MCSA News


Featuring Racing in Charleston, Women’s Interconference and MAISA Team Racing


Written by Chris Klevan, photos by Colin Grey Voigt

#7 Roger Williams wins in Charleston

College Sailing’s team race season is heating up amid winter weather conditions up the east coast. The two teams expected to be the New England frontrunners, Roger Williams and Yale, made the trek to the South Atlantic Conference to escape winter weather. Over the past couple years, the Bob Bavier Team Race has been unofficially denoted the first major Team Race Interconference Regatta of the spring season for this very reason. The addition of Yale and Roger Williams to the SAISA elite made for a very competitive top end of the regatta.

#7 Roger Williams burst out of the saloon firing, starting the event with an undefeated, 8-0 record in the first round robin. The Hawk’s hot start included a solid 2-3-4 win over #1 Charleston’s and a dominant victory over #3 Yale. The Hawks of Roger Williams are quick and now experienced, having competed in many of the open team race events throughout the offseason. They clearly have the speed to put teams away and never look back as only 1 of their 15 wins came in combinations not including the 1.

Martim Anderson ‘18 and Rebecca Anderson ‘18 are one of the strongest boats in the nation and they are, perhaps, not even the best team race boat the Hawks feature due to the blinding speed and crisp boat handling of Mack Bryan ‘18 and Jennifer Agell ‘19. Conner Harding ‘19 and Michael McBrien are the cleanup boat, scrappy and very tough to get around once they get in front. Expect the Hawks to climb up the rankings throughout the team race season as they appear to be one of the teams to beat. They finished the event first overall with a 15-4 overall record.

”It was great to start off the season with a big win and especially great to finish the first day undefeated,” said Roger William’s Team Captain, Mike McBrien. “Our team is pretty excited with how we sailed. It’s nice to reap the benefits of the effort we put in during the off season. With that said, we realized some things we can still iron out. We are optimistic and happy to keep improving. And we are looking forward to next weekend.”

The Hawks showed some vulnerability, however, limping into the victory after losing to both Charleston and Yale in the final four, including a DSQ due to black flag.

“In the last dozen boat lengths to the finish, each team was scraping to get control of the race. There was a port-starboard situation between a Roger Williams boat, Mack Bryan and Jen Agell, who were trying to cross on port, and Stefano Peschiera and Grace McCarthy, on starboard,” said head coach, Amanda Callahan. “Mack and Jen tacked to starboard to start their penalty turn at the same time Peschiera and McCarthy tacked back on to port. The umpires determined Mack Bryan and Jen Agell weren’t keeping clear.”

#1 Charleston finished second in the event, but due to Roger Williams’ less-than-stellar finish, the Cougards ended the regatta tied for first but lost the tie breaker due to a 1-2 record against the Hawks.

Charleston sailed what is expected to be their starting lineup, skippers Christophe Killian ‘18, Stefano Peschiera ‘18 and Augie Dale ‘19 with crews Annabel Carrington ‘19, Elizabeth Pemberton ‘18, Grace McCarthy ‘18, Carter Cameron’ 19 and Katherine Lounsbury ‘20.

Yale finished 3rd with a 14-5 record. The Bulldogs, like Charleston, combined team race veterans like 2-time champion, Malcolm Lamphere ‘18 and 2016 champ, Nicholas Baird ‘19 with newcomers to the starting lineup, Nicolas Hernandez ‘19 and Shawn Harvey ‘21. Their stable of crews, Graceann Nicolosi ‘20, KB Knapp ‘18, and Sonia Lingos-Utley are quickly becoming some of the best in the nation. Even Nicholas Baird saw some time in the front of the boat.


#7 Georgetown wins first major Women’s Interconference event

Further north, the effects of the storm severely cut down on the sailing in the Mid-Atlantic. 8 of the 18 teams projected to the sail the ODU Spring Women's had to cancel due to the weather. While New England and the northernmost Mid-Atlantic schools registered to sail stayed at home, the regatta continued with the 10 southern schools and local teams that were able to make it.

#4 Georgetown won the 18-race regatta, in gnarly conditions, finishing with 44 points. Rose Edwards ‘18 with Olivia van den Born ‘21 and Macey McCann ‘20 finished 2nd in A-Division in a solid effort for the Hoyas. However, the regatta was won by Georgetown’s B-Division dominance. Lola Bushnell ‘18 with Marley Mais ‘21 and Hannah Hess ‘19 started the regatta by winning the first 7 of the 9 races sailed in B-Division.

#12 George Washington finished second (60 points) and Old Dominion University finished 3rd with 82 points.


MAISA’s Team Race League begins!

While best of New England escaped south to start their team race season, the Mid-Atlantic stayed at home to compete in the start of their Team Race League. Occurring simultaneously, the entirety of the 12-team MAISA Team Race League sailed two regattas hosted by Georgetown and George Washington.

Divided evenly, the two events are part of a 5 regatta series that will help qualify MAISA teams into their conference championship and national qualifier, the Prosser Trophy. Like the Old Dominion Women’s, storm conditions made it impossible to sail on Saturday and therefore, the two, single round robin, regattas were held on Sunday.

After five races sailed by each team at each regatta #6 Hobart and William Smith won the Georgetown Team Race and #4 Georgetown won the George Washington Team Race.

#4 Georgetown went 5-0 behind the experience and speed of Roger Dorr ‘18, Sean Segerblom ‘20 and Will Logue ‘20 sailing with Meagan MacRae ‘18, Rebecca Fung ‘19 and Caroline Teare ‘21. This Hoya team should continue to grow and seem, today, to be the team to beat in MAISA.

#6 Hobart and William Smith finished 4-1 in their side of the event, tied for first with Cornell. The regatta was decided in a Tie- break showdown between the two teams where after trailing for the majority of the race, HWS caught a shift leading to a dramatic comeback and the regatta win. Greiner Hobbs ‘18 with Kyle Easton’ 20, Charles Miller ‘19 and Christopher Manson-Hing ‘19 and Hector Guzman ‘20 with Lindsey Kloc ‘19 and Russell Merchant ‘19 will be a cadre very much in contention to win it all throughout the course of the season.

Maybe surprising was the finish by the Cornell Big Red, who were a half leg away from winning against a Team Race Final Four favorite. If the Big Red can maintain this level of sailing throughout the spring, MAISA will be decidedly more difficult.