college sailing

COLLEGE TEAM RACE RANKINGS #2 are Live!

February 19, 2026 by Heather Kerns Leave a Comment

ICSA Team Race Rankings #2 Are Out!

You can find the Open rankings HERE and the Women’s Rankings HERE.

2026 COLLEGE TEAM RACE RANKINGS #2 — COPYRIGHT 2025 ROB MIGLIACCIO

Open Rankings

For this edition we welcomed Coach Annabell Carrington from the College of Charleston to our rankings panel, which already consisted of John Mollicone (Brown), Chris Klevan (Stanford), Charles Higgins (Tulane), and Brendan Feeney (Fordham).

On the open side of things, Harvard still sits confidently at the top and has repeatedly been called “the team to beat.” The defending champions just claimed their second win at the Liam O’Keefe Team Race with a 7–0 record. Extremely impressive results. Extremely hard to beat.

No team race ranking is complete without Roger Williams in the mix. Feeney put it best saying, “When I think master-of-the-fundamentals in sports I think of Roger Federer on the court and Roger Williams on the Digital N. From starting, to communication, to boathandling this team makes it their mission to be at or very near the top” of the fleet.

Rounding out the top three in this second edition of the rankings is Stanford. Mollicone noted the team’s recent regatta success saying, “Same team as last year that finished 4th at Open Team Race Nationals. Perfect 10-0 at the Nelson Roltsch at Tulane last weekend against solid Navy, Tulane, and Charleston teams” while Feeney even went so far as to propose them as the possible “fastest team in the country.”

Brown slots in at number four, with the entire panel agreeing that this team is solidly placing itself in the same league as the other top three teams. Do we already know who our final four at nationals will be?

Navy is currently ranked as the top team from MAISA. Carrington notes their strong returning sailors, while Mollicone is expecting great things but is looking to see how the team stacks up within MAISA at the Marchiando.

Charleston from SAISA and Tulane from SEISA are holding their own in the rankings, sitting 7th and 8th respectively. Tulane will even get the benefit of nationals on their home waters this spring.

From MAISA, St. Mary’s is currently ranked 12th, but we’ve seen them improve greatly as the season goes on, especially as teams visit for spring break practices. Another MAISA team, Hobart and William Smith, is making its climb back toward a nationals berth, with Higgins noting that results in the coming weeks will prove just how good this team can be.

Overall, in this second edition of the rankings we can see that the top four teams are distinguishing themselves early on, but for the rest of the fleet there is still a lot in play.

Women’s Rankings

In the women’s fleet it is no surprise that the Stanford women are sitting at the top. Mollicone wonders if this team will “lose a single race this season,” and frankly, so do we.

Brown holds the number two spot and, with a strong open team to practice against, our panel is confident this team will continue to build as the season progresses. With a strong group of returners, their top team finished 2nd in the recent Harvard Women’s Team Race.

Yale is ranked third with Carrington calling them, “a fast group with new starters coming in hot”. Mollicone said, “Despite turning over all of their starting skippers from the past 4 years, they are reloaded and were able to win their first event of the season.”

Georgetown and Cornell sit back-to-back (6th and 7th respectively) in the rankings and will likely battle it out to be MAISA’s top team. This Georgetown team is coming off a win at the ODU Women’s Team Race.

Charleston is looking like the top team from SAISA ranking 9th, but coaches are waiting to see how they perform when they head north for the Dellenbaugh.

There is a lot more sailing to come in the women’s team race calendar, and more interconference events will start to establish what we can expect as teams begin setting their sights on New Orleans.

Expect the next ranking in about two weeks. There are several events (many of them interconference) coming up in the next 2 weekends. These results could very well shake things up before the next edition of the rankings drops.

Stay tuned! Team race season is just getting started.

Check out our pre-season/week 1 breakdown HERE. Photos are from Rob Migliaccio can be found HERE.

Make Team Workouts Fun and Effective

September 27, 2019 by Rachel Goetting Leave a Comment

Coaches and or team captains this one is for you! With college and high school sailing in full swing, we thought we would do another article with a team workout. If you didn’t get a chance to read our past articles on this topic, check them out, Team Training Workout and Team Training: Circuit Workout. In these articles you will find the benefits of team training and different workouts you can do. In this article, we wanted to focus in on making your team workouts more fun, but also effective.

Maybe you are getting team workouts done in the early morning, before practice, or later in the evenings. Well, every sailor is going to be a little different on when they are more motivated to workout. I know for me, I find my motivation more in the mornings, and if I have to do an afternoon workout, I find it hard to get motivated and have fun. Since we are all different, and the times we might be doing training will vary a great way to get the team more motivated is doing training that is fun and keeps everyone engaged. Not only can you do a workout that is fun and more like a game, but you can make it effective, so your sailors are making gains on their fitness levels while working and having fun as a team.

This workout, you will find some partner activities, team relay races, and team-building activities. You can use this workout as a whole, or separate them to incorporate them into your training schedule. This workout will be fun and effective for enhancing your sailors performance out on the water for their next big regatta! Check out the workout below along with the video with the moves for the different exercises.

Team Workout

Warm up the team with dynamic stretching (5 minutes have the team line up and walk to a point and repeat or assign reps to each stretch)

Lunge with a Twist
Straight Leg Kicks
Arm Circles
Knee Ups
Repeat 3x

Partner Workout:
Partner your team up

Partner Push Up with Hand Taps 30 secs
Partner Crawl Under, Jump Over 30 secs each partner total of 1 minute
High Five Sit-Ups 30 secs
Jump Squat to High Five 30 secs
Rest for 45 secs Repeat 3x

Relay Race Workout:
Divide the team into two separate teams. Best of the three relay races is the winner and gets to award the losing team with 15 burpees.

Relay Race 1

Bear crawl 30 ft, stand up for 10 jump squats, bear crawl back, 10 jump squats, next team member can go.

Relay Race 2

Plank snake assign a point to race to then turn around and finish where the team started. Everyone goes in plank position in a line except the last person, they jump over each person. Once they reach the last person they get in plank, and the other end person gets up and is the jumper. If anyone drops from plank position, the team must start again.

Relay Race 3

Sprint to a point, do 15 burpees, sprint back to start, do 20 split lunges, next team member can go.

Team Building Workout:
You have two different team building activities you can do, one in smaller groups and one as a bigger group.

100 rep Challenge
Break the group up into groups of 4. You can make a combination of your own exercises or use the ones we have listed. Have the group complete 100 reps of each exercise together they have to do at least 20 reps, leaving the last 20 reps to be distributed among the group. The remaining reps do not have to be distributed equally.
Challenge 1:

Squats
Push Ups
Forward Lunges
Tricep Dips

Challenge 2:

Split Lunges
Plank Up Downs
High Knees
Shoulder Taps

500 rep or 1000 rep Challenge
This is a challenge is for the whole team to do together. You can customize it depending on the size of your group. You can have them do 500 reps or 1000 reps for a big challenge. Again depending on the size of your group, assign a certain number of reps they must do for each exercise, then the rest can be distributed out to the team; however they would like. You can make a combination of your own exercises or use the ones we have listed or just do one exercise.
Challenge:

Burpees
Windmills
Squats

Cool Down (5-10 minutes)
Foam Rolling
Static Stretching

For more information on fitness and nutrition for sailing contact [email protected]. Also check out Sailorcise on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for daily tips on fitness, nutrition, and sailing.

Team Training: Circuit Workout

March 29, 2019 by Rachel Goetting Leave a Comment

Coaches this one is for you! With college and high school sailing in full swing, we thought we would focus on the team aspect of training. Looking for a new workout for your team this one is for you. Team training is a great way to bring together your team and get them stronger for better success on the water. Check out our previous article on Team Training, learn about the benefits, how to incorporate it, and a fun team workout.

Circuit training is a great way to train with your team. How circuit training works is you have different stations, and you have to complete the exercises for that station and then with no rest go to the next station. For our circuit training, we made it timed, so you move on to the next station when the time is up. The great thing about our workout is it can be done anywhere anytime no equipment needed. Maybe its too windy or too light for sailing, use this workout to get your team feeling the burn.

This workout consists of four different stations. You can split the group in even numbers throughout the stations. Have the groups do each circuit for 2 minutes then switch to the next station, there is no rest in between stations. Your rest will come when you completed all four stations. At that time you can rest for 2 minutes, then repeat two more times for a total of three rounds. The total workout is 30 minutes. Check out the workout below and the video for all the moves. Have fun and get your team strong with this workout!

Team Training Circuit Workout

-Warm up the whole group with Dynamic Stretching (5 minutes)

Station One:

10 Squats
20 Split Lunges
10 Squat Jumps

Station Two:

10 Push Ups
20 Up Down Planks
10 Tricep Dips

Station Three:

20 Russian Twists
15 In and Outs
20 Plank Shoulder Taps

Station Four:

15 Burpees
20 Mountain Climbers
20 Skaters

-Cool down the group with foam rolling and static stretching (5-10 minutes)

For more information on fitness and nutrition for sailing contact [email protected]. Also check out Sailorcise on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for daily tips on fitness, nutrition, and sailing.

