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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.