SAILING NEWS FALL 2016
From the Associates Fall 2016 Mark your calendars for the annual Associates’ Dinner on Monday, January 16th, 2017, again at the Graduate Club in New Haven. Cocktails begin at 6 PM followed by dinner at 7. We hope to see all of you there!
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fter a memorable Spring, when our team won Team Race Nationals for an unprecedented fourth consecutive year, then topped it all off by capturing the Fowle Trophy for the “overall best team” in college sailing, the Bulldogs have had an equally great Fall. The Coed Team has stayed atop the rankings for most of the semester, winning a number of regattas including the Danmark and Schell trophies this fall. The Women’s Team has also remained high in the rankings, and winning the Yale Women’s Regatta, Navy Women’s, and the Victorian Coffee Urn. Zack and Bill, in addition to all their weekend alumni assistants, have really kept the team performing at the absolute top level. Those alumni who may have recently returned to YCYC, in alumni events or to assist with regattas, may have noticed that though the fleet remains in very good shape, we really could use a new suit of sails. After three years of hard usage, the current set is barely holding together. The team Suburban is also approaching that point where resale values
plummet and maintenance bills skyrocket, so we plan to replace that as well. We expect the sails to cost around $35,000, and a new Suburban $60,000. In other news, Trustee Molly Carapiet ’06 has agreed to step up as our Head of Development, and she is already working with Ted, Jamie, and Zack to develop a plan to get more YCYC alumni participating in annual giving and to fund these two capital expenses. We are really excited to bring her experience, enthusiasm, and organizational skills to the Yale Sailing Associates. Three cheers for Molly! As a final note, mark your calendars for the annual Associates’ Dinner on Monday, January 16th, 2017, again at the Graduate Club in New Haven. Cocktails begin at 6 PM followed by dinner at 7. We hope to see all of you there! Sail fast – Jamie and Ted
Coaches Corner McNay Family Director of Yale Sailing, Zack Leonard ‘89
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he fall of 2016 has come and gone and Bill and I are really proud of the improvement we’ve seen across the board. The freshman class has shown a very steep learning curve and all of them look ready to compete at a high level going forward. We are really excited about starting the Spring team racing season and beginning the fun project of building up our knowledge on that frontier. One of the key strengths that we have developed over the past 20 years is a tradition of recent grads giving back to the team by coaching, judging and helping to run home regattas. This year has been no different. Joe Morris joined us for the entire fall season and his wisdom has been invaluable to the team. Cam Cullman, Max Nickbarg and Marlena Fauer coached at a number of events this fall and Matt Barry loaned us a coach boat for the Harry Anderson and helped out for the weekend along with Kate Gaumond
and Caleb Dorfman. The undergrads on the team love spending time with Alumni so these regatta weekends are always fun. We are all proud of the 3 Yale sailors that represented the United States at the Olympic in Rio this Summer. Stu Mcnay and his partner Dave Hughes competed at the very top of the Men’s 470 class, narrowly missing a medal with a 4th place finish. Thomas Barrows and Joe Morris had a great run to qualify for the games after Joe sustained a serious shoulder injury a few months before the trials. They were in the pack for most of the event, but they have built a strong foundation if they decide to go for it again next time. Stu, Thomas and Joe truly represent the Olympic ideal and all 3 of them continue to spend time with the team, sharing their Olympic experiences, mentoring, and building friendships with our current undergraduates.
Captains Report Natalya Doris, Women’s Captain Mitchell Kiss, Coed Captain
The Yale co-ed and women’s sailing teams have had a fantastic fall season. With the help of six new members and eight returning All-Americans, the Bulldogs won twelve regattas and placed in the top-three in all but eight of the 30 events they sailed.
