College Sailing Regional Teams Nat'l Invitational

Champagne conditions for the inaugural College Sailing Regional Teams National Invitational in Newport RI. This event was developed to provide a culminating event for Regional teams in ICSA who often don’t compete outside of their conference and for whom the last event of the season is just the last regatta. Seventeen teams from all around the country showed up and brought their game.

Chilly breeze fluctuated from 10-15 all day with a short period of lighter breeze making starts and mark rounding interesting. During the lunch break the breeze shifted 180 and with the amazing mark boat and RC crew work a new course awaited sailors. Ten races were sailed in a fleet of FJs and Larks making for a long day. One capsize, and one protest rounded out the day.

Leading into tomorrow is the the Banana Slugs from the University of Santa Cruz. Predicted breeze tomorrow thankfully has changed to another stellar day. Awards will be live streamed donated and handed out by Team1Newport the regatta sponsors.

The thank you list is extensive as three schools collaborated to put on and staff this event. A first big thanks goes to Kevin Buruchian, PRO who kept things going in spite of the many wind shifts. Many more to come.

Report time is 9:30,

Sailors greeted Sunday after the long day yesterday psyched for more. Team1Newport the regatta sponsor had their booth set up and at the end of the day there were about 60 people standing in line for regatta gear. The fleets were sent out in what was predicted to be a dying northerly and true to form it did. As we waited for the predicted breeze the Media and RC boats began interviewing sailors about their experiences at this inaugural event. To a person, team members who were rafted up together and others drifting around were enthusiastically supporting both the concept of a culminating event for Regional teams, expressed excitement about sailing against teams from around the country and appreciated that it was held while they were still at school and not during exams or after school was done. Sailors floated for several hours entertaining themselves and meeting new friends.

All of a sudden the sea breeze begin to fill and the rest of the afternoon was quite sporty with breeze from 10-15. Only one capsize which was handled by the coach boat. Four breezy races were sailed to cap off this event. One protest was dropped and one was filed with the judges DSQ’ing two teams. Techscore mistakenly says Race 2 DSQ but it was race 12A, TS not cooperating today.

Congratulations to the top three teams, all from the West Coast for bringing their game. Third place went to UC San Diego, Second was UC Santa Cruz who also won the most creative team name, the Banana Slugs (yes there really are yellow slugs out west cute but big) and congratulations goes to UCLA for winning this event. It was neck and neck for the top two teams all weekend.

Please check out the many Stories on the ICSA Facebook page from this weekend, lots of video/streaming occurred. Photographs from Dave Curtis can be found: https://hdfaphotography.shootproof.com/gallery/collegesailing2021/album/12306510 The remainder of the photos will be posted on the UNH Sailing Fair account  https://www.flickr.com/people/unhsailing/ mid week after Parker processes them.

Most importantly this event could not have occurred as seamlessly as it did without lots of support from John Ingalls and Salve Regina and the three collaborating teams, Bates, Mass. Maritime and UNH. Collectively they made things easy. These sailing team members deserve all the credit, and perhaps none more that Jack Valentino who also won the NEISA well deserved Leadership Award. Jack was instrumental in making this regatta happen and without his tireless work it wouldn’t have been able to be pulled off. Thanks also to the coaches who were some of the nicest people to spend a weekend with. Some interest expressed to host future Regional Nationals. Thanks also to our two judges Pat and John Dieselman who helped keep everyone honest.

Mark Boat - Meghan Berg 2024 MMA, Harry Stevenson Bates 2024, Ethan Baker Bates 2024 on the water EMT, Mia Gates 2022, Maggie Forger 2025

Media Boat - Tom Bouchard UNH 2022, Clay Greg UNH 2022, Parker Finklestein UNH 2023, Lauren Georgeou Bates 2025 Anne Berg UNH 2024

RC Boat - Kevin Buruchian UNH 09, PRO, Emily Delossa Bates 2024, Norman Walker MMA 2024

Finish Boat - Jared Reinke Coach Wentworth, Jordan Hanna 2023 MMA, Caleb Burt MMA 2025, Hannah Hicks 2025 MMA

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.