Follow Harvard Sailing Live at ICSA Nationals

Powers and Appel (right) helped the Crimson women place second at the New England Championship (photo courtesy Gil Talbot).

MADISON, Wis.—The Harvard sailing team kicks off the spring nationals by competing in the Inter-Collegiate Sailing Association Women's National Championship Thursday and Friday on Lake Mendota. Fans can follow the action via live video and Twitter feed, both in the women’s regatta and the ICSA/Gill Coed Dinghy National Championship June 1-3.

Both Harvard squads are coming off some of their top performances of the season in the national qualifying regattas and are set to compete for national titles against schools from across the nation.

Follow from Home
Live video from the race course is available on the 2010 ICSA National Championships home page, while this Twitter feed will feature updates as the racing progresses. Results will be updated on the TechScore results page.

History Lesson
The Crimson has won five national championships in women’s sailing: in 1968, ’69, ’70, ’72 and 2005. Harvard has won four coed dinghy titles: in 1952, ’53, ’59 and ’74. The Crimson also won back-to-back team racing championships in 2002 and ’03.

ICSA Women’s National Championship
The women’s championship regatta was scheduled to get underway with the semifinal round Tuesday and Wednesday. However, a lack of wind prevented racing each day, and of the 18 teams scheduled to compete, the top nine based on performance at their respective conference championships advanced. They join the nine schools, including Harvard, that had earned a bye into the championship round.

The schools that moved on as a result of the cancelation are Boston College, College of Charleston, Connecticut College, Old Dominion, Tufts, Southern California, Texas, Wisconsin and William Smith. The teams with a bye areBrown, Eckerd, Georgetown, Harvard, St. Mary's (Md.), Stanford, Texas A&M Galveston, Michigan and Washington.

The 18 schools will compete in standard two-division fleet racing Friday and Saturday.

Scouting the Crimson Women
Harvard advanced to the national regatta by placing second of 14 schools at the New England Women’s Championship April 24-25 on Narragansett Bay in Cranston, R.I. The Crimson rallied in the last round of racing to top Boston College by three points for runner-up honors and the region’s second and final berth directly to Nationals.

The Crimson A-division team of Emily Lambert and Alexandra Jumper finished second in their final race and in their division overall to lead Harvard at the New England Championship. In the B division, Liz Powers and Marie Appel placed fifth overall. They took eighth place in their final race, three spots ahead of BC, to help the Crimson advance.

Women’s All-New England
Powers, captain of the Crimson women’s squad, was named the New England Intercollegiate Sailing Association’s women’s Sportsman of the Year and was one of four Harvard women’s All-New England selections. Powers and Lambert were both second-team All-New England skippers, while Appel and Jumper earned all-region honors at the crew position.

Last Season
Harvard placed 10th overall and in each division at the 2009 ICSA Women’s National Championship. Powers sailed as crew alongside skipper Megan Watson ’09 in the A division. Lambert and Jumper both competed for Harvard in the B division, along with Michelle Konstadt. Yale won the national title.

ICSA/Gill Coed Dinghy National Championship
Wisconsin will also host the three-day coed dinghy championship beginning Tuesday. Racing gets underway at noon Tuesday and 9:30 a.m. each of the following days. Each of the 18 competing schools advanced to the national regatta by qualifying at its regional championship and earning a top-nine finish in the semifinal round May 1-2.

Qualifying from the western semifinal in Seattle were Harvard, Hobart/William Smith, Old Dominion, Roger Williams, Salve Regina, St. Mary’s, Stanford, SUNY Maritime and Yale. Advancing from the east were Boston College, Brown, College of Charleston, Georgetown, Kings Point, Navy, South Florida, Tufts and Vermont.

Scouting the Crimson Coeds
A fifth-place finish from juniors Alan Palmer and Megham Wareham paced a fourth-place Harvard team effort at the ICSA Western Semi Finals at Sail Sand Point in Seattle. John Stokes, Quincy  Bock and Konstadt placed sixth in the B division. Palmer and Wareham won three races, including two of the last three of the weekend.

Harvard landed in the semifinal round with a sixth-place finish at the New England Dinghy Championship April 17-18 at Connecticut College. Palmer and Wareham placed fifth in the A division, while Stokes and Bock were seventh in the B division. The Crimson got off to a strong start to stand in third place after Saturday’s racing and held on to finish 31 points ahead of the top non-qualifying team.

Men’s All-New England
Palmer was named a second-team All-New England skipper after the New England regatta. Wareham was a first-team crew selection, and Konstadt was a second-team pick.

Last Season
Harvard placed 10th in the ICSA/Gill Coed Dinghy National Championship for the second straight year in 2009. The Crimson placed ninth in the A division, with Palmer and Stokes at skipper and Bock, Konstadt, Wareham and Winston Yan sharing time at crew. Harvard placed 15th in the B division, as Tedd Himler, Yan and Charles all contributing, along with Jon Garrity ’09. St. Mary’s captured the coed national title.