Alec Anderson: Profiles in Pro Sailing

November 18, 2018 by Taylor Penwell 1 Comment

I met Alec Anderson when I moved to the British Virgin Islands in 2015 to coach at the Royal BVI Yacht Club. I knew who Alec was from following college sailing and consistently saw his name at the top of the regattas. At this time, he and his crew, Chris Brockbank, were in the middle of their campaign trying to qualify for the Rio Olympics and were sailing their 49er all the time out of the club. Alec was then, and continues to be an inspiration for the local sailing kids for how much sailing has to offer and how far it can take you in this life. He was always willing to come around and help out with the development of sailing in the territory. In addition to being a role model for diligence and incredible work ethic, he is an incredibly approachable guy who doesn’t carry any ego, something often rare among professional sailors.

How did you get into sailing?
I was born and grew up in the British Virgin Islands so quite naturally I got into water sports at a young age. Once I was 6 or 7 years old my parents signed me up for sailing camps on school holidays and after school programs at the Royal BVI Yacht Club. I spent the majority of my early years chasing around my older brother Sean.

What did you first start out sailing?
Initially I started sailing optimists. My dad was big into windsurfing so Sean and I learned how to windsurf at the same time we were learning how to sail.

How did you start traveling to more regional events and later international events?
When I was 13 or 14 I did the BVI dinghy champs in the optimist and placed second in Red, Blue and White fleet against a good group of sailors from the USVI. I hadn’t trained for the event and was surprised with my result. Soon after I finished on the podium at the Scotiabank Opti Regatta in St. Thomas and I was hooked on racing. My parents bought me a used boat from St. Thomas and I started training alone in the BVI. Eventually I started commuting to St. Thomas on weekends where I trained with coach Augustine “Argy” Resano and a great group of young sailors including Ian Barrows and Nicky Barnes. With that group I started to travel more for regattas and really got into the racing scene.

What was the biggest regatta you competed in while racing Optimists?
About a year into training with the group in St. Thomas I attended my first World Championships in 2006 in Uruguay. It was my first and only Opti Worlds as I aged out at that point. I didn’t do very well, but it was a great experience. Some of the kids I met there did Olympic campaigns the same time I did and now sail professionally as well.

What did you sail following the Optimist?
Just before I aged out of the Opti, Chris Watters had moved from Canada to run the racing program in the BVI. That was a major turning point for me because I wasn’t sure if I wanted to continue sailing competitively. Luckily Chris saw potential in me and convinced me to get into the Laser. I had no other option. If there was a 420 or a 29er in the BVI at the time maybe I would have done that. All we had were Lasers, so we rigged up a 4.7 and he said “get hiking” and that is basically what we did for the next 3 years.

Tell us about your time at the ISAF Youth Worlds?
After my Opti days I was always the smallest guy on the race course. From the 4.7 to the radial, I was never quite big enough to hang in breeze. Regardless, Chris was dead set on going to the 2008 ISAF Youth Worlds in Aarhus, Denmark. It was the final year the boys raced in the Laser Standard and I weighed 130 pounds, wet. I wasn’t very excited about that prospect, but Chris insisted we went for the experience as the next year would be raced in the Radial. I got crushed in Denmark, but the experience lit a fuse that inspired my training for the 2009 event in Buzios, Brazil. I trained and traveled extensively, worked with a personal trainer 4 days a week, and ultimately missed about 30 days of my senior year in High School. Although I was still relatively small in the fleet I managed to finish 7th. I was stoked with the result! It was during those experiences that I became obsessed with going to the Olympics.

What type of an impact do coaches have on their sailors?
It’s impossible to quantify how important coaches are for sailors, or for athletes in general. From the instructors who introduced me to this incredible sport, to Argy who taught me the importance of hard work and preparation for competition, and to Chris who saw my potential and pushed me to take my career further, I am beyond grateful to the coaches who have helped get me to this point. At the junior level coaches also serve as mentors and role models, which in my opinion is priceless.

Training for youth sailing has become very serious in some places, what are your thoughts?
There’s definitely a balance to coaching and how serious kids train. This goes for any sport. For example, when I went to St. Thomas to train in the Opti I showed up with my own passion to improve. There were days I didn’t feel like doing the fitness or training for six hours, but Argy pushed me and I am ultimately grateful for that. In some cases, however, kids aren’t interested at all and are forced to do it by their parents anyway. That can’t be fun for the athlete or the coach. It’s a tough balance.

Being from the BVI, did you always know or think you would go to the US for higher education?
Initially the UK was the obvious choice for my higher education. It was a fairly common path for my peers, as BVI citizens pay the same tuition as UK citizens. Once I got into competitive sailing and I learned about the college sailing scene in the US, I eventually changed my mind.

How did you end up picking Roger Williams University?
I looked at Charleston, St. Marys, and Roger Williams in that order. I liked Charleston and St. Marys, but I loved Roger Williams. The size of the school was a good fit for me, the campus is amazing (the food too!) and I thought it would be cool to experience full season changes for the first time. The proximity to a couple of big cities was also appealing. On top of that USVI sailor and long time friend Cy Thompson was attending Roger Williams. I figured I could learn a lot from Cy as well as some other great sailors like Sean Bouchard for a couple of years and then hopefully have the chance to lead the team myself.

What were some of the biggest things you took away from college and the whole college sailing experience?
After spending many years training alone and in single handed boats, my first lesson was how to be part of a team and sail with a crew. During my freshman year I was deep in the team rankings. I hadn’t done any team racing and I had never sailed an FJ. Right away I had to be humble and focus on improving my game. In college you practice four days a week, race every weekend and still have to manage your school work. This also comes with a new independence so self-motivation and time management are crucial. In terms of sailing I would say the biggest lessons learned were risk management and the importance of boat-handling.

What are some of your highlights from college sailing?
My first accomplishment was being named rookie of the year in the New England Conference. Mainly because I had no clue what I was doing when I got there. Most of the kids in my year had done serious high school sailing and were recruited to their schools. To be recognized above them was very rewarding. In my sophomore year I was fortunate enough to be part of a really special team and won Team Racing Nationals. This is one of my sailing career highlights because that event is really tough to win and I won it with some great teammates. In my junior and senior year I showed up to major events knowing that I had a good chance of winning my division. That is pretty cool feeling! I was named All-American three times and nominated for College Sailor of the Year twice.

Olympic Campaign
I made a deal with myself that if I got to 170 pounds by the time I was accepted into college I would do an olympic campaign in the Laser. I graduated High School at 135 pounds so I would have to wait to forge an Olympic campaign. Just prior to graduating, Thomas Barrows and Nate Rosenberg had campaigned in the 49er for the USVI and had a boat in St. Thomas. I arranged to charter the boat and contacted long time friend and waterman, Chris Brockbank, who showed interest in putting a campaign together. We spent the summer of 2013 mostly swimming as we learned to sail the boat. With instrumental funding and community support, we formalized our campaign and set our sights on the Rio and Tokyo Olympic Games. We just missed out on qualifying for Rio and shortly after disbanded. Though it would have been amazing to continue on the Olympic path, both Chris and I have gone on to make great situations for ourselves. Chris has settled into a great job on a private island in the BVI and I have married my long time girlfriend, Elsa, and started a professional sailing career. The lessons we learned while campaigning will stay with us forever.

How did you get into the professional scene?
After we put an end to our Olympic efforts in the Spring of 2016 I called my good friend Victor Diaz de Leon and asked if he had any pro gigs that I could join. I was extremely fortunate as Victor was looking for someone to join his J70 team for the Worlds in San Francisco the following month. Victor was calling tactics for sailing legend Jud Smith. Of course I said yes without hesitation and ultimately landed the job as trimmer for the event. We sailed a great event with a chance to win almost all the way through, finally finishing 3rd. This earned the trust of Victor which, like in any network, was essential to getting my ‘foot in the door’. I will forever be grateful to Victor and Jud for giving me the opportunity. I also met Willem Van Waay at the Worlds, who together with Victor have helped me grow my network and enter the world of professional sailing. Thanks boys!

How did the hurricanes of 2017 impact your professional career?
I was in Porto Cervo for the 2017 J70 Worlds when Hurricane Irma blazed her path across the Virgin Islands, leaving the territory virtually demolished. I decided it was best to make my way home to help in any way possible. After a pit stop in Boston to console my sister I managed to get to Puerto Rico where I helped Elsa, her sister and a couple of friends evacuate the BVI. I was also able to participate in a large scale relief effort focused on delivering supplies and evacuating people from the BVI. I made it to the BVI on the last flight before the airport closed in preparation for Hurricane Maria. I stayed in the BVI helping my family and friends for a couple of months before moving to Belgium where Elsa had moved for work. In the process I decided to skip both the Etchells and Melges 20 Worlds to stay and help. This was obviously a huge risk for my career, but family comes first and I had to make some hard decisions. If I didn’t make the effort of returning home and helping I would regret it for the rest of my life. Those Hurricanes changed the lives of everyone who had to experience them.

