The Sperry Top-Sider Women’s National Championship continued yesterday on the Severn River at the U.S. Naval Academy. Eighteen collegiate teams advanced from the previous two days of competing in the semi-finals to make it to the finals racing. The teams are vying for the national title and the Gerald C. Miller Trophy.
Racing got underway at 9:30 a.m. The conditions were quite different from what the women experienced in the semi-finals. It was cooler with temperatures in the high 50s and low 60s, clouds and steady rain. The winds were out of the northeast at 5-10 knots.
The sailors are competing in both FJs and Z420s on windward leeward courses with four legs. Ten races were completed today in both A-division and B-division with eight races left in each division to complete the regatta.
Today A-division sailed FJs and B-division sailed Z420s. Tomorrow the divisions will swap boats. Principal race officer, Gary Bodie, and his race committee team of Pat Dawson, Jim Wojcik, Tim McGee, Taran Teague, Dan Corzenwit, Frieda Wildey and the Navy Sailing Team along with judges, Don Becker and Morgan Wilson kept great racing going all day. No protests were filed.
“[Yesterday] was very difficult to say the least,” Bill Healy says, assistant coach of Yale University. “It was one of those days that you felt terrible after finishing a race, but things looked good at the end of the day,” he explains. Yale is sitting in first place after today’s racing. They just won the Western fleet in semi-finals and are continuing to sail with good momentum.
“We are feeling okay after today,” Ian Burman says, head coach of the Naval Academy. Navy is in third place with 148 points. “We had a few bad races keeping us out of the top two, so we are hoping to move up tomorrow,” he says. The weather prediction for tomorrow is for light wind out of the north, which is a shifty direction at Navy.
“We are focusing on staying calm and steady [Friday],” Burman says, “If we do what we are capable of, we will do well.” Sailing for Navy is Mary Hall '15 with Elizabeth Morrison '14 in A-division and Marissa Lihan '14 with Emma Ferris '15 in B-division.
Racing began at 9:30 a.m.today. No race can begin after 5 p.m. The day will culminate in an awards ceremony scheduled right after racing outside of the Robert Crown Center at the Naval Academy.
The top three women’s teams will be presented with the Gerald C. Miller Trophy for first place, the New England Women’s Trophy for second place and the Ann Campbell
Trophy for third place. The Quantum Women’s College Sailor of the Year will also be awarded to a female sailor who has consistently performed at the highest competitive level in the 2013-2014 season.
Top Nine Teams, Finals Day 1
1. Yale University, 110
2. Dartmouth College, 113
3. U.S. Naval Academy, 148
4. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 157
5. College of Charleston, 163
6. Hobart and William Smith Colleges, 167
7. U.S. Coast Guard Academy, 173
8. University of Rhode Island, 177
9. Old Dominion University, 189
Video footage, sponsored by LaserPerformance, will be available during the Women’s finals with highlights and updates. Click on “Live Coverage” on the event website for these up-to-date racing details. Social media coverage will still be provided on collegesailing.org.
To learn more about the teams competing in the events and to follow the racing and results visit the event website: http://2014nationals.collegesailing.org/.
