Inter-collegiate show down

Teams to go racing in San Francisco next week

Famous for the gold rush, earthquakes and as the place where Tony Bennett left his heart, San Francisco is also famous as one of the most challenging places in which to sail. Next week, the best college sailors in the nation must rise to the challenge as they race for three Inter-Collegiate Sailing Association (ICSA) national titles on San Francisco Bay: the ICSA Women's National Championship (May 25-27), the ICSA/APS Team Race National Championship (May 29-31), and the ICSA/Gill National Championship (June 1-3).

Notably, of the 33 schools who will take to the waters of San Francisco Bay, only five qualified to compete in all three events: Boston College (Chestnut Hill, Mass.), College of Charleston (Charleston, S.C.), Georgetown University (Washington, D.C.), St. Mary’s College (St. Mary’s City, Md.) and the University of South Florida (St. Petersburg, Fla). (A complete list of competing colleges, by event, follows.) Boston College won both the ICSA Women’s and ICSA/APS Team Race National Championships in 2008 and was close to a sweep of the spring championships when the Georgetown Hoyas, runner-up in both events, swept past the Eagles to win the ultimate title – the ICSA/Gill National Championship. Heading into the grand finale of 2009, Georgetown and Boston College are ranked number one and two, respectively, in coed sailing according to Sailing World’s May 6th rankings.

The Format: For the ICSA Women's National Championship, 18 of the 27 schools entered are racing in the semi-final round on day one (May 25). The remaining nine schools, having earned a ticket straight to the finals by virtue of their conference performance throughout the year, will face the top nine finishers from the semi-finals over two days of racing (May 26-27) to determine the championship winners. For both the women’s championship and the ICSA/Gill National Championship – in which 18 schools who qualified at their semi-finals held in Boston in early May will compete – each school fields a separate A and B division team with, weather permitting, each division sailing 20- to 30-minute fleet races in rotation. A team's final score is determined by the combined results of its sailors in A and B divisions. The ICSA/APS Team Race National Championship pits each college's three-boat team against another's in a round-robin series of matches with the top-four of the 14 entered teams proceeding to a double round-robin championship series to determine the overall winner. Stanford University is co-hosting the women’s and coed championships with St. Francis Yacht Club, with racing taking place from the club. California Maritime Academy and the University of California, Berkeley are hosting the team racing event from the Treasure Island Sailing Center.

Complete list of Teams Qualified to compete in the 2009 ICSA National Championships:

May 25-27, 2009 - ICSA Women’s National Championship
Boston College (Chestnut Hill, Mass.)
Boston University (Boston, Mass.)
Brown University (Providence, R.I.)
College of Charleston (Charleston, S.C.)
Connecticut College (New London, Conn.)
Dartmouth College (Hanover, N.H.)
Eckerd College (St. Petersburg, Fla.)
Georgetown University (Washington, D.C.)
Harvard University (Cambridge, Mass.)
Old Dominion University (Norfolk, Va.)
St. Mary's College (St. Mary’s City, Md.)
Stanford University (Palo Alto, Calif.)
Texas A & M Galveston (Galveston, Texas)
University of California – Irvine (Irvine, Calif.)
University of Hawaii (Honolulu, Hawaii)
University of Oklahoma (Norman, Ok.)
University of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, Penn.)
University of Southern California (Los Angeles, Calif.)
University of South Florida (St. Petersburg, Fla.)
University of Wisconsin (Madison, Wis.)
University of Michigan (Ann Arbor, Mich.)
University of Notre Dame (South Bend, Ind.)
University of Rhode Island (Kingston, R.I.)
U.S. Naval Academy (Annapolis, Md.)
William Smith College (Geneva, N.Y.)
Western Washington University (Bellingham, Wash.)
Yale University (New Haven, Conn.)

May 29-31, 2009 - ICSA/APS Team Race National Championship
Boston College (Chestnut Hill, Mass.)
College of Charleston (Charleston, S.C.)
Georgetown University (Washington, D.C.)
Harvard University (Cambridge, Mass.)
St. Mary's College (St. Mary’s City, Md.)
Stanford University (Palo Alto, Calif.)
SUNY Maritime College (Throggs Neck, N.Y.)
Tulane University (New Orleans, La.)
University of California – Irvine (Irvine, Calif.)
University of Michigan (Ann Arbor, Mich.)
University of South Florida (St. Petersburg, Fla.)
University of Washington (Seattle, Wash.)
University of Wisconsin (Madison, Wis.)
Yale University (New Haven, Conn.)
June 1-3, 2009 - ICSA/Gill National Championship
Boston College (Chestnut Hill, Mass.)
Boston University (Boston, Mass.)
College of Charleston (Charleston, S.C.)
Eckerd College (St. Petersburg, Fla.)
Georgetown University (Washington, D.C.)
Harvard University (Cambridge, Mass.)
Hobart & William Smith Colleges (Geneva, N.Y.)
Old Dominion University (Norfolk, Va.)
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.)
Tufts University (Medford, Mass.)
U.S. Naval Academy (Annapolis, Md.)
University of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, Penn.)
University of South Florida (St. Petersburg, Fla.)
Washington College (Chestertown, Md.)
Yale University (New Haven, Conn.)