Blog

Courtesy of the ICSA

BRANFORD, CT (Oct. 16, 2023) – Stanford University took the win at the 2023 Women’s Atlantic Coast Championship Finals out of the Yale Corinthian Yacht Club after two days of racing on the Eastern Long Island Sound. The Atlantic Coast Championship was the second event of a two stage series which began with stage one hosted by MAISA with two evenly seeded events one at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, MD and the other at St. Mary’s College of Maryland in historic St. Mary’s City. The Cardinal won with a commanding 37-point lead holding first place throughout the entire event. Boston College and Cornell University rounded out the podium with the home team Yale 12 points off the podium in 4th place. 

“I’m super proud of the way our team sailed this weekend and we’re excited to take the win,” said Stanford coach Shawn Harvey. “We got off the line, limited mistakes, and saw the breeze well. With Stanford starting school in mid September, it’s great to see our intense practices paying off during our short season. We’re taking steps in the right direction and look forward to growing throughout the year. ”

Conditions on both days were extremely difficult with a light-shifty breeze and intermittent rain on Saturday and a tricky 5-18 knot North/Northwesterly breeze pulsing out of the Short Beach Cove into the sound on Sunday. Only four races were able to be completed in each division on Saturday due to lack of wind, and eight races per division were sailed on Sunday before the cutoff time of 3:00 pm.

Behind by 24 points going into the final three races, Cornell’s Bridget Green Surged into the lead in A division to finish three points clear ahead of the pack.

“Both days were pretty shifty conditions,” said Cornell’s A-Division skipper Bridget Green. “I tried to focus with both my crews getting into that first shift off the line and looking up the course for the next best pressure. [On Sunday] it was really nice looking at the race before us and being able to see what shift they were in at the top mark to set ourselves up for success.”

Green and crews Mulvania and Neumann’s low point finish in A-Division helped to cement their team’s 3rd place finish overall.  Stanford University Cardinal B-Division Skipper Hannah Freeman and crew Isabelle McNabb took the low point finish in their division with the most consistent scoreline of the weekend with just over three points per race. The Cardinal B-Division team finished in the top ten in each of the twelve races and top three in eight of twelve races.

• Sailing for Stanford: Vanessa Lahrkamp ’26 (A Skipper), Gwendolyn Donahue ’24 (A Crew), Hannah Freeman ’24 (B Skipper), Isabelle McNabb ’26 (B Crew)

• Sailing for Boston College: Caroline Sibilly ’26 (A Skipper), Katelyn McGauley ‘24 (A Crew), Michaela O’Brien ’24 (B Skipper), Sara Schumann ’25 (B Crew)

• Sailing for Cornell: Bridget Green ‘25 (A Skipper), Sophia Mulvania ’26 and Amelia Neumann ‘25 (A Crews), Winborne Majette ‘27 and Sophia Devling ‘26 (B Skippers), Sophia Pearce ‘26 and Kit Harned ‘27 (B Crews)

Quick links:

• Full results: https://scores.collegesailing.org/f23/women-atlantic-coast/
• A Division Results: https://scores.collegesailing.org/f23/women-atlantic-coast/A/
• B Division Results: https://scores.collegesailing.org/f23/women-atlantic-coast/B/