May 30, 2002
Keehi Lagoon, Hawaii - The Stanford Women's Sailing team got off to a solid start yesterday in the first two races of the 2002 North American Championship. A-Division duo Jen Porter and Jess Gray earned a 7, 2 in their first set, while B-Division combo Ashley Frush and Jenais Zarlin scored a solid 6, 8. Changing wind conditions over the next two sets of races saw numerous lead changes and caused the Cardinal Women to add some high scores to their point totals, "It was not a consistent day for anyone," Said Captain Kara Sweeney of the day's racing.
Wind during Wednesday's racing was dominated by a light thermal. By the late afternoon, the tradewind direction finally made it's appearance during an A-Division race, causing many lead changes for the fleet. The Cardinal sailors, who dominated in breeze at the PCC's were happy to see the wind pick up. For races 3-4, Sarah Zukerman and Kara Sweeney subbed in to crew in A and B Divisions respectively. But the breeze did not build to it's traditional 15-plus knots. So, in an effort to continue to adjust for the changing wind, Sweeney was swapped out for Zarlin in B-Division's races 5 &6.
The Cardinal Women stand in 10th place after the first 12 races. They sit poised to improve their scores in Thursday's predicted trade winds. "Competition here is as strong as it gets," remarked Sweeney, "Everyone's stepping up, and we definitely haven't filled in everything we have." The Stanford team sits 20 points out of the top 5 with 24 races to go (12 in A; 12 in B) in the three-day event. Competitors are sailing collegiate FJ's provided by host school U Hawaii, and spectating is superb from the Honolulu community College marine Education and Training Center on Keehi Lagoon on the south shore of Oahu.
Overall Results: A-div B-div Total 1. Old Dominion 31 14 45 2. Hawaii 26 28 54 3. St. Marys 34 26 60 4. Yale 36 27 63 5. Charleston 34 47 81 6. Brown 57 30 87 7. Connecticut College 36 52 88 8. Tufts 30 61 91 9. Georgetown 56 46 102 10. Stanford 53 52 105 11. Boston University 37 71 108 12. Hobart/WmSmith 82 38 120 13. South Florida 58 82 140 14. Wisconsin 97 72 169 15. Texas 90 86 176 16. Michigan 83 97 180 17. Washington 88 96 184 18. Marquette 100 102 202