San Deigo, CA By Tyler Colvin
Coming off a wild weekend at the Laser Performance Team Race Nationals, spirits and expectations were high for the start of the Gill Coed National Championship in San Diego, hosted by San Diego Yacht Club. In the same format as Women’s Nationals, Coed nationals are 2 days of qualifying and 2 days of finals; the top 9 teams from each of the two divisions moving on to the finals.
After a wind delay on the first day of semi finals, racing began in a light and lumpy 5-10 knot westerly. The May Grey was in hard in southern California and consistency was difficult for all but a handful of boats in the light, shifty conditions.
At the conclusion of Day 1 in the Eastern Semifinals, perennial MAISA powers Old Dominion and St Mary’s sat atop the leaderboard, accompanied by dark horse South Florida. In the Western Semifinal, Coast Guard and Women’s College Sailor of the Year, Nikole Barnes led Georgetown and George Washington Universities.
Day 2 of the Semifinals saw similar light winds but from the southwest around 5-10 knots. It was difficult to get races off in the conditions, and only six more races were completed for a total of 12 in each fleet. Qualifying from the Eastern Semifinals were Old Dominion, St Mary’s, Navy, BC, Stanford, Yale, USF, BU and Fordham. In the Western Semifinals, CGA dominated over Georgetown, Charleston, Brown, RWU, Conn, Hobart and William Smith, George Washington and U Penn.
The Coed Finals got underway June 2nd. A welcome change from the previous few days, the marine layer burned off and the pier warmed up to the low 70s, a little more Southern California-like than the earlier June Gloom. Racing was underway on time at 10:30am in 6-10 knots of choppy, shifty races. The wind was up and down, often with hiking conditions at the top of the course and drifting at the leeward gate.
Mid afternoon, the current started picking up which caused for some interesting mark rounding situations in the light air. With all of the challenges on the course, leads were exchanged often depending on who could find pressure. Consistency was the name of the game, and Yale was able to minimize double digit finishes, coming out on top after 10 races at the end of the day.
Day 2 opened with Yale leading Georgetown, BC, CGA, USF, ODU, Stanford, Navy and Brown in the standings. The goal of 18 total races for the regatta was well within sight after completing 10 on day 1. Long shifts and pressure discrepancies on the course again made for challenging racing. The top 4 teams of Georgetown, CGA, Yale and BC traded firsts for last place finishes as the battle for the top was a brutal one.
The wind steadily dropped off throughout the afternoon and tensions rose. Going into the final rotation, BC sat in 4th with 242 points, 5 points out of a podium spot behind a resurgent CGA Bears (237 points), and still in the hunt for the top with Yale (227 points) and Georgetown (224 points). In true Yale fashion, A division skipper Ian Barrows turned in 3 straight bullets in races 14, 15, 16 to keep his team in the hunt. Flashes of Jane Macky in 2009.
Drama was the special of the day as the entire regatta came down to the last race. In 18A, Georgetown’s Nevin Snow, College Sailor of the Year, was bullied to the back of the fleet and into last place; their once 18 point lead was down to 7 points. Second place was a 3-way tie between BC, Yale and CGA, all with 261 points.
Race 18B, for the championship, saw Yale, Georgetown and CGA all in the lead pack off the line with BC looking slow on the wrong side of the course. Nikole Barnes showed the blistering speed she has exhibited all season and ran away with the bullet. Georgetown hung on to a 3 for the win and Yale turned in a 5 to round out the top 3.
Congratulations to the Georgetown Hoyas and coach Mike Callahan on a hard-fought championship!
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