What do you have coming up on the schedule?
I’ve been fortunate since missing out on those Worlds and managed to get involved in the J70 class this past year. I recently joined a J70 as well as an Etchells program for this winter season and I am hoping to put a Melges 20 program together for the Worlds in April. The goal is alwasy to compete in as many World Championships as possible so that will be the focus next spring and summer.

What are your goals in professional sailing?
Certainly my primary goal is to make a life-long career out of professional sailing. It’s definitely not an easy task, but the thought of making a living doing what I love is really motivating. I’d say amongst most professional sailors the America’s Cup is an obvious destination.

If there was an aspiring sailor who wanted to get into pro sailing what would you tell them?
Contact everyone you know who sails professionally and be persistent in finding a ride. Take every opportunity that comes your way, work extremely hard, stay humble and always be a good team player.

Who’s Your Crew? College Team Race Season Preview & Who's Who, Part I

January 7, 2018 by Sail1Design Editor Leave a Comment

By Chris Klevan
Below is our top-down Part I look at some of the top teams competing in the 2018 Spring ICSA Team Race season. The season is bound to be a thriller. Stay tuned for Part II, where we round out the top 20 potential ICSA 2018 Team Race Champions!! Feel free to post your thoughts in our discussion forum below this article!
Team Racing requires a combination of knowledge, skills, and teamwork. To compete at the highest level, a team of three boats, sailing in concert, must have the experience to execute split second maneuvers, and have chemistry to communicate and adapt to dynamic changes in the play, and finally, the speed to sail away.
The biggest factor that separates the players from the pretenders is the third skipper. All the top teams have two boats with blinding speed, great boat-handling, and an eye for beating another boat. But only the top teams have three skippers with such a combination. That’s the first thing to look for when trying to discern who’s ready for the big league. However, the factor that separates the players from the champions is the crew. Who’s in the front of the boat will dictate who comes away with the crown.
However, for a championship caliber team to become a dynasty, a team that can win the championship year after year, it takes 6 full boats that can team race at the highest level. “Yale’s ability to bring in the recent grads, GTown’s depth overall [these are the difference-makers.] If you don’t have solid people to practice against, it’s hard to improve because your mistakes are not accounted for in practice,” says Cornell University head coach Brian Clancy. Quality practice breeds the players of tomorrow. To fully forecast the future of college sailing, you must dive into who’s been practicing with depth.
photo by Rob Migliaccio
The 2018 ICSA Team Race National Championship will be held at Old Dominion University, May 26-28
College of Charleston
Last year, we saw the College of Charleston Cougars take home the Team Race Championship behind the prowess of Stefano Peschiera, Jack Cusick, Christophe Killian, Grace McCarthy, Chloe Dapp, Annabel Carrington, Caroline Bracken and Elizabeth Pemberton. With any title defense the first place to start is with the question, what has changed?
Photo taken from the College of Charleston sailing facebook page
First, Charleston will have to prove they can win away from home. It will be interesting to see how the Cougars come out of the gate this spring season. Last season, the first interconference team race regatta that Charleston won was the National Championship regatta. Perhaps they found an advantage on their home waters. Perhaps their breakthrough came at the right moment. There are more questions remaining here than with most defending champions. They certainly have the continuity required to maintain the momentum gained in taking home the Wood Trophy.
Last year’s championship team featured only two seniors, Jack Cusick and Chloe Dapp, who, now removed, the Cougars will be looking to replace. Many look to transfers Augie Dale ‘19 and Katherine Lounsbury ‘20 to pick up the slack. Dale and Lounsbury are the natural choice to step in for the Cougars after an impressive fall fleet race season. The tandem notably won A-Division at the Atlantic Coast Championships. They say speed makes you look smart. Dale has yet to prove himself on the team race circuit, but, at the very least, he’s proven that he has the wheels to compete. Though we’ll have to wait to see how Dale and Lounsbury fit, Charleston’s other two boats are extremely solid.
Christophe Killian, a match-race specialist, finished 2nd at this year’s Match Race National Championship and was part of the ICSA Match Race Championship boat in 2015, driving, as just a sophomore. There are many parallels between the two disciplines and Killian proved that last year in Charleston’s championship effort. Therefore, on the team race course, Killian was not the “third” last year, and he will not have to step up for Charleston to return to championship form. Replacing Cusic is a much more natural task for the speedster, Dale.
Stefano Peschiera is in the driver’s seat for this year’s College Sailor of the Year award and he was a dark horse candidate last year. He is arguably the best sailor in the country right now with slippery speed and dominant boat handling. The question lingering as we entered the championship season last year was if this great sailor could figure out the college team racing game. Such doubt was quickly silenced during last year’s event. No such questions are being asked this year.
Finally, it cannot be understated that Charleston’s victory last year featured a stable of experienced and versatile crews- quality that is especially characteristic of all the great Charleston teams. Good crewing is a necessity for a team to compete at the highest level of team racing. The Cougars only lost one of their starting crews from last year’s team. Expect the story behind Charleston’s success to remain the same in their title defense this year as they venture away from the shores of the Cooper River, north, to Old Dominion University.
Yale University
Charleston’s win at the 2017 championship came as a surprise to most. Those shocked, likely had Yale pinned as the favorite. Reaching dynastic status on the Team Race circuit, the Bulldogs of Yale had won four straight national championships before finishing second in last year’s championship. However, this year will be much more uncertain for Yale.
The path to the championship for Yale is extremely difficult. Yale must qualify as one of the 4 teams to represent the New England Conference at the New England Conference Championship. Before their 4-year run of championships, Yale was only featured sporadically despite fielding some of the best talent in the nation- a testament to the depth of the conference and the challenge presented by the qualification process. The question now is whether the Bulldogs will yet again be able to transcend above the competitive NEISA conference.
On one hand, like Charleston, they have 2 team race national championship winning helmsmen in Malcolm Lamphere (2 time champion) and Nicholas Baird, who is still in the running for this year’s college sailor of the year award. On the other hand, the third skipper hole they are attempting to fill is a big one.
Last year, Yale graduated Ian Barrows, the 2017 College Sailor of the Year and a finalist the year prior. He was a four time All-American, a three-time Team Race Champion, a three time Fleet Race National division winner, a two time Fleet Race National Champion and a team leader. Furthermore, his graduating class was stacked. Yale graduated 3 excellent crews, one being Clara Robertson, the 2017 recipient of Julia Babineau, NEISA crew of the year. Another being Natalya Doris, perhaps an even more experienced crew than Robertson.
They also graduated Mitchell Kiss, a consistent starter at the skipper position. Kiss was probably good enough to be the best sailor on all but a handful of teams in college sailing and the fact that they had 4 skippers good enough to compete at the pinnacle of college team racing meant their practices were unmatched. This, however, is the biggest argument for Yale’s continued successes this upcoming season. For years now, Yale has been practicing a level most coaches could only dream of, sailing 6 solid boats. Yes, they lost 2 and a half premier boats, but they are able to fill such large losses better than anyone.
Waiting in the wings are two skippers that have spent their team racing careers in the background, boosting the dynasty that appears, on paper, only to be 3 great boats. Junior Nicolas Hernandez is extremely speedy and will surprise competitors thinking that Baird and Lamphere are the only threats. Senior Casey Klingler is unquestionably the best female team racer in the nation- a crown she’ll take from last year’s college sailor of the year, Erika Reineke. On top of that, freshman Shaun Harvey proved last fall that he has the goods to compete at the highest level of college sailing. An embarrassment of riches, Yale’s weak boat will either be a very experienced speedster, the best female team racer in college sailing or one of the next bright stars in the sport.
The tough choice of third skipper is a good problem for Yale to have. This will boost Yale, again, to the position of favorite in NEISA. However, for them to get back atop the podium in 2018, their young crews, led by sophomore star, Graceann Nicolosi will have to step up in a big way.
Georgetown University
Finishing 3rd at last year’s championship, Georgetown was the one of the youngest teams at the event. An incredibly talented group, Georgetown returns all starters from last year’s effort with the exception of one crew, Albert Kraus. The experience gained by the young platoon last year cannot be overstated. That, coupled with an excellent rotation of crews, led by Meaghan MacRae and Haley Shea, will make Georgetown one of this year’s favorites with an extremely high ceiling to their potential.
One potential wrinkle is who will Coach Mike Callahan look to when the chips are on the table. Last year, Callahan alternated between the two youngsters, Will Logue and Sean Segerblom, while leaning on the experience Campbell D’Elliscu and Roger Dorr. Dorr is a senior, and, while he’s probably the most experienced of the group, he’s also the most known quantity. At this point you know, with Dorr on the water, you have a solid team. However, it’s extremely hard to say just how good Logue and Segerblom can be. If those two guys live up to the hype, we could be talking about a Yale-like dynasty for years to come. The question will be how will Callahan weigh reliability versus upside.
Photo taken from the Georgetown University sailing facebook page
We should get our answer to this question relatively early in the spring season due to a change in how the Mid Atlantic Conference (MAISA) is approaching their team race season. The Graham Hall Team Race at Navy is a heavily weighted regatta. Callahan, and Georgetown, likely won’t have the luxury of experimenting with their roster this season. The Hoya team shown at the Graham Hall, early in the spring season, will likely be the team Callahan believes give them the best chance to win.
D’Elliscu lies somewhere in between Dorr’s experience and the talent of Segerblom and Logue, although to study abroad, he did not sail in the Fall of 2017. When placed in a similar position Segerblom and Logue are in now, Mr. D’Elliscu has yet to falter. Georgetown relied on D’Elliscu when conditions got light at the Fleet Race National Championship in San Diego, 2016. Just a freshman, Mr. D’Elliscu was clutch to close the championship campaign for the Hoyas. Despite the skills of 2016 sailor of the year, Nevin Snow, the Hoyas needed D’Elliscu and he delivered. Now, as a Junior, D’Elliscu will have to be one of the leaders for this Georgetown team to be a contender.
Hobart and William Smith Colleges
Many look for this team to take the step forward from great to elite. HWS finished 5th overall at the Team Race Nationals last year, but, like Georgetown, graduated only one player, Adam Schaefer, an alternate crew. However, unlike Georgetown, there is no question who they will start at the skipper position. The combination of Guzman, Hobbs and Miller with Weber, Flaherty and Kloc won’t have to look to establish chemistry or find speed. This season, for the northerners, will be about asserting their will on the league.
The reliability of Miller is the key for the stability of HWS. All other MAISA teams have question marks in the third spot of their depth chart. In order for Charleston to stay at the top, Augie Dale and Katherine Lounsbury will have to prove they have the chops, for Georgetown, their young guns will have to mature. HWS has three boats with the speed, smarts and chemistry together. On top of that they have the crews to finish the job.
According to head coach, Scott Ikle, it is the crews that will put this team over the top, led by Junior, Lindsey Kloc. “Like all great crews, Lindsey brings the best out of her skipper,” said Ikle. “Miller is solid skipper on his own, but last year, sailing with Lindsey, he was excellent.”
Boston College
Of teams finishing in the final four in last year’s championship event, Boston College looks to be most in jeopardy for a step backwards. Graduating 6 players from last years 4th place finishing team is tough enough. However, they also graduated 4 starters, 2 skippers- 1 being the women’s college sailor of the year. Erika Reineke left some big shoes to fill, but the loss of the elite All-American crews Hannah Lynn and Allison Ferraris may have left an even larger void.
Over the past decade, few schools have been able to match Boston College’s culture of reloading year after year. A team now proficient at producing a product greater than the sum of its individual parts, Boston College, throughout recent history, has been one of the premier sailing colleges in the nation. “Somehow I got lucky enough to have some very talented sailors buy in to that philosophy (a long time ago!) and that has made all the difference,” said Head Coach, Greg Wilkinson.
