April 3, 2007
San Francisco, Calif. - The St. Francis Yacht Club Collegiate Regatta, hosted by Stanford University, may be the largest by volume regatta the west coast will see this spring. Perhaps the reason the regatta attracts so many teams is because of the guarantee of big breeze, an excellent back drop (the Golden Gate Bridge and the picturesque view of the city front and Bay Area), and great competition. This year, 24 coed and women's teams competed in Varsity, and 18 Junior Varsity teams faced off in perfect conditions just off the Yacht Club.
For the Stanford Seniors on the team, Co-captains Brian Haines and Joanna Madsen, and teammates Becca Levin, Katherine Schlosser, Emery Wager, and Caroline Young, this was also a special weekend, as it was their last home regatta of college sailing. Parents and friends of team members were there to support and cheer on the group and watch some spectacular sailing. On Saturday, the breeze started off mildly for San Francisco Bay, filling in at about ten knots from the Golden Gate Bridge, but quickly picked up to the typical 18-20 knots by the time B Division hit the water and the current began to ebb, creating some decent waves on the right side of the course.
The Cardinal sailing team really showed its depth this weekend. Stanford fielded five teams of four athletes: one varsity coed team, one Warsity women's team, and three coed Junior Varsity teams. Varsity was led by Brian Haines and Kelly McKenna in A Division and Emery Wager and Leigh Hammel sailed B Division.
Evan Brown and Joanna Madsen started for the Women's Varsity team, and were helped by Taylor Grimes and Katherine Schlosser in B Division. The St. Francis regatta is one of a very few regattas where women's teams compete against coed teams. The Stanford women showed their true grit, often out-hiking and out-sailing the significantly larger coed boats in big breeze. Katherine Schlosser exclaimed, "We beat the dude crews," after finishing second behind Emery and Leigh. Schlosser later mentioned the following: "I was sitting next to another coach while Evan and Jo were sailing and he was talking about how the chicks were beating his guys because we were hiking harder, I laughed and he turned to me and said, `I'll say it because its true. The guys are bigger than you so it shouldn't be happening.'" Evan Brown turned her usual crew Joanna Madsen as other coed teams were subbing in their heavy crews, "I want my heavy crew, oh wait, Jo, that's you."
Heading up Junior Varsity I was Edward Conrad and Becca Levin, with Craig Paige and Megan Grove. In JV II, TJ Tullo and Beth Hoover sailed A division and Peter Stemler and Sarah Schocknect led B division. The JV III squad of Caroline Young and Marianna Beardsworth, and Cameron Bell and Carrie Denning turned in a pleasantly surprising performance considering that more than half of the members of the team recently returned after semesters abroad and away. Throughout the regatta, the three Junior Varsity teams finished consistently in the top four, mostly fighting with each other for the top spot.
On Sunday, conditions were similar, but breeze continued to pick up to about 30 knots. The race committee opted to move the course into the cove to the right of St. Francis. All of the Stanford teams continued their dominance in the big wind. Emery Wager and Leigh Hammel sailed a perfect regatta, winning every single race, a very rare feat in college sailing. Looking at all of the 1s on the results page, teammate Becca Levin remarked, "They're [Wager/Hammel] building a picket fence!" Stanford coed varsity team ruled the day winning the regatta on the water by a comfortable 42 point margin. At the end of the weekend, the Stanford Varsity women fell only to the University of Southern California and University of California at Irvine coed teams. The outstanding Cardinal performance did not go unrecognized by the other teams. "Emery sailed the most impressive regatta that I have seen in college sailing, and Brian is obviously one of the best sailors in the nation," noted Clark Fonda of rival team USC.
In a true move of sportsmanship, the sign of a Student athlete, both coed varsity boats withdrew from the last two races due to a technical issue, consequentially moving them from first to fourth overall.
Varsity Results
1. USC 35 52 87
2. UC Irvine 52 38 90
3. Stanford Women 71 58 129
4. Stanford Co-Ed 82 59 141
5. University of Hawaii 79 93 172
6. UCSB 99 91 190
7. U Washington Co-Ed 98 102 200
8. UCSD Co-Ed 113 89 202
9. University of Oregon 115 98 213
10. UC Berkley 125 96 221
11. UC Irvine Women 104 119 223
12. Cal Maritime 66 170 236
13. Washington Women 150 108 258
14. Santa Clara 182 139 321
15. UCLA 154 178 332
16. UC Santa Cruz 193 179 372
17. Cal Poly 162 212 374
18. U Hawaii Women 185 202 387
19. Oregon State 179 229 408
20. CSUMB 200 228 428
21. Western Washington 200 240 440
22. UCLA Wom 241 218 459
23. UC San Diego Women 232 238 470
24. CSU Channel Islands 224 269 493
JV Results
1. Stanford JV 2 11 11 22
2. Stanford JV 1 14 18 32
3. Stanford JV 3 34 30 64
4. USC JV1 31 42 73
5. UCSB 46 31 77
6. USC JV 2 32 50 82
7. Univ Washington 48 39 87
8. Oregon State 56 48 104
9. UC San Diego 63 41 104
10. University of Oregon 87 56 143
11. Santa Clara JV 71 76 147
12. CSU Channel Island 75 77 152
13. CSUMB 89 69 158
14. UCLA 1 86 85 171
15. U of O 2 85 90 175
16. UC Berkley 2 95 88 183
17. UC Berkley 1 91 104 195
18. UCLA 2 107 93 200