ICSA Open Team Race National Championship

Day one of the ICSA Open Team Race National Championship welcomed teams to sunny skies, temps in the 70s-low 80s, and a promising ESE breeze at about 7 knots and building.

PRO Kyle Assad got racing underway right on time at 10:00am. Only a couple of pauses were needed through the day for some course changes due to some bigger shifts, with a couple races being called back when the first leg was a fetch.

The racing was tight throughout the day, with very shifty and puffy conditions along with a building choppy sea state making for challenging conditions.

Racing wrapped up at 6:00pm with the completion of race 90. After day 1, the reigning champion Harvard Crimson are off to a 11-0 record, with Stanford, Brown, and Navy rounding out the top 4.

Racing will be back underway tomorrow at 10:00. Be sure and tune in to the live broadcast beginning at 10:00 CDT tomorrow.

Teams were again greeted with mostly sunny skies, temps in the 70s, and a 6 knot Southerly that was forecast to increase as the day went on. The lighter breeze slowed the rotation down a bit, but by 1pm the Round of 16 was completed, with a tiebreaker deciding the final teams moving onto the Round of 8 in Stage 2.

After a short break, the Round of 8 got underway with a building breeze now ranging 8-13 knots. Unfortunately after only 2 flights, a cell with lighting just under 8 miles away put a halt to racing and everyone was sent in. After about an hour the threat went away and teams were sent back out. The breeze was continuing to build with puffs regularly hitting 15 knots. With big shifts the racing was incredibly close, and no lead safe.

At just after 6:30pm racing was concluded for the day with the completion of Stage 2. A tiebreaker was again needed to decide the teams moving onto the Final Four Round. In fact only 1 race win was the difference between 4th-8th after each team had completed 22 races a piece.

The plan is for the Final Four Round to begin tomorrow at 10:00am. Congrats to Harvard, Roger Williams, Stanford, and Dartmouth on advancing to the Final Four!

This morning started off with a hearing regarding an incident in race 148 from the end of Round 2. This resulted in a change of the score of that race, moving Stanford into a winning combination and therefore the race win.

Afterwards teams hit the water in a light southerly that tried to re-establish after a line of weather came through early in the morning. The first 2 flights of the final four were able to be sailed in this 4-7 knot Southerly, but as it died so did our hopes of a quick round. Both races in flight 3 had to be abandoned due to a very large wind shift, and unfortunately the regatta sat under postponement for the next 45 minutes.

Eventually, an NNW breeze that wasn't forecast filled in at 4-6 knots. The new breeze was a welcome sight, and was deemed stable enough to get racing going again. The final 2 races of the regatta were completed, and a champion was crowned.

The Harvard Crimson emerged victorious with a 22-3 record, followed by Stanford at 17-8, and Roger Williams at 16-9. The Dartmouth Big Green came on strong, going from the last team into the Round of 8, to storm up the leaderboard with an undefeated final four record, sitting just behind the podium at 15-10.

A huge thanks to all of the volunteers, race officials, and staff members who helped make this event possible. A special thank you to Bill Simon, our Chief Umpire, and his umpire team. As well as PRO Kyle Assad for running the races efficiently with nearly an entire day to spare!

Congratulations to the Harvard Crimson on winning the 2026 ICSA Open Team Race National Championship.