This year, the Eagles will be able to lean on one of College Sailing’s current team racing greats, Scotty Sinks. Sinks returns for his senior campaign. If the two newcomers to the starting lineup can prove they can navigate the digital-N with speed, Sinks is capable of making this team a contender in New England. However, the presumptive “next man up,” junior Wade Waddell will have to step up in a big way if the Eagles hope to get back to the final four.
Photo taken from the Boston College sailing facebook page
How the remainder of the team is composed is more up for debate. Thus far, sophomores, Colin Brego and Scott Rasmussen have shown the ability to step forward as the potential candidates. The crew position poses, perhaps, an even larger question. With Ferraris and Lynn graduating, the Eagles will have to replace two of the best crews sailing last year.
Wisely, however, BC sailed more crews than any other team at the Team Race Championship, 8 different crews logged races. With this experience, those looking to fill the shoes of Lynn and Ferraris know what it expected of them at the highest level. “That work began last year,” said Wilkinson. “The real reason to develop your “second team” [not a term I like very much – we just have one team] is to prepare the future, not to ‘make practice better’. We’re not trying to develop different TR teams on our team. We’re trying to develop everyone’s team racing ability.” Emma Perry, Tara Ferraris, Lily McGrath and Scott Rasmussen (a single-handed national champion) are all returning after contributing to last year’s 4th place finish at the Team Race Nationals.
“At this point, I rely on the team leaders – the seniors and the captains – to pass that mentality on to the younger sailors,” continued Wilkinson “It’s not easy – as they say, sailing is by and large an individual sport. We’ve tried to create a team first mentality. We’ve had some success with it. Our upperclassmen are able to pass this mentality down to the underclassmen. When underclassmen see an upperclassmen get pulled or subbed – and then see that upperclassmen remaining a part of the event, supportive of their teammates, and oftentimes subbed back in (when conditions change, etc) – they start to believe in ‘team first’. I think lots of other teams think it’s strange when all our sailors, including ‘extras’, get dressed in sailing gear, including their uniforms, at the beginning of an event, regardless of whether or not they are starting. I think it would be even stranger to go to a [insert ANY sport here] game and watch a bench player scramble to get out of jeans and a sweatshirt and put on their uniform and gear when the coach wants them to go in. At a regatta, it’s kind of tough to have a “next man up” mentality when the next man up is wearing jeans.”
Stanford University
Over the past decade, Stanford University has been a staple at the Team Race Championships. Partly true because the Pacific Coast Conference, like the South Atlantic, is relatively less competitive from which to qualify. But such consistency is also due to the fact that year after year, Stanford transforms an impressive pool of sailing talent into team race robots, with the speed, handling and smarts to win the whole thing on any given year.
The type of sailing Stanford delivers on a yearly basis is a byproduct of the prowess of Assistant Coach, Clinton Hayes, a true student of the game. “The fastest team wins,” says Hayes, simple as that. Again, this year, Stanford is deep with speed and they still have Mr. Hayes at the whiteboard.
Returners, William Marshall ‘19, Will La Dow ‘18 and Jacob Rosenberg ‘20 with freshman Jack Parkin should be the helmsmen competing this spring. Last year’s 7th place finishing team lost only one starter, Reinier Eenkeme Van Dijk.
The United States Naval Academy
The loss of college sailor of the year-finalist, Patrick Snow, and senior Michael Madigan will, by no means, make Navy’s quest for the championship in 2017 easier. However, the Midshipmen sailed a cadre of competent sailors who, while led by Snow, are mostly returning. Last year this team was a veteran Team Race squad sailing 2 senior and 2 junior helmsmen at the championship, along with 2 senior crews.
However, this year, Navy again will have a veteran lineup including now senior sailors Gary Prieto, Peter Hogan, juniors Mary Morocco, Ana Mier and sophomore Brittany Slook. The question we all will be looking to answer this spring is who will emerge as the third skipper for this team. Freshman Conor Bayless is a skipper with a lot of potential as well as some team racing experience but is suspended for the beginning of the spring semester because of a rule 2 incident at the Van Duyne men’s laser qualifier. Sophomore Max Brill has shown some skill and was present at many MAISA minor team races last year getting some much needed college sailing reps.
Dartmouth College
One of the best team racing units last year, Dartmouth failed to qualify out of the New England Conference (NEISA). Despite being an elite team racing team, this is not unheard of. Many believe Dartmouth, had they qualified through, would have been a final four team.
Unfortunately, this team, with the ideal mix of experience and fire last year, lost much of their experience due to graduation. Robert Floyd, Charles Lalumiere, Madeleine Cooney, Nathaniel Greason and Sophie Kerr all graduated from the Big Green’s starting unit. “The 2017 seniors were a special group in terms of commitment and leadership, and they will not be easy to replace,” said Justin Assad, Dartmouth Head Coach.
Assad continued, “Our team has values that guide us as teammates, in striving to live those values every practice we will be able to bring the positive team atmosphere that last year’s seniors espoused. In particular, crews Rebecca McElvain, Paige Clarke, and Sophia Diserio, along with Duncan Williford and Erik Weis, will be crucial team leaders this spring. They understand the special mix of drive, commitment, accountability, and fun that is required for the whole team to perform at the top level, and they will work selflessly to ensure the team is on the same page.”
Duncan Williford had a solid season sailing B-Division for the team. The senior is a great leader and clearly has the stuff to compete. “Duncan grew as a teammate and an individual last spring, at the ready to help the team however he could,” said Assad. “He has studied the game carefully and will be ready for this spring; with crew Paige Clarke he has superb boathandling and his knowledge and ability to recognize situations will be a big strength.”
But perhaps more importantly, Christopher Williford, a junior, has evolved from being a talented youngster to a legitimate college sailor of the year candidate. Williford is one of the fastest helmsmen in the nation. If the replacements to Floyd, Lalumiere, Cooney, Greason and Kerr can learn the game at a similar level, this team will be tough to beat due to senior leadership and the continuing improvement of their emerging star.
Roger Williams University
RWU was a middle of the road team racing team at the start of last season. Much has changed since then. Now senior, Mack Bryan is extremely quick, has a cool demeanor, and his boathandling is second to none. Martim Anderson is an extremely talented sailor and now in his fourth and final year in college, has a really good grip on the intricacies of the game. Finally, Connor Harding has the edge needed when things get tight in a must-win race. Those guys coupled with great crews, a staple of any great Roger Williams team, are primed to make a run late this spring.
“We foster a love of team racing.” said Head Coach, Amanda Callahan. “Our top crews learn the nuances of the game in the same way the skippers do, so they anticipate the next moves and they feed the pertinent information which helps with great boat handling and communication.”
Seniors, Rebecca Anderson, Michael McBrian and juniors Jennifer Agnell and Halie Repeta will be the crews leading this rendition of great team racing at Roger Williams. This team is suddenly weathered and hard, especially with coaches Amanda Callahan and Colin Merrick, team race legends in their own right, pressing the buttons throughout the season.
They were on the outside looking in after last year’s Fowle Trophy, NEISA’s conference championship, finishing only 2 losses behind Boston College and a spot at the Championship in Charleston. This experience seemed to have lit a fire under the team.
Throughout the offseason, the starting team got together and sailed several open team race regattas, including the US Sailing Hinman Championship, America’s Team Race National Championship. At that event, this team was not “middle of the road” competitive, they were a contender to win the regatta throughout the event.
“In the six week team racing season, top college sailors might get an average of 78 races if they are lucky,” continued Callahan. “By competing outside college on the revived summer circuit, they essentially got an entire extra season of racing. And to get good at team racing you have to do a lot of reps.”
They have the speed and the grit now to get it done, a year matured. Do not be surprised if this team finishes atop NEISA and end up in the hunt for the championship in late May.
“Our top team’s passion for sailing and getting better at sailing has made this the most fun team to coach in my tenure at RWU. None of them had done much team racing before college. They’ve really worked hard TOGETHER; they are a group who really enjoys being together and you can’t force that chemistry. I’m grateful for it.”
Old Dominion University
A very young team last year, ODU showed the skill and maturity to sneak in after a competitive Prosser Trophy, the Mid Atlantic Team Race Championship. They are a year older now, a year wiser. A team that finished tied for 9th in the nation, brought back all but one sailor, Gabe Smith. There is little doubt that ODU will be better this year. However, being better does not guarantee an improvement in the standings, it doesn’t automatically qualify you for the top-8 and in a conference like the Mid-Atlantic, it doesn’t necessarily offer you a seat at the table.
Like NEISA, MAISA is allotted only 4 spots. If Georgetown and HWS take the expected steps towards final-4 caliber status, the young-but-improving teams like ODU, Navy, St. Mary’s, George Washington, Cornell and the Merchant Marine Academy will have to battle for just two spots with Georgetown and HWS claiming the top-2 spots in the conference. To emerge from the crowd, a team like ODU will have to continue to improve, take care of business by beating teams who they’re better than and take a race or two off of the elite teams.
George Washington University
Do not sleep on the Colonials. This team might not have been anything more than a club team with only aspirations of merely fielding a team race team 5 years ago. Much has changed in the past half-decade. With the work of dedicated alumni, especially Will Ricketson, coach John Pearce to help shepherd them onto the scene, current coach Billy Martin and talent such as Kai Friesecke and Miranda Bakos this team has more than arrived. Expect Kai to lead Andrew Sheerin & Derek Poon-Tip to the brink of qualifying for the national championship. An emerging national contender from MAISA, this team is primed to take the next step.
Photo provided by Rob Migliaccio
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Ty Ingram is really fast. Trevor Long is extremely hard working, his improvement over the past 3 years is inspiring. Both seem like quality fellas and have adopted college sailing’s best corinthian spirit and skills. Shameena Shaffeeullah, Marcus Abate and Julia Cho are progressing towards some of the best crews in the nation, especially Ms. Shaffeeullah. This team finished 8th in last year’s championship without the help of now clear #2 skipper, Trevor Long, who then was recovering from a concussion. Cutter O’Connell filled in admirably as the team was not only able to qualify out of a stiff NEISA conference, but sail well in the championship. Fully healthy now and better due to the growth of their starting sailors, this team is ready to go. The question for this group seems not to be how will they get there but rather, who will stop them.
Eckerd College
Benefiting from sailing at one of the best venues to team race, Eckerd improved dramatically last season. They will look to continue to improve with goals of making the top-8 next season. The loss of senior Jason D’Aostino, William McKenzie as well as Assistant Coach Zack Marks will not help things. They first must look to fend off a surging University of South Florida and Jacksonville University.
Are there more teams that can, or will contend? You bet there are. Stay tuned for Part II, which will look at seven more teams, mostly riding dark horses, that have a chance to end up on top.
Feel free to post your thoughts in our discussion forum below this article!
ABOUT SAIL1DESIGN
Sail1Design is a grassroots organization, by sailors for sailors, dedicated to the youth, high school, college, and one-design sailing communities. Born in 2007, Sail1Design has grown considerably, and reaches out to all sailors wishing to enjoy and learn more about our sport. We have three main areas of business:
SAILING/MARINE INDUSTRY CAREER CENTER & JOB BOARD
We offer sailing’s #1 Career Center and Job Board, always chock full of incredible sailing job opportunities. Our comprehensive career center also offers job seekers the ability to create their own web page, highlighting their experience and posting their resume. Likewise, employers can search our resume database to find the right match for that open position. Sail1Design is proud also to be the official job board of the Intercollegiate Sailing Association (ICSA), the US High School Sailing Association (ISSA), and US Sailing.
MARKETPLACE & PROFESSIONAL BROKERAGE
Unique to the industry, Sail1Design hosts and manages an active private, by-owner marketplace, focusing on performance and one-design sailboats & gear. For all boats under 25′, our ads are free. What makes us different is that we also provide, side-by-side, professional brokerage services as well. We have had great success helping our sailing clients market and sell their boats, using our powerful client base, social media, and the brokerage industries multiple listing service to ensure your boat gets noticed.
AIRWAVES NEWS & CALENDAR
S1D also hosts Airwaves, an interactive, user fed Sailing Calendar and informative Sailing News, Articles, tips, & more. Airwaves has developed a great niche in the sailing publication world, and now boasts a seven-member staff of dedicated sailors, all contributing to our varied content.

