The functional opener for the college sailing season was quite the success. Many teams made the annual pilgrimage south to compete in the palm-tree filled, warm weather that February can present in South Florida and Charleston.
College of Charleston ran the Charleston Women’s Interconference Regatta. One of the warm-ups to the spring National Championships, this edition of the regatta was filled with quality women’s teams. The Cooper River sailed as it typically does this time of year; choppy, light to medium with the current being a major factor. Boston University came away with the victory, scoring 100 points after 10 races in both A and B division. Brown University and Stanford University finished second with 114 and third with 115 points respectively. Maeve White and Meg Gerli of Stanford University won A division with 38 points while Margaret Kilvert and the combined effort of, Audrey Giblin, Mia Steck and Lisa Genthner of Dartmouth College won B division with 45 points.
“We were happy to get all of our women sailing this weekend,” said Dartmouth Assistant coach Ali Blumenthal, “It was one of our goals going into this regatta. Peggy, Mia and Lisa had a great run in B and it was great to see first year Audrey Giblin contribute to the divisional win with the last four races of a 4, 2,1,1.”
The Mendelblatt Team Race, hosted by South Florida, helped to kick off the college team race season. Six teams competed in the event and five full round-robins were completed. The host school, University of South Florida, won the event with a 20-5 overall record. Eckerd College finished a close second with a 19-6 record.
Brian Clancy, head coach of Cornell Sailing, said of the event, “The Mendelblatt was a fantastic event… perfect team race conditions and a great early season tune-up. USF did a great job with race management, we couldn’t have asked for a better outcome.”
Elsewhere in the conference, University of South Carolina won the USC Gamecock Invitational with 33 points in 8 races in both A and B division.
The other Interconference Team Race held last weekend was the McIntye Team Race, hosted by Stanford University. Eight teams showed up for the event. 2 full round robins as well as a final four were sailed. Stanford University, University of California at Santa Barbara, University of Hawaii and University of California at Berkeley qualified for the final four. Stanford University and University of California at Santa Barbara finished tied at 15 wins and 2 losses with Santa Barbara winning the tie breaker going 2-1 in 3 tight races against the host school, Stanford.
Stanford Assistant Coach, Clinton Hayes said, “Tight racing at the top!” This was clearly the case and could be something to look forward to in future PCCSC team race regattas. Perhaps there is a new force stepping forward on the West Coast.
For more information, visit collegesailing.org.
