“Winning the Match Race championships, at home, was a big deal,” said the head sailing coach Chris Klevan. “The competition was strong and pushed us to be better.”
Stanford, the regatta hosts, took on four conference opponents in Hawaii, UC Santa Barbara, Cal Poly and Cal Maritime Academy.
“Securing the Pacific Coast Championships secures a spot at the ICSA National Championship in November,” added Klevan. “We have a new boat and a new team together, supported by veterans, Wiley Rogers and AnaClare Sole. We can’t wait to see what we can do in the championship.”
Along with Rogers and Sole, two freshmen Konstantinos Michalopoulos and Jack Baldwin took control of the second boat to help guide Stanford to victory.
Meanwhile, the Cardinal was also competing in the ACC Women’s Finals in Kings Point, New York. Stanford sailed among the best in the nation and finished sixth overall in an 18-team field.
“We didn’t get the result we wanted in difficult conditions,” Klevan explained. “We see the bar and will adjust our process in training to meet and exceed the level set by our competitors.”
The weather changed frequently throughout the weekend creating variable and mixed conditions. Despite warm temperatures on Saturday, there was little wind to start the event. On Sunday, the conditions made it possible to start sailing in the morning, but at the end of race 10A, there was no more wind, forcing the fleet to return to land.
Michelle Lahrkamp took command as skipper of boat A while Patricia Gerli and Grace Austin combined with the crew for each of the races in Division A. In Division B, Hannah Freeman and Venessa Lahrkamp took over as skippers, sharing the races while Abigail Tindall as a crew at each competition B.
Stanford’s third regatta of the weekend, the Truxtun Umsted, took place in Annapolis, Maryland. Among a field of 14 teams, the Cardinal finished sixth overall.
“I am encouraged by the efforts of this group,” Klevan said. “We were a bit under bad weather and maybe it hurt us in the big breeze. Nevertheless, we pushed and got a decent result.”
In Division A, Stanford had the third highest score among all teams with 56 points, only behind eventual winner Georgetown and Pennsylvania. Chapman Peterson and Isabelle McNabb raced in all 10 Division A races for the Cardinal.
In boat B, Justin Lim and Laurel Foster combined for 69 points and seventh in the division. Like Boat A, Lim and Foster competed in each of the division’s ten races throughout the regatta.
Stanford returns to action next weekend in the mixed finals of the ACC and Yale women’s competition.
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