Welcome to the 2017 College Sailing Fall Season!

September 6, 2017 by Sail1Design Editor Leave a Comment

After a summer of rest, coaching gigs and internships, sailors return to their respective schools and look to the water, the 2017 ICSA Fall Season is upon us. With regattas starting in early September and ending in mid-November, spanning from coast to coast, the Intercollegiate Sailing Association (ICSA) will sanction hundreds of regattas just this fall alone.
With so many quality regattas slated for the upcoming weeks, including singlehanded and match racing national championships, this Fall will prove to be an exciting one. All three fall national championships will be held in SAISA. The ICSA Match Racing National Championship will be held at the College of Charleston, in South Carolina, host of last spring’s championships. The Men’s and Women’s Singlehanded Nationals will take place in St. Petersburg, Florida. These three national championships help set the tone for the season, coupled with a women’s and coed fleet racing season which culminates in the Coed and Women’s Atlantic Coast Championships, held at SUNY Maritime College in New York and Connecticut College in Connecticut College respectively.
Last fall, Georgetown University won the 2016 ICSA Match Race National Championship held in San Diego, California. Also known as the Cornelius Shields Jr. Trophy, the match racing championship was a hard fought one as the best of three series went to 3 races against MAISA rival, Hobart and William Smith Colleges. Returning most of last year’s championship team (AJ Reiter graduated spring 2017), Georgetown will look to repeat as champions this fall.
Boston College stood as the victors of both the Men’s and the Women’s Singlehanded National Championships in 2016. 2020 grad, Scott Rasmussen and Senior, Erika Reineke won the two regattas, respectively. Ms. Reineke graduated last fall after winning the Quantum Women’s Sailor of the year.
MIT won the 2016 Coed Atlantic Coast Championship at home last fall and The United States Coast Guard Academy won the 2016 Women’s Atlantic Coast Championship held at College of Charleston. The Beavers of MITshould return both starters from last fall’s championship effort and will be looking strong for the fall 2017 campaign. The Coast Guard Bears graduated 2016 Quantum Women’s Sailor of the Year, Nikole Barnes. Questions remain as to who will step forward as this year’s power in women’s sailing.

