MAISA News


SDYC Hosts the 2016 Inter-Collegiate Sailing Association National Championships


SAN DIEGO (May 13, 2016) Starting Tuesday, May 24, the Inter-Collegiate Sailing Association (ICSA) kicks off its National Championship which will continue until Saturday, June 4. All spectators- family, friends, alumni and others- are invited to cheer on over forty-five college teams as they compete in the San Diego Bay off the B Street and Broadway Piers in downtown San Diego.

The National Championships are held in six categories: Women’s Single-Handed, Men’s Single-Handed, Match Racing, Women’s Dinghy, Coed Dinghy and Team Racing. The first three categories were conducted in the fall and the last three will take place this spring here in San Diego. The university that compiles the best overall record in all six categories will be awarded the Leonard M. Fowle Trophy.  

Last year’s overall winner was College of Charleston. They will be back to defend their title, with local SDYC sailor Jake Reynolds on the team. “After getting accepted to College of Charleston, I was extremely excited to start sailing in the Southeastern part of the United States. Over the past four years of college sailing, our CofC sailing team has had many great successes that I am more than grateful to have been a part of. I attribute many of my team’s successes to my background in the SDYC junior sailing program.”  

The National Championship is hosted by a different city each year, with last year’s event taking place in Newport, Rhode Island. San Diego has recently hosted past qualifying events in the same waters where College Nationals will take place. Many sailors will be arriving from schools all over the country and have been practicing in different conditions than what is typical for San Diego. During late May to early June, the average wind speed in San Diego is a light 5 knots with average temperatures in the mid-60s.

SDYC is home to several competitors on the Georgetown University team, including Nevin Snow, the 2015 College Sailor of the Year. One of Nevin’s teammates, AJ Reiter, reflected on his goals for the Georgetown Sailing Team. “This Nationals, I'm aiming to improve every single race. Just making sure that I make less mistakes than others and that I’m not treating the regatta as anything different than what we've done all season. Just conscientiously improving!”

In addition to all of the scheduled races, there will also be numerous social events sprinkled throughout the two weeks of the championship. Several race receptions will be held at SDYC along with the 2016 ICSA Annual Meeting on Monday, May 23. One of the Coed National receptions will be held at the San Diego Hall of Champions in Balboa Park.

Following the last race of the Coed Championship on Friday will be the Afterguard Championship for college alumni on Saturday, June 4. The event will wrap up that Saturday night with the 80th Anniversary of the Morss Trophy and the 80th Anniversary of the founding of the Pacific Collegiate Sailing Conference.

“Hosting College Nationals in San Diego will be a lot of fun since so many of the sailors are from Southern California originally and learned how to sail through SDYC’s junior program,” explains Danielle Richards, the ICSA Secretary. “Personally, I’ve been involved since 2005 and I am very excited to host the 80th event in the same location as the first west coast collegiate regatta.”

For fans that are unable to attend the Championships in person, there will be a live video feed, sponsored by LaserPerformance, available online for some portions of the Women’s Dinghy, Team Racing and Coed Dinghy events. Live coverage and social media updates will also be available online throughout the events. To learn more about the teams competing and to follow the racing, updates and results, visit the 2016 ICSA College Nationals event website.

For more information or media inquiries, please contact Emily Willhoft.
 
Emily Willhoft
Communications Director
o: 619-758-6316
e: emily@sdyc.org
 
About SDYC
The San Diego Yacht Club encourages and fosters an environment that helps and continues to produce the best in the world of yachting-related activities. Founded in 1886, SDYC has become a world renown yachting community recognized for its success in bay sailing, ocean racing, cruising, angling, and its world class youth sailing program. SDYC is consistently ranked among the top 5 yacht clubs in the U.S. and is recognized by the Club Leadership Forum as one of the finest facilities of its kind in the world.

About Inter-Collegiate Sailing Association

The Inter-Collegiate Sailing Association (ICSA) is the governing authority for sailing competition at colleges and universities throughout the United States and in some parts of Canada. Visit www.collegesailing.org to learn more. The ICSA National Championships are sponsored by Sperry (www.sperry.com), LaserPerformance (www.laserperformance.com) Gill North America (www.gillna.com), Marlow Ropes Ltd. (www.marlowropes.com), Quantum Sails (www.quantumsails.com), and US SAILING (home.ussailing.org).