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The University of Rhode Island’s sailing Rams have earned a record unmatched by any University from any country, having been to the Student YachtingWorld Cup ten times, winning it once, and qualifying last November for an 11th chance to bring the cup home. Sailing 32-foot Grand Surprise boats, URI will join twenty Collegiate National Championship teams fromaround the world inMarseille, France to decide who will win theWORLDS. The week-long racing for the Student World Cup starts October 24, 2009 and includes a night race and several windward/ leeward courses. There are seven positions on each boat and each team must include at least two women and an alternate. From the class of 2010 come Lauren Gineo, Pit - Newport, RI, Carl Merrill,Mast - Hope, ME; and Alex Baittinger, Tactics - East Greenwich, RI. The class of 2011 is represented by Team Captain and Skipper Jesse Fielding -Wickford, RI; ScottMillard, Trimmer - East Greenwich, RI; Weston Barlow, Bow - Narragansett, RI; and Jeremy Henry, Alternate - Groton, MA, with Liv Gunnarsson, Floater - River Vale, NJ the lone member from the class of 2012. This exceptional World Cup team has already started practicing and is working with the URI Foundation and Department of Athletics to raise the $40,000 needed to send the team to France. It began last November when URI's sailing club team clinched the Kennedy Cup – the equivalent of a national championship for collegiate sailing. Hosted by the U.S. Naval Academy in Maryland, teams sailed in Navy 44 sloops. For the 11th time in school history, URI won the right to represent the United States at the 2009 Student YachtingWorld Cup. It will be the team’s second trip to the World Cup in three years. URI last went in 2007, when it finished seventh overall. URI last won the World Cup in 1990, finishing second in 1992, 1993 and 2004, while taking third in 1988 and 1998. |
Teams sail a series of eight races and points are based on the order the boats finish. First place in each race earns one point, second place earns two points, and so on, with the lowest cumulative score winning the title. After top-five finishes in each of the first seven races, including a pair of first-place finishes, URI held a slim 19-21 lead over defending-champion Navy entering the final race. After a slow Start, URI found itself three boats behind Navy. “Navy was making a good run, so the focus for our guys was to chip away at the lead,” said URI head coach Joey Mello from Dartmouth,Mass who graduated fromURI in 2004. “We stayed composed. If we had been too wrapped up in the slow start, we wouldn’t have been able to catch Navy.” URI passed two boats and finished one spot behind Navy to clinch the title with a total of 23 points. Navy finished with 24 points, well ahead of third-place U.S. Coast Guard with 38 points. For Mello, a former team member now in his fourth season as coach, it marked the second Kennedy Cup for URI in three appearances. (Because URI competed at the World Cup in 2007, it did not compete in the Kennedy Cup that year.) “We focus on our success as a program and give credit to all the students in the sailing program, including the nine who played a role in this championship,” said Mello. “What we have done in the past few years pales in comparison to the overall history of success for our sailing team,” Mello said. “There is a rich tradition of success at URI, and this team is just keeping that alive.” Visit www.urisailing.org to find links to the World Cup Team blog site and the URI Foundation site where you can donate online. return to Newport Harbor Guide Articles |
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