ITHACA, N.Y. – #Cy Thompson# (St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands) won the ICSA Men's Singlehanded Championships Sunday afternoon, giving the Roger Williams University Sailing team its first singlehanded title in school history. The weekend capped off a stellar weekend in which the Hawks won three events.
Entering Sunday, the final day of the three day regatta, Thompson sat in third place with six races left to be sailed that day. In the opening race races, he ran off finishes of 4-2-1-1 and gave himself a 10-point leads going into the final two races. However, on the second to last race, after a large group of boats passed him on a huge puff on the left side of race 17, he rounded the weather mark in 11th and ultimately finished 10th, which tied for his lowest finish of the regatta.
Going into the final race, he had only a point lead over Kyle Rogachenko of Old Dominion, three points on Rob Crane from Hobart and Smith College, and seven points on Fred Strammer from Brown University. During the race, Thompson was in fourth at the weather mark, behind Rogachenko and Strammer, who was leading the race. Eventually, Rogachensko and Thompson managed to break away from the pack, rounding the leeward mark in first and second, respectively. Yet on the weather leg, two boats managed to slip by Thompson. At the second weather mark rounding, Thompson needed to pass those two boats to at least tie Rogachenko for the lead.
Within 100 yards to the finish, he and Rogachenko were nearly mast-and-mast. In the end, Ryan Lashaway of Toledo managed to get on Thompson's breeze, giving the slight advantage to Rogachenko at the finish line, leaving the pair tied with 75 points. The head-to-head tie-breaker and championship went to Thompson, who beat Rogachenko in 11 of the 18 races over the three days.
“It was a dramatic end to a great regatta,” said Head Coach Amanda Callahan. “Cy sailed conservatively with great boat speed, especially downwind, Cy remained calm under fire and his determination to win made it very exciting to watch. It's a great accomplishment for him and this remarkable feat has secured his place in Roger Williams history.”
At the Oberg Trophy, the Hawks ran away with the top spot, winning the trophy by a 50-point margin. RWU swept the A and B Division, with #Sean Bouchard# (Bermuda) and #Kelly Stannard# (Salem, Conn.) representing A Division and #Joshua Saltmarsh# (Wayland, Mass.) and #Fritz Stunzi# (Marblehead, Mass.) in B Division. Bouchard and Stannard tallied 60 points on the strength of seven wins and three runner-up finishes, while Saltmarsh and Stunzi finished one point ahead of Boston University for the B Division win.
The Hawk dominance continued at the Sherman Hoyt Trophy at Brown, where RWU won the trophy with 110 points, 39 more than second-place University of Vermont. A Division sailors #Matthew Duggan# (Sandwich, Mass.), #Alex Sachs# (Miami, Fla.) and #Maria Petrillo# (Bristol, R.I.) set the pace for the division, earning the win with a top-eight finish in each of the 11 races with five in the top-two. #Jonathan Enright# (Bristol, R.I.) and #Kelly Gorman# (Marblehead, Mass.) took the B Division title as well, earning six top-four finishes including two wins.
The Central Series 6 at Boston College saw the Hawks finish fifth in the field of 18. #Kamran Golestaneh# (Wellesley, Mass.) sailed in the first regatta of his career, pairing up with #Megan Carlson# (New Providence, N.J.) for an eighth-place finish in A Division. #Andrew Vachon# (Scituate, Mass.) made his season debut driving in B Division, facing challenging weather conditions. He and teammate #Carleton Huntsberger# (North Port, Maine) took fifth in B Division.
At the Women's Stu Nelson at Connecticut College, the Hawks finished 15th in the regatta. #Sarah Mease# (Ocean Gate, N.J.) and #Kaytlin Hall# (Los Angeles, Calif.) took sixth in A Division and won all three races on Sunday, although the third race did not count due to the time limit. The B Division duo of #Emerald Epke# (Tiverton, R.I.) and Meredith Vasta (Croton, N.Y.) finished 16th.
Roger Williams will have another full slate of events this upcoming weekend, highlighted by the Team Racing Series Two, which the Hawks will host on Sunday.