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he Yale co-ed and women’s sailing teams have had a fantastic fall season. With the help of six new members and eight returning All-Americans, the Bulldogs won twelve regattas and placed in the top-three in all but eight of the 30 events they sailed. After welcoming freshmen Dylan DiMarchi from Honolulu, Hawaii, Julia Greenberg from New York, N.Y., Chrissie Klingler from Larchmont, N.Y., Graceann Nicolosi from St. Thomas, USVI, and Louisa Nordstrom from Sarasota, Florida, and sophomore Jackie Dye from Manhattan Beach, California, the Bulldogs jumped right in to the Harry Anderson, Toni Deutsch and Pine Trophies, earning second-place finishes at the Harry Anderson and Toni Deutsch and securing a win at the Pine. The following weekend, the freshmen sported a ‘Y’ on their backs for the first time. Coincidentally, the team won all three coed events sailed – the Hatch Brown and Nevins Trophies and the Central Series – and placed third at the competitive women’s Stu Nelson Trophy. There were several impressive individual finishes early in the season. Seniors Ian Barrows and Meredith Megarry had their first division-win at the Hatch Brown, while sophomore Nic Baird and Nicolosi placed third in B. Freshman skippers DiMarchi and Klingler won their divisions at the Central Series, and the duo of sophomore skipper Nick Hernandez and junior crew Caroline Colwell won B division at the Nevins. The women’s team, led by junior Casey Klingler and senior captain Natalya Doris, had a streak of top finishes – among them wins at the Regis Trophy, Navy
Fall and Yale Women’s – ultimately rising to the top of the rankings by mid-October. As the season wore on, the team continued to show its depth, winning the Danmark with a 50-point lead, placing third at the Moody with two sophomore skippers and a freshman crew, second at the three-division Captain Hurst regatta with senior captain Mitchell Kiss sailing A division with Colwell, Lamphere in B with senior Chandler Gregoire, and junior KB Knapp with Nicolosi in C. The Bulldogs ended the regular season with a bang, winning both the Schell and Urn Trophies – the New England Fall Championships. Three skippers – junior Malcolm Lamphere, Baird, and Nordstrom – qualified for the ICSA Singlehanded National Championships, which were held mid-November in Galveston, Texas. At the Men’s Championship, Baird and Lamphere placed third and seventh, respectively. Nordstrom placed sixth at the Women’s Championship, and was the top-performing freshman at the event. This same weekend, YCYC hosted the 40th annual Snow and Satisfaction Regatta. With a newly introduced master’s division, many of the Snow’s founding members, including Ken Legler, Carl Fast, Peter Isler, Ed Adams, Susan Daly, Dave Perry, Michael Loeb and Gary Knapp returned to sail at Yale. Jonathan McKee led the Snow talk, and many contributed stories from the regatta’s early years. The event was a huge success, giving current team members, young alumni and sailing legends the unique opportunity to learn from each other and race in YCYC’s newly purchased FJs and Z420s.
