Leader, Juan Maegli of the College of Charleston leads Southern California native, Chris Barnard down the course in Long Beach. Photo courtesy of ISCA.
Thirty-two singlehanded men and women sailors from colleges all over the country converged on Long Beach Friday, November 2nd to compete in the 2012 LaserPerformance/ICSA Singlehanded Nationals at the Belmont Veterans Memorial Pier.
Erika Reineke of Boston College continually broke from the fleet during the women’s races, earning her a 46-point lead during the weekend’s 16 races, enough to win the coveted Janet Lutz trophy. Mayumi Roller of St. Mary’s College came in 2nd with 69 points and Claire Dennis of Yale—last year’s second place winner—came in 3rd with 97 points.
Races in the men’s fleet were close throughout the weekend. So close, in fact, that the winners of the top men’s title still being determined as protests are pending. Chirs Barnard, a Southern California native sailing for Georgetown who was recently named College Sailor of the Year, and Juan Maegli, a Guatemalan sailing for College of Charleston, were neck-and-neck for the first day of races. After eight more races, however, Maegli took a lead of 17 points, inching closer to winning the Glen S. Foster Trophy. The result of the protest may change these results.
{loadposition latestnews}Co-organized by the United States Sailing Center in Long Beach and the University of Southern California Varsity Sailing Team, the Singlehanded Nationals is the precursor to National Singlehanded Championship for all sailors in the United States.
All of the student sailors earned a spot in this weekend’s races by qualifying at championship regattas in their respective conferences. Winners of each fleet will be invited to compete against professional sailors from around the country.
It should be warm in Long Beach this weekend with the temperatures predicted to be in the high 70s and low 80s which should be a welcome change for the sailors coming in from colder climates.
For scoring updates and information, follow the regatta online at http://www.regattanetwork.com
For more informatuon about the United States Sailing Center, click here.
—additional reporting by Sarah Bennett