STANFORD, Calif. - The Stanford sailing team beings its 2016-17 campaign this weekend when it plays host to the Stanford Match Race in Redwood City, California.
Coming off an excellent season which included several conference championships, six All-Americans and strong showings at the ICSA National Championships, ninth-year head coach John Vandemoer is looking forward to another stellar season.
"I'm excited to see how this year unfolds. We have a closely-knit young group that is hungry and flat out enjoys competing alongside one another," said Vandemoer. "As a team, we are fully focused on improving every day. We are not putting expectations on ourselves, nor are we putting limits on ourselves; we are going out to play hard and enjoy every minute of it."Meet the FreshmenFour freshmen join the Cardinal ranks for the 2016-17 season: Madeline Bubb from Newport Beach, California; Nestor Cano from Alella, Spain; Taylor Kirkpatrick from Portsmouth, Rhode Island; and Jacob Rosenberg from Huntington Beach, California.
A Look BackIn 2015-16, six Stanford sailors - including sophomore crew Kathryn Booker, senior crew J.P. Cannistraro junior skipper Will La Dow and sophomore skipper Martina Sly - earned All-America honors while the Cardinal captured all three PCCSC spring championships for the seventh season in a row.
Stanford finished third in the annual Fowle Trophy, an accumulation of all six ICSA national championships (women's singlehanded, men's singlehanded, match racing, coed fleet racing, team racing and women's). Stanford also finished in the top 10 in each of the three ICSA spring national championships.Captains NamedJunior Luke Muller and senior Maeve White were named team captains prior to the 2016-17 season. Muller, one of the top singlehanded sailors in the nation, has won the PCCSC Singlehanded Championship twice with second and sixth-place finishes at the ICSA Singlehanded National Championship. White has represented the Cardinal in the past two ICSA Sperry Women's National Championships, also helping the Cardinal capture all nine spring PCCSC titles.Fall ScheduleAfter this weekend's match race, the Cardinal travels to St. Mary's City, Maryland, to race in the St. Mary's Coed Regatta. The first of six PCCSC conference championships, the PCCSC Match Racing Championship will be held Oct. 1-2 in San Diego.
Stanford's schedule picks up on Oct. 15, with teams competing at the Truxton Umstead regatta in Annapolis, Maryland, the Yale regatta in New Haven, Connecticut, and the Stoney Burke regatta in San Francisco.
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— Stanford Sailing (@StanfordSailing) September 16, 2016
The following weekend, Stanford will compete at the Mrs. Hurst Women's regatta in Hanover, New Hampshire, the Hoyt Trophy in Providence, Rhode Island and the PCCSC Conference Singlehanded Championships in Long Beach, California.
The fall season wraps up with a series of championships, including the PCCSC Women's Fall Championship (Oct. 29-30), the ICSA Men's and Women's Singlehanded National Championships (Nov. 4-6), the PCCSC Coed Fall Championships (Nov. 12-13) and the ICSA Match Race Nationals (Nov. 18-20).Three Named to Red Bull Foiling Generation QualifierThree Stanford sailors have been selected to participate in first United States qualifier for the Red Bull Foiling Generation sailing competition.
Junior Luke Muller, sophomore MiMi El-Khazindar and freshman Jacob Rosenberg were chosen to sail in the U.S. qualifier, which will be held October 15-16 at the Sail Newport Sailing Center in Newport, Rhode Island. Muller will compete with his younger brother, Nicolas, a freshman on the sailing team at College of Charleston, while El-Khazindar and Rosenberg will team up.
Red Bull Foiling Generation U.S. Qualifier competitors, aged 16-20, were chosen through application process that was launched earlier this year. Industry experts in partnership with U.S. Sailing were recruited to evaluate possible competitors based on their sharp sailing skills, athleticism and smart decision-making.
These skills are needed to handle the 18-foot Flying Phantom catamarans designed with hydro foil technology, a smaller but similar version to what is used in the world's most famous sailing competition, the America's Cup.
The winning team will stay in Newport to race in the Red Bull Foiling Generation World Final on October 22 and 23, joining top youth competitors from 14 countries – Switzerland, Spain, Germany, Russia, Sweden, Italy, Turkey, France, Denmark, Netherlands, Great Britain, New Zealand, Japan and Belgium – that have qualified for this first world-wide competition.Spring ICSA Championship DatesThe 2016-17 season culminates in the three spring ICSA National Championships, hosted this season by Wisconsin and Northwestern at the Chicago Yacht Club. The women's championship will take place May 28-31, followed by the team racing event June 1-3. The coed dinghy championship, held June 4-6, will mark the end of the 2016-17 season.