College sailors from around the country will get a Texas-size down-home welcome when the sailing team of the largest university in the country — the University of Texas — kicks off ten days of competition for the 2005 Inter-Collegiate Sailing Association (ICSA) North American Championships. This triple-header of the college sailing year starts tomorrow with the ICSA North American Women’s Dinghy Championship (June 1-3), followed by the ICSA/Layline North American Team Race Championship (June 5-7) and the ICSA/Gill North American Coed Dinghy Championship (June 8-10).

In a state where “bragging rights” are an art form and everything is big, racing will take place on Lake Travis, the 65-mile-long artificial lake created on the Colorado River upon the completion of the Marshall Ford Dam in 1939. Hosted by the Southeastern Intercollegiate Sailing Association and Austin Yacht Club, competitors will rotate FJs from docks located at the end of Beacon Point, a short distance from the race course and where water is deep enough to sail within 15 feet of shore, providing spectators a close view of the action.

ESPNU - For the first time in the history of college sailing, the championships will be filmed for coverage on ESPNU, the network devoted entirely to college sports. Emmy-award winning sailing journalist Gary Jobson (Annapolis, Md.) will cover the competition and produce two half-hour-long programs that will air back-to-back, one covering the ICSA/Layline North American Team Race Championship, and the other covering the ICSA/Gill North American Dinghy Championship. The programs are scheduled to air July 2, July 6, and July 21. Visit www.jobsonsailing.com for local airtimes.

BACKGROUND - The ICSA North American Championships brings together sailors from 25 schools, representing seven North American districts, to compete in three distinctive events. In the Women’s and Dinghy events, each college fields a separate A and B division team. Weather permitting, each division sails eighteen 20- to 30-minute fleet races over three days for a total of 36 races. A team’s final score is determined by the combined results of its sailors in A and B divisions. The Team Race Championship pits each college’s three-boat team against another’s in a round-robin series of matches with the top-four of 14 teams proceeding to a double round-robin championship series to determine the overall winner.

Each of the 25 colleges participating will field separate A and B division teams for both the women’s and dinghy events. District eliminations qualified 18 colleges to compete in the women’s championships; 14 qualified for the team racing championship; and 16 qualified for the dinghy championship, which also includes two teams selected at-large. Of the 25 colleges qualified for these championships, 10 schools qualified to send competitors in all three championships: College of Charleston, Dartmouth College, Georgetown University, Harvard University, Hobart/William Smith Colleges, St. Mary’s College, Texas A&M Galveston, University of Southern California, University of Washington, and Yale University. (A complete list of qualified schools follows.)

ICSA AWARDS - ICSA will recognize the achievements of its members at a banquet on June 10, 2005, when it names the College Sailor of the Year, Sportsman of the Year, the Student Leader of the Year and the ICSA/Ronstan All-America Sailing Team recognizing both skippers and crews who have recorded outstanding achievements in college sailing throughout the year. The Leonard M. Fowle Trophy for the college with the best combined record from the six collegiate championships (including last fall’s ICSA / Vanguard North American Men’s Singlehanded Championship, ICSA / Vanguard North American Women’s Singlehanded Championship, and the ICSA Sloop North American Championship) will also be awarded.

Additionally, the College Sailing Hall of Fame will induct post-graduate leaders in the categories of Volunteer Leadership and Lifetime Service. Those honorees will be selected based on their service specifically to college sailing.

The Quantum Female College Sailor of the Year award will be announced at the conclusion of the North American Women’s Dinghy Championship on June 3.

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