San Francisco, Calif.-As if by design, the infamous San Francisco fog retreated to reveal blue skies this morning just as the competitors at the 2009 Intercollegiate Sailing Association (ICSA) Women’s Championship got down to the business of racing for the title. The breeze was cranking between 18-26 knots over the course of the day, reaching its peak during the fourth race in A-Division where a glance at the scoreline with three DNFs (Did Not Finish) and one DNS (Did Not Sail) are indicative of the numerous capsizes on the course when things really got challenging. The Lady Rams from the University of Rhode Island (Kingston, R.I.) had led for the early part of the day until their DNS in race four opened the door for Boston College (Chestnut Hill, Mass.) who put together back-to-back wins in races five and six, in both A and B Divisions. (Each school fields a separate A and B division team and, weather permitting, each division sails 20- to 30-minute fleet races in rotation. A team's final score is determined by the combined results of its sailors in A and B divisions.) 
At press time, with two races left to sail by A Division to complete a series of seven for each division, BC was leading the semi-finals with 61 points, followed by Old Dominion University (Norfolk, Va.) with 63, Dartmouth College (Hanover, N.H.) with 68, Connecticut College (New London, Conn.) with 75, and Georgetown University (Washington, D.C.) with 77. URI was in sixth place with 78 points. Only the top nine finishers at the end of day one will move on to race against the nine teams that had a bye for this round: College of Charleston (Charleston, S.C.), Harvard University (Cambridge, Mass.), St. Mary’s College (St. Mary’s City, Md.), Stanford University (Palo Alto, Calif.), Texas A&M Galveston (Galveston, Texas), University of Wisconsin (Madison, Wisc.), Western Washington University (Bellingham, Wash.), William Smith College (Geneva, N.Y.) and Yale University (New Haven, Conn.).
Stanford is co-hosting the championship with St. Francis Yacht Club, with sponsor support from Luminaria Medispa, and the sailors are racing from the club which has access for spectators along its seawall. Racing in the final round of the ICSA Women's National Championship will take place May 25-27 to determine the winner.
About the Inter-Collegiate Sailing Association: ICSA is the governing authority for sailing competition at colleges and universities throughout the United States and in some parts of Canada. To learn more please visit: www.collegesailing.org. ICSA is sponsored by Gill, Annapolis Performance Sailing, Marlow Ropes, Quantum Sails, LaserPerformance and US SAILING: www.gillna.com, www.apsltd.com, www.bainbridgeint.com, www.quantumsails.com, www.laserperformance.com/main/ and www.ussailing.org
May 25-27, 2009 - ICSA Women’s National Championship
Boston College (Chestnut Hill, Mass.)
Boston University (Boston, Mass.)
Brown University (Providence, R.I.)
College of Charleston (Charleston, S.C.)
Connecticut College (New London, Conn.)
Dartmouth College (Hanover, N.H.)
Eckerd College (St. Petersburg, Fla.)
Georgetown University (Washington, D.C.)
Harvard University (Cambridge, Mass.)
Old Dominion University (Norfolk, Va.)
St. Mary's College (St. Mary’s City, Md.)
Stanford University (Palo Alto, Calif.)
Texas A & M Galveston (Galveston, Texas)
University of California – Irvine (Irvine, Calif.)
University of Hawaii (Honolulu, Hawaii)
University of Oklahoma (Norman, Ok.)
University of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, Penn.)
University of Southern California (Los Angeles, Calif.)
University of South Florida (St. Petersburg, Fla.)
University of Wisconsin (Madison, Wis.)
University of Michigan (Ann Arbor, Mich.)
University of Notre Dame (South Bend, Ind.)
University of Rhode Island (Kingston, R.I.)
U.S. Naval Academy (Annapolis, Md.)
William Smith College (Geneva, N.Y.)
Western Washington University (Bellingham, Wash.)
Yale University (New Haven, Conn.)
