Day Two of the 2011/2012 ICSA (Inter-Collegiate Sailing Association) Match Race National Championship for the Cornelius Shields Sr. Trophy hosted by St. Francis YC and California Maritime Academy

Today’s racing was cut short by lack of wind and a surplus of current on San Francisco Bay. The breeze lingered around 2-4 knots all morning and was “un-sailable” until about 2:00PM. The original format included a round robin series for the top six teams to determine quarter-final’s seeding. However, given such a late start to the racing, the Gold Round Robin was eliminated, and the top six teams waited patiently on the water during the three flights of Repechage.

Four teams battled hard in Repechage for the last two spots in the quarter-finals. University of Michigan prevailed as the undefeated victor of this particular round robin with an impressive record of 3-0. University of Wisconsin also secured their spot in quarter-finals with their winning record of 2-1. Texas A&M and University of Oregon will now compete in a knock-out series, first-to-two points, for places ninth and tenth.

Quarter-finals began immediately at the conclusion of Repechage, despite the dying breeze and strengthening current. Teams were seeded for quarter-finals based on their records from the first round robin. The pairings with their records are listed below:
US Naval Academy (2-0) vs. University of Wisconsin (0-2)
Roger Williams University (2-0) vs. University of Michigan (0-2)
University of South Florida (1-0) vs. Tufts University (0-1)
St. Mary’s (1-0) vs. Stanford (0-1)

The knock-out series for places nine and ten was held simultaneously during quarter-finals: University of Oregon (1-0) vs. Texas A&M (0-1).

Despite the lighter air today, racing on the Bay was far from easy. The current’s effects were greatly intensified. The race committee added an offset mark at the top of the course to compensate for the severe skew that resulted from the cross current on the downwind leg. Unlike in fleet racing, boats were forbidden from setting their spinnakers before they rounded the offset mark. Tufts learned this lesson the hard way in their race against USF. The umpires assessed a penalty against Tufts, who was leading at the time, for setting their spinnaker around the first mark.

Also worth noting, the umpires play an especially crucial role in match racing. The sailors’ appreciation for the efforts of the umpires cannot be said enough. ICSA Match Race Nationals brought together an impressive line-up of umpires: Chief Umpire: Don Becker (IU), John Pratt (IU), Glenn Oliver (IU), Anders Otto (IU), Rick Hatch (NU), Liz Baylis (NU), Vickie Sodaro (NU), John Christman (NU), “Kim” Kimlyka (NU), Kerri Sullivan (NU), Katie Maxim, Don Wieneke, and Mike Gross. Although the umpires had fewer flags to fly today, their efforts were nonetheless vital to the racing.

Racing resumes tomorrow 10:00 am PST. Don’t miss the action! Be sure to check out the live stream: www.collegematchrace.com provided by Chicago Match Race Center, follow the twitter @ICSAMatchRace2, and “like” the Facebook page: “ICSA Match Race National Championship.”

Find complete results here:
http://www.stfyc.com/default.aspx?p=v35EvtView&type=0&ID=2453430 .

For more information, please visit the event website: www.collegematchrace.com