COLLEGE SAILING 101: Inside the World of College Sailing for Sailors, & Parents of Prospective College Sailors

November 11, 2015 by Sail1Design Editor 11 Comments

WHAT:                 COLLEGE SAILING NIGHT
WHERE:                Severn Sailing Association, Annapolis, MD
WHEN:                  04 December 2015 1900-2100
LIVE VIDEO
Come join us for a round-table discussion/Q&A session at Severn Sailing Association on Friday evening, 04 December 2016. Learn more about the not-so-mysterious world of college sailing from some of the top college coaches in the country.
Sponsored by Sail1Design, registration is now CLOSED, we are FULL!! Don’t worry, Sail1Design will publish a web-based taping of the event!! Stay tuned for more information!!

Schedule
Panelists and moderator will deliver a brief synopsis of college sailing, following the outline below. We will then open up the presentation to questions, followed by an informal meet and greet opportunity.
Topics will include:

Inside the ICSA: The organizational structure of the sport. What it is, and what it isn’t
The Conferences (Districts)
Types of Teams & a Few Team Profiles
- Varsity vs. club
The Actual Sailing Itself
- Types of regattas
- COED, Women’s, Team Racing, Singlehanded, Match racing, Keelboats
Boats Used
Life of a College Sailor
- Commitment
- Travel
- Social life
Eligibility
Recruiting 101
- How coaches view players
- How coaches view parents

Moderator
Tom Sitzmann, Director of Sailing, Severn Sailing Association
The SSA Director of Sailing, Tom has coached sailing and directed sailing programs from Maine to Annapolis, beginning with stints at Tufts and Dartmouth Colleges as an assistant. Tom was also an assistant offshore & dinghy coach at the USNA, head intercollegiate coach at Bowdoin College, and more recently head coach at Severn School, where he guided the team to a National championship, the first and only Chesapeake Bay school ever to win the prestigious Mallory Trophy.
Tom has a great deal of dinghy racing experience, competing successfully in the Laser, J/24, and J/22, winning several regional and district championships in those classes, both in New England and the Mid-Atlantic.
Panelists
Bill Ward, Head Coach, St. Mary’s College
In nearly 15 years of collegiate coaching, Ward’s teams have won five national championships. He also had the honor of coaching Team USA at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. In 2008, Ward was named the National Coach of the Year by the U.S. Olympic Sailing Committee. He was also on the coaching staff of the U.S. Sailing Team for the 2007 Pan Am Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Ward served as the team leader/head coach for the U.S. Inter Collegiate Sailing Association Team competing in the BUSA Tour in England and Ireland in 2005. He graduated from Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. in 1996, where he was a two-time All-America honorable mention (1994 and 1995) and team captain. Ward led Georgetown to the program’s first-ever appearances at the ICSA Dinghy and Sloop National Championships.
Michael Callahan, Head Coach, Georgetown University
Michael J. Callahan was selected to be Head Coach of the Georgetown University Sailing Team (GUST) in August 1998. Callahan initially joined the athletic department as an assistant sailing coach in August 1997. During the 1999-2000, 2000-01 and again in the 2005-06 season, Callahan was the recipient of the Outstanding Coaching Achievement Award, an honor presented by Hoyas Unlimited to the most outstanding Hoya coach from the past season. To date, the award has been bestowed upon Callahan more than any other Georgetown coach.
Ian Burman, Head Coach, US Naval Academy
Ian Burman is in his eighth year at the helm of the Navy intercollegiate sailing team in 2015-16. In 2014-15, the team had top-10 finishes at both the ICSA Team Coed Dinghy National Championship and the ICSA Team Racing National Championship. Senior Mary Hall capped off her career by being named an ICSA All-American Women’s Skipper. Hall was also named the MAISA Women’s Sailor of the Year and to the All-MAISA Women’s Skipper First Team and the All-MAISA Coed Skipper Second Team. Fellow senior Emma Ferris was named an ICSA All-American Women’s Crew.
Scott Iklé, Head Coach Hobart/William Smith Colleges
Clearly, one of the premier sailing coaches in the nation, Scott Iklé has been at the helm of the Hobart and William Smith sailing program since 1993. The 1984 graduate of Hobart inherited a struggling team, built it into a consistent national championship contender, and reached the pinnacle of college sailing in 2005, not once, but twice.
John Vandemoer, Head Coach, Stanford
John Vandemoer has taken Stanford sailing to new heights, and looks to continue to do so during the 2015-16 season, his eighth on The Farm. During his tenure, Stanford has reached the national championships in all three divisions in each of his seven seasons, finishing as high as fourth in coed racing (2014), fifth in women’s racing (2013) and third in the team race (2014, 2015). All said and done, Vandemoer’s Stanford squads have won 20 of 21 spring conference crowns in the Pacific Coast Collegiate Sailing Conference.
Michael Collins, Ass’t Coach, USMMA King’s Point
Michael Collins enters his second season as the assistant coach of the Kings Point intercollegiate varsity sailing team. Collins graduated from Old Dominion University in 2008 where he earned his Bachelors of Science degree in Sports Management. While at Old Dominion he competed on their intercollegiate varsity sailing team. He served as captain of the team his senior year.
Charles Higgins, Ass’t Coach, Old Dominion University
Charles Higgins enters his seventh year as an assistant coach at his alma mater in the 2014-15 season. He returned to ODU three years ago to continue his collegiate coaching career after one year of coaching at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy in King’s Point. Higgins was an impact sailor in his career at Old Dominion as a leader in team racing and sloop sailing.
John Norfleet, Head Coach, Fordham University
Fordham is a member of the Middle Atlantic Intercollegiate Sailing Association (MAISA), one of seven regional conferences of the Intercollegiate Sailing Association of North America (ICSA), the governing body of College Sailing in the USA.
Zach Runci, Head Coach, SUNY Maritime College
Zach Runci joined the Maritime waterfront staff as the assistant sailing coach in the Fall of 2013, and will now be entering his second season as the team’s head coach beginning in the fall of 2015. In his first season as head coach, Runci led the Privateers to one of their most successful campaigns in recent program history as the team was nationally ranked on several occasions through the 2014-15 season.
Linden Dahlkemper, Ass’t Coach, US Coast Guard Academy
Coach Dahlkemper was a four year member of the intercollegiate sailing team as a cadet, splitting her time between the women’s team and coed team as both a skipper and a crew member.
After graduating in 2008, she spent two years on the CG Cutter WALNUT, a buoy tender homeported in Honolulu, HI. Then, from 2010 to 2012, she was stationed as the Operations Officer on the CG Cutter ASPEN, in San Francisco, CA.
Upon her return to the Academy as an instructor in the Department of Humanities, Dahlkemper joined the coaching staff as a volunteer assistant, working closely with the team during the week in practice and during weekend competitions. Focusing primarily on the younger members of the team, she assists with growing the depth needed to sustain a nationally competitive program.
Dahlkemper also serves as the intercollegiate sailing team’s Faculty Affiliate and spends her summers training cadets on the Academy’s L-44 sloops.
Sam Patterson, Chris Craven, Captains, U. Virginia Club Sailing Team
The Sailing Association at UVA is a student run club sport open to all UVa students of any skill level. We are an active group of sailors interested in racing, recreational sailing, and social events. We sail out of Lake Anna Yacht Club where we keep a fleet of nine Collegiate FJs and one Hobie 16, as well as two brand new Carolina Skiffs.
We will likely have more coaches, and several alumnus representatives from Bowdoin College, Tufts University, GW University, U. Vermont, Syracuse, and more. Also, many teams will send detailed brochures/recruiting information on their teams, so this will be an invaluable opportunity to learn about college sailing!

Balancing College with College Sailing

September 30, 2014 by Sail1Design Editor Leave a Comment

By Airwaves Writer Lydia Whiteford. We’ve all heard the classic college tagline, “between sleep, studying, and having fun, you can only pick two.” When you are also a college athlete, dedication to your sport is another variable that gets thrown into this mix. However, as I enter my final year of college, I find myself thinking that this stereotype may not be as true as people think. I believe that you can make the most out of your college experience in all aspects, even if there’s a lot on your plate. College sailors often have 30, and sometimes more, hours a week etched out of their schedules to dedicate to being on the water. So, as an experienced member of the college sailing world, I’ve compiled a “to do” list for those who are new to the game. Sooner than you think, you can find a way to juggle sailing, studies, and living your college life to the fullest.

1: Be Honest: This tip is threefold. The first person you need to be honest with is yourself. For example, if you have practice 4 days a week and regattas on weekends, are you really going to have time to take organic chemistry, head up your team’s social affairs, and sail full time on a varsity level? If you are, props to you because you might be superman. But if you don’t, that’s okay! Most people are, pun intended, in the same boat. What that means is that it is time to have a frank discussion with yourself on where you might have to allocate your time in order to be the most successful.
This brings me to my next point, which is to be honest with your coaches and professors. Make sure you keep an open dialogue with your coaches about how your classes are going; most of them uphold the popular motto that “school comes before everything.” If midterms are fast approaching and you are drowning in work, it is okay to miss a day or two of practice. It can sometimes feel like you are letting a coach or your teammates down by doing this, but that feeling can be avoided by telling your coach in advance how you are doing. A conversation on Monday that starts with, “hey coach, I have 2 papers and a test next week so I might have to miss Wednesday to go to office hours” will have a much better end result than a panicked email saying, “sorry no practice today way too much work” at the last minute. Along the same lines, it is equally important to be honest with your professors if something pops up in your athletic life that may affect your workload. I’ve found that it is valuable to discuss your extracurricular activities with your professors early, so that when the time of the season comes to head to Navy two weekends in a row, you can politely ask to be excused from a Friday class for traveling purposes without it being a surprise or sounding like an excuse. Many professors are very accommodating of college athletes, and as long as missing class does not become a habit, they are more than willing to grant you an absence if you need one.

