Nov. 8-10, 2002
La Porte, TX - Stanford freshman Brian Haines earned 7th at the Intercollegiate Sailing Association's Singlehanded Men's Championship. In early October, Haines qualified by finishing 2nd to U Hawaii's Brian Lake at the Pacific Coast Championships. The event was held over three days at Houston Yacht Club and hosted by the Rice University Sailing Team. Sixteen races were held in winds ranging from 8-18 knots in strength. Competitors sailed Singlehanded Laser sailboats - the same boats used for the singlehanded men's competition in the Olympics.
Competition was so tight that one small mistake could mean the difference between 3rd and 13th place in any given race. "Brian had some pheonomenal races, peppered by a few bad results," explained Head Coach Jay Kehoe, "three bad races added the thirty points to his score that made the difference between 4th place and 7th place." Haines was fast on the upwind legs of the races, posessing equal speed to Olympic hopefuls Andrew Campbell (Georgetown/USA) and Zander Kirkland (Tufts/Bermuda). Kehoe notes that with the onslaught of top singlehanded sailors coming out of the Olympic delelopment programs, this regatta will continue to be tough in the years to come, "Haines will always have Campbell, [Vincent] Porter and Kirkland to contend with at this and other events."
1. Andrew Campbell '06 Georgetown University 51 2. Clay Bischoff '03 Harvard University 61 3. Vincent Porter '06 Harvard University 76 4. Alexander Kirkland '06 Tufts University 103 5. Bryan Lake '05 University of Hawaii 106 6. Peeter Must '05 USMMA-Kings Point 118 7. Brian Haines '06 Stanford University 122 8. Alex Mehran '03 Brown University 127 9. Danny Pletsch '04 St. Mary's College 131 10. Brendan Fahey '06 University of Washington 155 11. John Bowden '03 College of Charleston 166 12. Bill Self '03 Texas A&M Galveston 172 13. Tim Krech '03 University of Minnesota 175 14. John Porter '06 University of Wisconsin 178 15. Jake Scott '02 Texas A&M University 208 16. Nathan Hollerbach '03 College of Charleston 228
The Stanford Sailing Team moves on next week to compete in the Fall Championship or North/South Regatta. Rankings for the spring season scheduling are dependent on the outcome of this event, so it is very important to the Cardinal.