Commodore’s Column Clara Robertson ’17
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ot only are we excited about the team’s performance, hard work, and progress this season, but also we continue to be inspired by our talented, devoted, and unique teammates. We are excited to introduce this year’s great freshman class with a Q and A with two members of the class of 2020. Christine Klingler(Chrissie) and Graceann Nicolosi share their thoughts on their experiences at Yale and as members of the team so far. Chrissie Klingler grew up in Larchmont, NY and began sailing at Larchmont Yacht Club. She attended The Hotchkiss School, where she sailed and did cross country for all four years. Graceann Nicolosi is from St. Thomas and attended Antilles High School. She also competed on their sailing team. Clara: How did you two spend your last summer before college? Chrissie: I was a sailing instructor last summer at American Yacht Club in Rye, New York. I mostly taught advanced Opti and 420s. Graceann: I worked at my local Yacht Club as a sailing instructor. I also bartended at a beach bar, which was a tough, busy, but really interesting job. Clara: How has the first semester been at Yale, and have you been enjoying your classes? Chrissie: Classes have gone pretty well so far! I’m taking a global affairs class which has had a lot of really interesting talks by some very impressive people. I think it’s been a good introduction to Yale because it covers so many different disciplines and topics. I’ve also really enjoyed my math and economics classes, so I’m not really sure what I’m going to major in yet. Graceann: The semester is going well, and I feel
like I am further adjusting to living on old campus. My favorite course this semester was my history freshman seminar. Clara: How have you been enjoying your first semester on the team? What do you like the most so far? Chrissie: It’s been great to be on the team so far. I really love going out to YCYC every day and practicing with everyone--it’s great to escape from campus for a few hours and sail in such an awesome place. The team has also been my first set of friends on campus and it’s really nice to have that support system. Graceann: I loved how the team was an automatic network and group of friends. It has been great to bond with the team and to get advice from teammates about Yale in general. Clara: How did you feel joining this team, particularly in light of its high level of accomplishments? Any expectations? Has anything surprised you? Chrissie: The Yale team has a lot of really talented sailors, which I think really pushes everyone to keep working hard all the time. It’s really interesting having so many practices that have a higher level of sailing than many of the regattas I’ve gone to, and I think it makes every day on the water that much more useful. Graceann: I definitely agree with Chrissie. I did not know too much about what to expect. I was a little nervous at first, but really excited to learn. When I joined the team, I think that I was surprised that there are so many people with different sailing backgrounds and skill levels. I think it’s great that everyone just focuses on helping each
Clara: How did you feel joining this team, particularly in light of its high level of accomplishments? Any expectations? Has anything surprised you? Chrissie: The Yale team has a lot of really talented sailors, which I think really pushes everyone to keep working hard all the time. It’s really interesting having so many practices that have a higher level of sailing than many of the regattas I’ve gone to, and I think it makes every day on the water that much more useful.
other learn and improve. I have learned so much from my teammates/peers. Clara: What is your take on your class on the team? Chrissie: Our class on the team has been really close since the beginning of the year and they’re my best friends here at Yale so far. We always check in with each other after regattas and hang out and talk about them, often while going over the homework for the econ class we’re all in. We’re all on the team and taking some of the same classes, but I think we’re much more about supporting each other at getting better than we are competing against each other. Graceann: I love my class. They are my best friends at Yale so far, and we do so much together even on campus! (“Maybe we spend too much time together,” she jokes.) Clara: Chrissie, what is it like to have an older sister on your sports team? Chrissie: I’ve liked having Casey on the team. She’s passed on a lot of wisdom that she’s developed from being at Yale and on the team for the last two years and she does a good job at looking out for me. It’s fun being in the same place again. Clara: Has it been interesting to adjust to college-style racing? Chrissie: College sailing has been a lot of fun to adjust to. The z420s are awesome boats and I’ve worked a lot on improving my boat handling. Clara: Graceann, what are you focusing on with your crewing? Any goals for the offseason in general?
Graceann: I want to keep getting used to different peoples’ sailing styles, and work on my overall adaptability. I hope to learn a lot about team racing this winter. I am also excited to invest a lot of time in my schoolwork and to explore other activities and meet new people on campus. Clara: Since you are from St. Thomas, what is your take on sailing in New England? Graceann: The weather can be, well, tricky. But it terms of sailing, New England is really cool because each sailing venue is different, conditions-wise, which isn’t really the case at home. Because of this, I learn different things and am challenged every weekend, which is really exciting! Clara: Do you have fun plans for the upcoming Thanksgiving and Christmas Breaks? Chrissie: I’m going on vacation over Christmas break to the Virgin Islands along with Casey and Chris Champa and hopefully we’ll see Graceann and Ian while we’re down there! Graceann: I am going to New Jersey for Thanksgiving, and going home to St. Thomas over Christmas—I plan to do some relaxing and also will probably work a bit to earn some money! It is great to hear that the freshmen class is excited about the team and life at Yale. We look forward to seeing all of our team members continue to push each other and support each other on and off the racecourse!
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