The last group to be continually honest with are your friends. College sailors are on a different schedule than most other college athletes, and instead of having 2 halves that last 20-40 minutes each our “games” span 2 days, often for at least 6 hours a day, and most of the time they will be off campus. While this does allow for some intensely close bonding within the team, it can often leave non-sailor friends by the wayside. The best way to manage relationships with these friends when you can’t go out on the weekends is to work hard to plan other meeting times. Lunch together in the cafeteria or study sessions in the library together are great places to start until you know each other’s schedules, and then things will fall into place more easily as long as both parties understand the limits of availability.

2: Use Your Free Time Wisely: The first thing that most new college sailors will learn is that sailing takes up a lot of time. After practice, regattas, meetings, and “team bonding” every week it can soon feel like everything you do revolves around college sailing. The most important thing to remember in these times is that the more you plan ahead, the fewer nights you will spend staying up until 4 am frantically scrambling to do neglected work. Take advantage of the time you have during the day; an hour or two between class is perfect for getting some reading or studying done. Allocate days of the week so that some are for work and some are for socializing – days off of practice are usually good working days, as they are usually earlier in the week. Also, if there is a particular social event you know you won’t want to miss, know that you may have to sacrifice more of your after practice hours to studying in order to free time up. Get to know your classes to prioritize work (learn the critical art of skimming!) This will help with knowing what work will be imperative to keep up with and what can be moved around on your list.
The off-season is a critical time to keep up with good work habits, because you lose the structure of practice and regattas to keep everything moving forward. It is easy come December to think “Oh boy! No more practice for 3 hours a day! Free weekends! I will finally have time to do all the work I need to!” but often, what this quickly turns into is “Oh boy! 3 extra hours to watch Netflix! I’d usually be at practice now and it’s cold outside so just one more episode of House of Cards couldn’t hurt.” Don’t fall into this trap! Work with the free time if you have it, and before you know it, you may even be ahead on work come March when the season starts again.
Most importantly, if you start to feel overwhelmed and run-down, take a break. If you need to sleep, make sure you do! Your teammates will forgive you if you decide to stay in for a night to catch up on some rest. Coaches and professors don’t get disappointed in people who simply have too much on their plates, they only get disappointed in people who slip in performance because they clearly weren’t taking care of themselves.

3: When in Doubt, Lean on your Teammates: Sometimes the unavoidable happens, and the hectic tornado of stuff that college kids have to worry about swallows us all up. If this happens to you, don’t panic, and take some deep breaths because I have some good news for you. You have teammates, several of which are in your class and are probably going through the exact same things as you. Or, even better, you have upperclassman teammates and alumni that went through it all already and lived to tell the tale. Use these people to your advantage, and be there when they need you to be. Ask for advice when you need it, vent when you have to, and bind together to try and get over hurdles like extra hard classes or tough regatta weekends. Because, in the end, nobody knows the ups and downs of college sailing quite as well as other college sailors. Your teammates will quickly turn into family as you all try to navigate sailing, school, and social life to come out on the other end unscathed.

A Life in One Day: What's it's Like to be a College Sailing Coach

August 24, 2014 by Sail1Design Editor 1 Comment

By Airwaves writer John Storck

Late August has always been a time of the year that I really enjoyed. Summer seems to ease off the throttle a bit. The temperature ceases to have me sweating in the shade. And everyone just tries to relax and enjoy what is left of another summer gone by. Of course it has also always meant “back to school” is right around the corner. Having recently retired from the ranks of college sailing coaching, at 31- I am not going “back to school” for the first time in my life. However, many of my peers are, and I want to wish them well.
The life of a college sailing coach was once described wisely as a “binge-work lifestyle.” It’s easy to look at the flexibility that a college coach has during the summer and be envious, but you may reconsider when you see them on the road for the entire weekend, for the seventh straight weekend of the fall. Yes, like any job it has it’s pros and cons. For those in the game, they know what’s around the corner. But for the rest of you, here’s a sampling of just some of the things that these coaches are going to work through in the next three months.
Roster Challenges
Uhoh… we have more skippers than crews this year. How are we going to keep all these people happy? Seriously, think about it…
Injuries
The truth is, college sailing is a lot different than it was 20 years ago. One of the biggest changes is how good everyone is at boathandling. That said, the manner in which the boathandling is performed these days can be taxing on the body. At some point, every coach will have to deal with a top player not being able to sail due to an injury. How to fill that player’s role (temporarily) without disturbing good vibes within the team is a huge challenge.

Sickness
Eventually, every coach will have to deal with this as well. The challenge of filling that player’s role is the same as the injury problem. However, what if he/she gets more of the team sick? Things can get ugly quick!

They’re College Kids, After All
Did you ever make a mistake in college? Well, chances are good that if you made the same mistake today, the consequences would be far greater. I’m not making any statements about whether that’s right or wrong, but it is reality. Every team will have at least one person deal with a disciplinary issue this season. Every coach just hopes it isn’t the whole team.
Travel Logistics
When you stay in as many hotel rooms and rent as many cars as a college sailing team does during a season, the odds of nothing going wrong become worse and worse. Over time, every college coach leans to just take these things in stride “Oh, they’ve never heard of us at the hotel you guys are trying to check into, even though I’m looking at the reservation in my email right now?…awesome!”
Facilities and Boats
At some point, a toilet is going to explode. Or maybe there will be a rodent infestation. Another great part of owning a large fleet of boats that are all the same vintage is that if one thing fails due to “normal wear and tear”: get ready because every boat is about to have the same problem. You just hope that these things don’t happen right before your big home event.

Team Drama
Probably the worst part of the job, but a certain inevitability. Everything might be going great for weeks, and then something happens within the squad that is totally out of your control, and now three people can’t stand to be within 30 feet of each other, and most likely two of them had been sailing together. Now what?
Individual Challenges
Now this is probably the most rewarding part of the job, but it can be incredibly painful to work through as well. When you have anywhere from 24 to 48 kids on a team, chances are more than good that you’re going to have some individuals who need to work on some non-sailing related things. Meeting expectations, working as a good teammate, becoming a leader, don’t come naturally to everyone. And for some, there are real growing pains through the process and it can be taxing on the coaching staff.
Now all that said, when the dust settles on top of the leaves in late November, nearly every coach will have something truly rewarding to look back on. Perhaps its a championship. Perhaps its a few big victories along the way. But more than likely, it’s some less tangible things. Maybe one of those individuals that has been tough made some real strides this season. Maybe one of your players had to deal with something tragic, and you and your team carried them through it. Whatever the case, there can be sources of tremendous pride at the end of each long, hard season.

So to all of my former colleagues, I wish you well heading back to campus. I hope your list of challenges is on the shorter side this season, and that they don’t hit at the worst possible time. But mostly, I hope you can sit down with your families at Thanksgiving and be proud of the accomplishments behind you, both on and off the water.
Good luck, old friends.
Sail1Design invites you to share your memorable coaching experience(s) below!

Looking Up at College Sailing: What's it Really Like?

August 19, 2014 by Sail1Design Editor Leave a Comment

GETTING BEHIND THE BROCHURES…

By Airwaves writer Emma White
Over the past few years I attended several talks during clinics and regattas in which college coaches discuss and answer questions on collegiate sailing. Although I appreciate and learn from these informative sessions, I often wondered about the experiences and perspectives of the collegiate freshmen on the coaches’teams. What do they think? Are their experiences consistent with the coaches’comments? So, to learn more, I surveyed a number of rising collegiate sophomores who sail on top 20 teams to ask about their freshmen college experience.

