Jan. 5, 2004
LONG BEACH, Calif. - Stanford didn't need a BCS computer to get the best of USC and 18 other college sailing teams in the 15th annual Rose Bowl Regatta, hosted by USC at the Alamitos Bay Yacht Club in Long Beach Saturday and Sunday. Stanford won this event in '03, and was not necessarily going for a repeat this year, "I just hoped to do well with our young team," explained Coach Jay Kehoe. The Rose Bowl Regatta is the first event of college sailing's spring season, leading up to the national championships held in June.
Sophomore Brian Haines, with freshman Caroline Young as crew, sailed Stanford's "A" boat to three wins in eight races to lead a combined A and B victory by six points over the Trojans, who suffered in the two light-air races Sunday. Schools from Hawaii to the East Coast were represented in the largest combined college and high school regatta in the nation.
Freshmen Emery Wager and crew Becca Levin competed in B Division for the Cardinal. Competing in their first major intersectional regatta together, the duo improved with each race to earn 6th overall in B Division.
Teams were split into A and B divisions all sailing Collegiate FJ dinghies. There was plenty of wind the first day, following a full day of rain Friday, but not enough Sunday to complete the 15 scheduled rounds.
The races were run on the protected inner bay, where the harbormaster's headquarters flew a red Small Craft Advisory flag all the first day as a chilling northeasterly wind of 15 knots gusting to 20 whistled through the rigging of the little boats. Capsizes were common, and the sailors soon learned that the 57-degree water was as cold as the breeze.
Sunday remained cool but with no wind. While competitors digested breakfast burritos from the ABYC snack bar, the boats remained beached for more than two hours before a bright sun got enough air moving to run just a few races.
Haines, the son of Robbie Haines, a world-class ocean racer from San Diego, and Young, from Florida, had sailed only one other event together and didn't do well.
"Communication is the best thing we had going," Young said.
"And boat handling was our weakness," Haines said. "We're one of the heavier boats out there, but near the end we knew we had to beat [USC]."
Sailing for Stanford's Women's team, seniors Liz Shearer and crew Margia Corner sailed A Division while senior Ashley Frush and junior Julie Pitts competed in B Division. They finished 14th overall and second women's team.
Top-ranked Harvard did not compete but second-ranked Dartmouth was third, three points behind USC and one ahead of Washington College of Maryland.
Complete results and photos will be posted at www.abyc.org
Rich Roberts with Amy Gross-Kehoe
Rose Bowl Regatta Final Results PosTeamA B Total 1Stanford University285987 2U of Southern Calif514293 3Dartmouth College 465096 4Washington College 514697 5Georgetown University4559104 6U of Rhode Island8532117 7UC Irvine5368121 8U of Hawaii7151122 9U.S. Naval Academy 6071131 10UC Santa Barbara7175146 11UC Berkeley 10281183 12Orange Coast College 8699185 13UC Santa Barb - Women10089189 14Stanford Univ- Women10194195 15U of Hawaii- Women 93110203 16U of Washington 119103222 17UC San Diego 124108232 18Cal Maritime Academy101156257 19UC Los Angeles136151287 20U of Washington-Women 158136294