FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Jan Harley, Media Pro Int'l, 401-849-0220 or Simon Whitaker, College of Charleston, 843-953-5465 (onsite)
2006 ICSA National Women's Dinghy Championship Sizing Up The Competition on Day One Charleston, South Carolina (May 24, 2006) - With a good ESE breeze between 8-10 knots, and some nice shifts, day one action at the 2006 ICSA National Women's Dinghy Championship was all about sizing up the competition. The championship series got underway at noon with six races run in A-Division, and four in B-Division, for the 18 schools that qualified through conference eliminations to compete in Charleston. Only one point separates the current leader, Hobart/William Smith Colleges, from the US Naval Academy who have 59 points. Georgetown University, third with 64 points, is followed by St. Marys College and College of Charleston who are tied at 71 points apiece. "Nobody dominated the top spots today," said George Wood, Head Coach at College of Charleston which is hosting the championship. "The teams were feeling each other out and individuals are getting the conditions - the currents and the shifts. There's a lot of talent here." With southerly breezes in the 15-18 knot range predicted for the next two days of racing, organizers chose not to rush the event, keeping the Gold Cup and Olympic courses to 20 minutes in length. Racing resumes Thursday, May 25, on the Cooper River and concludes Friday, May 26. The Quantum Female College Sailor of the Year will be named at the conclusion of racing. The championship is being sailed out of the J. Stewart Walker, Jr. Sailing Complex located in the Patriots Point Marina (Point Pleasant, S.C.) and spectators can view racing from the deck of the USS Yorktown at the adjacent Patriots Point Naval & Maritime Museum. BACKGROUND - The ICSA National Championships brings together sailors representing seven North American conferences to compete in three distinctive events. In the Women's event, each of the 18 schools fields a separate A and B division team that, weather permitting, will sail 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. The ICSA National Women's Dinghy Championship will be followed by the ICSA/Layline National Team Race Championship (May 28-30) and, the ICSA/Gill National Coed Dinghy Championship (May 31-June 2). Additional information on the 2006 ICSA National Championships, including results and photos by Glennon Stratton can be found on the event website: http://collegesailing.org/nas/spring06/ To learn more about ICSA, visit www.collegesailing.org <http://www.collegesailing.org/> . For additional information on the sponsors of the national championships, please visit them online: www.gillna.com <http://www.gillna.com/> , www.layline.com <http://www.layline.com/> , www.quantumsails.com <http://www.quantumsails.com/> and www.teamvanguard.com <http://www.teamvanguard.com/> . -end- (Teams qualified to compete in the ICSA National Women's Dinghy Championship follow) May 24-26, 2006 - ICSA National Women's Dinghy Championship Boston College (Chestnut Hill, Mass.) College of Charleston (Charleston, S.C.) Dartmouth College (Hanover, N.H.) Georgetown University (Washington, D.C.) Harvard University (Cambridge, Mass.) Hobart/William Smith Colleges (Geneva, N.Y.) Old Dominion University (Norfolk, Va.) St. Mary's College (St. Mary's City, Md.) Stanford University (Stanford, Calif.) University of Texas (Austin, Texas) Tufts University (Medford, Mass.) University of Hawaii (Honolulu, Hawaii) University of Michigan (Ann Arbor, Mich.) University of South Florida (St. Petersburg, Fla.) University of Washington (Seattle, Wash.) University of Wisconsin (Madison, Wis.) U.S. Naval Academy (Annapolis, Md.) Yale University (New Haven, Conn.) (end) ________________________________________________ icsa mailing list [email protected] http://www.collegesailing.org/mailman/?listname=icsa