What I found most interesting was the rigor of their weekly schedule. Here are some other findings you may find intriguing:
Most college freshman practiced 3-4 times a week, and studied 4 hours each day. No one studied more than five hours and no one studied less than one hour each day. Most sailed in more than 6 regattas their freshman fall and spring sailing seasons.
My survey also probed some deeper areas to draw out more about the freshman experience. For example, despite the close relationships high school and junior sailors may form with their teammates, most college freshmen sailors found their college team much closer and tightly knit. They reported that college teammates work well together and everyone is collaborative. Teams are often described as a family and within that family, each class is especially close. One sailor mentioned that while practices are competitive, meetings off the water focus on team dynamic and collaboration of the team. An example of team collaboration is upperclassmen reaching out to underclassmen to help them improve. These comments confirm the college coaches’emphasis on team chemistry often mentioned during the college panel discussions. Another interesting difference the sailors suggested is the competitive college team atmosphere on the water helps everyone improve, and while tensions may rise on the water, they immediately disperse off the water. In comparison, in high school sailing tensions that are high on the water tend to loom over the team off the water as well.
Thinking back to the college coaches’panels and different coach styles and presentations, I asked the sailors to share the most important thing learned from their college coach during freshman year. The responses spanned a wide range, but all underscore the important and lasting impact of a college coach:

“The importance of team over the individual”
Improve something everyday, you should always have a goal for practice
One student was sick both semesters, and this individual learned the importance of taking care of one’s health before sailing
Making the transition from junior sailing, with many boats competing at a time and long courses, to college sailing with 18 boats competing at a time and short courses is difficult. College coaches help sailors smoothly make that transition and adjust tactics and strategy.
Each practice is precious time on the water and you should be pushing yourself (and other teammates)
Life is split into three categories: sailing, social, and academics…you can only choose two

I also asked about the transition for high school to college, and the challenges of sailing with a new talented team. Some sailors found it hard to not start in all of the regattas, they had to learn to appreciate the virtue of patience before competing. Acknowledging the bigger picture of the team’s success is more important. As expected, the fleet is much more competitive than at the high school or junior sailing level. Circling back to the ⅔rule on sailor mentioned in the previous question, other sailors offered their similar input by mentioning the difficulties of managing school and a social life around a time demanding sailing schedule. However, some sailors mastered “maintaining a healthy balance of sailing, school, and activities outside of sailing”which led them to feel more satisfied with their college experience because they also enjoyed campus life. Finally, sailors felt pressure of representing their team and college with dignity.
Last, I asked the freshman sailors what tips and advice they would offer this year’s incoming college freshman sailors:

Learn as much as possible from the upperclassmen (specifically seniors)
Time management is critical
Tough days are inevitable, so you have to remain positive and look forward to good days ahead
Be as open minded as possible and prepared to adjust to a new level of racing
Some teammates might underestimate you because you’re a freshmen, but remember that you’re still an integral part of the team
Become as close as possible to your teammates, especially the seniors
Be a leader and work hard
In terms of exercise, focus on endurance training for all muscle groups and core workouts that pinpoint hiking muscles

I hope you found the college freshman perspectives as interesting and informative as I. Thank you to all the rising sophomores who completed the survey, good luck next year at school!

College Sailing Notebook: Gearing Up for Nationals

May 1, 2014 by Sail1Design Editor Leave a Comment

By Airwaves writer & Brown U. sailing team member Lydia Whiteford

The entire spring season, and really the entire year in college sailing, has been progressing towards this: teams all over the country have had or will have in the next week or so the qualifying regatta that will get them to nationals.
The college sailing national championships are quite an ordeal. They are made up of 3 parts, all of which are qualified for separately. The first is the Women’s division fleet racing nationals, which are sponsored by Sperry. They kick off nationals every year, and are conducted over 4 days. The first day and a half (ending on the second day of sailing at noon) is the “semifinals”. In the past, the top first or second place finishers in the regional qualifiers would advance straight to nationals, and would not have to compete in the semifinals. Then, the top 9 from the semifinal regatta would advance to nationals to join them. This year, however, no boats got to advance straight to nationals, and will all be competing in the semifinals. This means that the semifinal regatta will be split into 2 fleets, with the top nine from each advancing to nationals. Nationals and semis are all held in the same place, so if your team advances it is effectively like one long regatta.
college crew 2
Directly after women’s, the Team-Racing nationals begins, taking place over 3 days and sponsored by Annapolis Performance Sailing. This regatta has no semifinals, as the nature of the regatta eliminates people as the regatta progresses. It is set up so that one or two “round robins” are sailed, in which every team faces each other and then their records are calculated to do the same thing but with the top 12 teams, then the top 6 teams, or how ever the regatta chair decides to set it up. Gradually, teams are eliminated until there is a winner.
Finally, after team racing, the College Sailing National Fleet Race championship is held, and is sponsored by Gill. Historically, the semifinals for this event were separate from the championship, with the regattas taking place at different times. However, this year they’ve changed it so that it is structured like women’s, with the semifinals and the championship being back to back. So, just like women’s, all the teams that qualified out of their district will compete and the top 9 from 2 different fleets will make up the national championship roster.
With so many policy changes this year, the qualifiers schedule was much different across the board than it has been in the past. This year, ICSA decided to construct the season so that all major team racing was to take place in the first half of the season and all major fleet racing in the second half. Usually, the qualifiers would both be regattas that were almost back-to-back in the middle of May. This year, however, they were separated because of the regatta schedule, and therefore everything seemed to be bumped up. Now, most districts have completed all 3 of their qualifiers, with more than a month of post-season until the big event. Qualifiers put quite a strain on the sailors, no matter the difficulty of the district they are. These are the regattas when coaches pull out all the stops: coming to regattas with an armada of sailors, often times multiple boat’s worth for each division. There are heavy crews, light crews, and everything in between. Many sailors have to constantly switch modes, as many of them sail in all three categories of qualifiers. Some of the larger districts, such as MAISA and NEISA, are so competitive that you see completely different teams going to each event, and qualifying for one does not mean by any stretch that you will qualify for all. So, with the season drawing to an end, congrats to all of those teams that have made it and good luck to those still qualifying. The ICSA nationals will be held at the U.S. Naval Academy and St. Mary’s College of Maryland from May 27^th to June 6^th, and here is a preliminary list of the qualifiers (many schools are still undergoing their qualifying events at the moment)

Co-Ed Fleet Racing:
University of Michigan
University of Minnesota
University of Wisconsin
University of Notre Dame
University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee
Yale University
Dartmouth College
Boston College
Coast Guard
Brown University
Tufts University
Bowdoin College
Connecticut College
Harvard University
Georgetown University
St. Mary’s College of Maryland
U.S. Naval Academy
Old Dominion University
University of Pennsylvania
Fordham
University of Virginia
Washington College
Stanford University
University of Hawaii
University of California at Santa Barbara
University of Southern Florida
College of Charleston
Eckerd College
University of Jacksonville
Clemson University
New College of Florida

Women’s Fleet Racing:
Western Washington University
College of Charleston
Eckerd College
University of Southern Florida
Georgetown University
U.S. Naval Academy
Old Dominion University
Cornell University
Hobart and William Smith
Fordham
Yale University
Boston College
Dartmouth College
University of Rhode Island
Brown University
Coast Guard
Bowdoin College
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Texas A&M
Stanford University
University of Hawaii
University of California at Santa Barbara

Team-Racing:
Texas A&M
University of Wisconsin
University of Michigan
Roger Williams University
Yale University
Boston College
Tufts University
University of Washington
College of Charleston
University of Southern Florida
St. Mary’s College of Maryland
Georgetown University
U.S. Naval Academy
Old Dominion University

Sail1Design's Team Race Rankings, 9 APRIL 2014!!

April 9, 2014 by Sail1Design Editor Leave a Comment

As qualifiers finished up this past weekend, the berths for Team Race Nationals in June were filled! Some of the usual heavy-hitters like Stanford, St. Mary’s, Roger Williams and Charleston secured their berths and some of the top spots in our rankings this week with victories at their conference qualifiers. Other regular powerhouses like Georgetown, Yale, and BC confirmed their berths as well with strong sailing to best their competition. And other strong teams who were in the hunt for the remaining berths like Navy, Tufts, USF and ODU came out swinging this weekend and proved that they deserved a spot at the big table.
The weekend also came with upsets and disappointments, in particular in NEISA where Dartmouth, Harvard, and Brown were all in the running for the final nationals berth but couldn’t quite get it done at the Fowle. Fordham, a young team that has come out of the woodwork this year, lost a tie-breaker with ODU for the final MAISA spot at the Prosser, and greatly deserves their recognition in the top 15. Stay tuned as Nationals approaches and we get our championship predictions from our panel!
SEE THE RANKINGS: https://www.sail1design.com/college-team-race-rankings/

college sailing

COLLEGE TEAM RACE RANKINGS #2 are Live!

Make Team Workouts Fun and Effective

Team Training: Circuit Workout

Alec Anderson: Profiles in Pro Sailing

Who’s Your Crew? College Team Race Season Preview & Who's Who, Part I

Welcome to the 2017 College Sailing Fall Season!

COLLEGE SAILING 101: Inside the World of College Sailing for Sailors, & Parents of Prospective College Sailors

Balancing College with College Sailing

A Life in One Day: What's it's Like to be a College Sailing Coach

Looking Up at College Sailing: What's it Really Like?

College Sailing Notebook: Gearing Up for Nationals

Sail1Design's Team Race Rankings, 9 APRIL 2014!!

Browse the Airwaves

Helpful Links

Menu

Browse by Category

college sailing

One Design Classes

Footer

Browse the Airwaves

Helpful Links