Georgetown skippers Charlie Buckingham (Newport Beach, Calif.) and Chris Behm (Hampton, Va.)
congratulating each other after winning the 2008 ICSA/Gill National Championship, hosted by the
NYYC, Brown University and Salve Regina University. Photo GTSphotos.com
Newport, Rhode Island (June 4, 2008) – Evidently the idea of finishing runner-up to Boston College (Chestnut Hill, Mass.) for the second time in less than a week did not sit well with the Georgetown University (Washington, D.C.) sailing team. Last Sunday (June 1), Boston College won the ICSA/APS Team Race Championship with a final score of 11-3, as Georgetown finished second with a 9-5 win-loss record. In pouring rain and with the most coveted title in college sailing – the ICSA/Gill National Championship – within reach, Georgetown turned a 17-point deficit at the start of today’s final six races for both A- and B-Divisions, into first a 10-point and then a 29-point lead heading into the final set of races for the day.
The Hoyas senior skipper, Chris Behm (Hampton, Va.), alternating crew between junior Carly Chamberlain (Newport Beach, Calif.) and sophomore Marco Teixidor (Guayanabo, Puerto Rico), had posted finishes of 4-12-8-1-2-2 to finish fourth overall in A-Division. It was their finish in the last race that mathematically secured Georgetown the championship with 233 points – to BC’s then 266 points – prior to B-Division sailing its final race. Freshman skipper Charlie Buckingham (Newport Beach, Calif.) and sophomore crew Alexandra “Alex” Taylor (Hobe Sound, Fla.) finished 8-1-15-8 before their fifth-place finish in race 17B moved them into the top spot in B-Division. Another fifth-place finish in the last race (18B) merely sealed the deal to earn Georgetown it’s first-ever win of the ICSA/Gill National Championship.
“Today we were looking to break in after besting BC two out of three times during the team racing championship (which concluded this past Sunday),” said Michael Callahan, Head Coach for Georgetown University which has twice won the ICSA Team Race Championship (2001 and 2006). “There was a big difference today in the wind direction and the type of sailing. Earlier in the series straight-line boat speed was the key. Today the shifty winds were just like the Potomac River where our regular practices take place.” Reflecting on the win, Callahan recalled having been second in both 2006 and 2004 when the Hoyas ultimately lost the ICSA/Gill National title by, respectively, six points to College of Charleston and 29 points to the University of Hawaii. “We are very excited to win this championship.”
For a while it looked as though St. Mary’s College (St. Mary’s, Md.) would have the bridesmaid honors. But a protest against the Seahawks filed by the College of Charleston over a leeward mark rounding incident resulted in St. Mary’s disqualification and dropped them down to third place. Boston College took second overall with 269 points to St. Mary’s 276. Roger Williams University (Bristol, R.I.) finished fourth with 289 points, followed by Connecticut College (New London, Conn.) with 307.
For complete results: www.collegesailing.org/nas/spring08/
The Event: In the ICSA/Gill National Championship, each of the 18 competing schools fields a separate A and B division team and, weather permitting, each division sails eighteen 20- to 30-minute fleet races over three days for a total of 36 races. A team's final score is determined by the combined results of its sailors in A and B divisions. In order to get to Newport, a semi-final round determined the schools racing for the ultimate bragging rights associated with winning the ICSA/Gill National Championship title. Where colleges once qualified for the championship strictly via the conference system, the new format first eliminated two controversial at-large berths, and then saw the competitive field double with the addition of the semi-final round. The season’s performance in their respective conference still mattered – it earned 36 teams their bracket slot at the Eastern and Western semi-finals. The top-nine finishers from those semis raced in Newport – virtually guaranteeing that the 18 most competitive teams in North America raced for the 2008 ICSA/Gill National Championship.
New York Yacht Club hosted the championships –sailed in 420s – along with Brown University (Providence, R.I.) and Salve Regina University (Newport, R.I.), with support from Sail Newport.
Catch the Replay: Noted sailing commentator Gary Jobson (Annapolis, Md.) will produce a one-hour program on the ICSA/Gill National Championship for ESPNU which will have its first airing Saturday, July 19 at 12:00 p.m. ET. Additional air dates will be posted at www.jobsonsailing.com.
About 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. There are 200 member teams competing in seven conferences. To learn more please visit: www.collegesailing.org. ICSA is sponsored by Gill, Annapolis Performance Sailing, Marlow Ropes, Quantum Sails and LaserPerformance: www.gillna.com, www.apsltd.com, www.bainbridgeint.com, www.quantumsails.com and www.laserperformance.com/main/
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(Complete list of Teams competing follows)
June 2-4, 2008 - ICSA/Gill National Championship
Boston College (Chestnut Hill, Mass.)
Brown University (Providence, R.I.)
College of Charleston (Charleston, S.C.)
Connecticut College (New London, Conn.)
Georgetown University (Washington, D.C.)
Harvard University (Cambridge, Mass.)
Hobart & William Smith Colleges (Geneva, N.Y.)
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Cambridge, Mass.)
Roger Williams University (Bristol, R.I.)
St. Mary's College (St. Mary’s City, Md.)
Stanford University (Palo Alto, Calif.)
SUNY Maritime College (Throggs Neck, N.Y.)
University of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, Penn.)
University of South Florida (St. Petersburg, Fla.)
University of Vermont (Burlington, Vt.)
University of Wisconsin (Madison, Wis.)
U.S. Merchant Marine Academy (Kings Point, N.Y.)
Yale University (New Haven, Conn.)
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