Sperry ICSA Women’s National Championship

Racing got underway at 9:30 a.m. and wrapped up just before 4 p.m. today. The temperature hovered around 70 degrees with a mix of sun and clouds. The winds stayed strong, and started with S/SW winds around 10-15 knots and slowly built to 15-20 knots. For the last races the wind was back down to around 15 knots.

Today A-division sailed Z420s and B-division sailed CFJs. Tomorrow the divisions will swap boats. The sailors are competing on windward leeward courses with three and four legs. Nine races were completed today in both A and B-division with nine races left in each division to complete the regatta. One protest was heard and was disallowed.

Thanks to our judges Don Becker, Dick Gumpert, Geoff Pedrick, and Charlotte Lipschitz. A huge thanks as well to everyone who helped run great races on the water: Brad Dellenbaugh, John Ingalls, Michael Komar, the Brown University and Salve Regina Sailing Teams, and Danielle Richards for the being the ICSA Representative. Special thanks as well to Nick Ewenson from Laser Performance for the on the water support, Rob Migliaccio for his incredible photography, and to all of our coach boats (Pearson Potts, Bill Canfield, Sam Wakeman, and Nick Bailey).

Racing is set to begin at 9:30 a.m. tomorrow with race 10A. No race can begin after 5 p.m. The day will culminate in an awards ceremony and dinner scheduled right after racing hosted by Salve Regina University at the Sail Newport Sailing Center.

The final day of racing for the Sperry Women’s National Championship (May 25-28) on Narragansett Bay began at 9:30 a.m. in temperatures right around 70 degrees under cloudy skies. Although the winds were the lightest of the event this morning, they did not disappoint for the last day of racing.

The southwest breeze in the morning was around 10 knots and built to around 15+ knots by the end of the day. The course was affected by some thunderstorms near the area, but the course was pretty even for the day until the last sets when the left side became favored.

Today the divisions swapped boats again, A-division sailed in FJs and B-division sailed in Z420s. The sailors completed nine races in both divisions on windward leeward courses with 3 or 4 legs for a total of 18 races in each division for the event. The race committee was able to meet the racing deadline and completed the races just before 4:30 p.m. No protests were filed.

Going into today’s competition Boston College, Brown University and Yale University were each only separated by one point. Dartmouth College, the defending champion trailed the top three by nine points.

The intense competition and solid conditions made for exciting racing today. Boston College led the racing until race 14 when Yale took over the lead. The two teams were always within striking distance of each other, but Yale kept the lead for the final four races of the day. Right behind Boston College was Brown University and Dartmouth College, who were never far from finishing in the top three.

The Sperry Women’s National Champions and winners of the Gerald C. Miller Trophy is Yale University. Boston College finished in second place winning the New England Women’s Trophy. The home and co-host team, Brown University took third place winning the Ann Campbell Trophy.

Thanks to our judges Don Becker, Dick Gumpert, Geoff Pedrick, and Charlotte Lipschitz. A huge thanks as well to everyone who helped run great races on the water: Brad Dellenbaugh, John Ingalls, Michael Komar, the Brown University and Salve Regina Sailing Teams, and Danielle Richards for the being the ICSA Representative. Special thanks as well to Nick Ewenson from Laser Performance for the on the water support, Rob Migliaccio for his incredible photography, and to all of our coach boats (Pearson Potts, Bill Canfield, Sam Wakeman, and Nick Bailey).

The following chart shows the relative rank of the teams as of the race indicated. Note that the races are ordered by number, then division, which may not represent the order in which the races were actually sailed.

The first place team as of a given race will always be at the top of the chart. The spacing from one team to the next shows relative gains/losses made from one race to the next. You may hover over the data points to display the total score as of that race.