what is the equivalent of the Atlantic Coast Championship in medium to light conditions, Brown proved they are still the team to beat in all conditions.

The reigning Quantum Women’s College Sailor of the Year, Ragna Agerup ‘20, sailing with Julia Reynolds finished 4th in A-Division with 68 points. The tandem had only two blemishes, finishing 12th in the first race sailed and 13th in the final race of the regatta. A-Division last weekend is one of the most competitive fleets in memory as all three finalists for last year’s Women’s Sailor of the Year were present- Ali Toppa ‘20 finished 5th, 2 points behind Agerup and Louisa Nordstrom finished 10th with 91 points.

In B-Division Brown’s Hannah Steadman ‘20 and Annabelle Hutchinson ‘21 hung close enough to Yale’s Chrissy Klingler ‘20 and Sonia Lingos-Utley ‘21 to cement the win for Brown. Yale finished second, only 12 points behind the Bears. Like Agerup and Reynolds, Steadman and Hutchinson only had two blemishes to their scoreline, scoring one 12 and one 8. Besides those two races the Bears scored exclusively top-5 finishes. Klingler and Lingos-Utley of Yale were impressive, winning the division by 11 points with 6 of the 10 races sailed in the top-3.

“We are fortunate to have a really special and talented group of female sailors and a lot of women’s depth,” said Brown’s Head Coach, John Mollicone.

“We had two top of A-division level boats sailing at Navy and they are sailing coed A-level events as well,” continued Coach Mollicone. “This has really helped them on the starting line and their starts have been much improved from this time last year.  They sailed in the lighter, choppier conditions at Navy last weekend as well at the Truxton Umstead/Showcase Qualifier and knew what to expect at the Women’s Showcase Finals.  We have been trying to get faster in these conditions as there are a lot of strong women’s teams in the light to moderate stuff.”

“We have some incredible crews with 2019 All-American Crew Julia Reynolds ’21 sailing with Ragna Agerup ’20 and Two-time All-NEISA Women’s Crew Annabelle Hutchinson ’21 sailing with Hannah Steadman ’20.  Emma Montgomery ’22 did not sail at Navy but was a huge part of the National Championship win last year sailing with both Ragna and Hannah for many of the races.  We have also integrated freshman Caroline Bayless ’23 into the mix as a crew for some events.   There’s not much to say to them on weekends from a coaching standpoint and they make it easy for us – they do their jobs really well in the boat and are the ultimate team players in every way.”

The Regatta’s A-Division winning skipper was a rookie from Stanford, Michelle Lahrkamp, sailing with Sammy Pickell ‘22. A notably green boat in a fleet of veterans and champions, the Cardinal duo were unflappable. Lahrkamp was the only first year sailor  in the fleet. Pickell was one of a handful of underclassmen, though she’s one of the best in the nation despite her sophomore status. Pickell and Lahrkamp showed their poise and maturity as they were the only A-Division boat without a double digit score to their name. Lahrkamp and Pickell’s effort was enough for an 18 point margin of victory in the toughest division seen yet this year, the second win of Lahrkamp’s young career after she won A-Division at the Stu Nelson by 30 points.

Brown had 114 points, Yale was second with 126 and Harvard was third with 135.