A college sailing fall decided by single races, single points and tiebreakers, with first-time champions, a breakout singlehanded season, and a spring that brings every national championship to Annapolis.
The fall 2026 college sailing season will be remembered for how close it was. The Open Atlantic Coast Championship came down to the final race. The Kennedy Cup was decided by one point. The Yale Women’s Regatta and the race for second at the Victorian Urn both went to tiebreakers, and the top four at the Women’s Atlantic Coast Championship Final finished 15 points apart.
It was also a season of firsts. Harvard won its first Women’s Atlantic Coast Championship. NC State reached its first national championship podium. Navy won its first Kennedy Cup since 2012. With the Match Race National Championship still to come this weekend, here is how the fall unfolded, who stood out, and what to watch when the spring season builds toward national championships in Annapolis.
The Fall’s Biggest College Sailing Titles
Yale won the Open Atlantic Coast Championship at Brown on October 24-25 in the closest possible way. The Bulldogs led Brown by one point going into the last B Division race, and Dorothy Mendelblatt and Genevieve Schmidt finished second in it to give Yale the title on 107 points, ahead of Boston College on 113 and Brown on 116. Rhode Island won the companion Open Atlantic Coast Tournament Finals by 21 points.
A week earlier, Harvard won the Women’s Atlantic Coast Championship Final at St. Mary’s with 139 points, edging Stanford by seven and Yale by eight for the program’s first Women’s ACC title. Boston College won the Women’s Atlantic Coast Tournament at Navy. The qualifying rounds set the tone, too: Stanford won Round 1A of the Open ACC by 50 points, and Georgetown won Round 1B.
In big boats, Navy won the fall’s major events. The Midshipmen won the McMillan Cup in the Navy 44s for a third straight year, then took the Kennedy Cup, the keelboat national championship, on their home waters by one point over Maine Maritime. Senior skipper Aden Newman’s crew ended a 14-year wait for the trophy.
The fall’s national titles finished at the singlehanded championships, hosted by Fordham at American Yacht Club in Rye, New York, on November 7-8. Tulane’s Hamilton Barclay won the Glen S. Foster Trophy with 58 points, ahead of College of Charleston’s Thomas Kraak on 85 and Boston College’s Jake Homberger on 88. Harvard’s Kate Danielson won the Janet Lutz Trophy with 42 points, 16 ahead of Tulane’s Ava Anderson, finishing first among 18 women and giving Harvard its fifth women’s singlehanded national title.
| Fall 2026 championship | Host | Date | Winner | Second |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Open Atlantic Coast Championship | Brown | Oct 24-25 | Yale University | Boston College |
| Women’s Atlantic Coast Championship Final | St. Mary’s | Oct 17-18 | Harvard University | Stanford University |
| Open Atlantic Coast Tournament Finals | Connecticut College | Oct 24-25 | University of Rhode Island | Eckerd College |
| Women’s Atlantic Coast Tournament | Navy | Oct 17-18 | Boston College | Old Dominion University |
| Kennedy Cup (keelboat nationals) | Navy | Oct 30-Nov 1 | U. S. Naval Academy | Maine Maritime Academy |
| McMillan Cup | Navy | Oct 17-18 | U. S. Naval Academy (Navy 1) | U. S. Naval Academy (Navy 2) |
| Glen S. Foster Trophy (open singlehanded nationals) | Fordham (American YC, Rye, N.Y.) | Nov 7-8 | Hamilton Barclay, Tulane | Thomas Kraak, College of Charleston |
| Janet Lutz Trophy (women’s singlehanded nationals) | Fordham (American YC, Rye, N.Y.) | Nov 7-8 | Kate Danielson, Harvard | Ava Anderson, Tulane |
| Schell Trophy (NEISA open) | Vermont | Oct 31-Nov 1 | Yale University | Brown University |
| Victorian Urn Trophy (NEISA women’s) | Dartmouth | Oct 31-Nov 1 | Harvard University | Tufts University |
| War Memorial (MAISA open) | Navy | Oct 31-Nov 1 | Georgetown University | U. S. Naval Academy |
Results from ICSA Techscore and school reports.
The Programs That Shaped the Fall
Yale finished the fall strongest. Alongside the Open ACC, the Bulldogs won the Schell Trophy, the NEISA open fall championship, holding off a Brown team that went into the final race with a chance. Yale also won the Hatch Brown Trophy, the Coast Guard Invite and its home Yale Women’s Regatta, the last on a tiebreaker over Stanford after both teams finished on 118 points.
Stanford’s fall was defined by range. The Cardinal won East Coast regattas at the Captain Hurst Bowl at Dartmouth, the Nevins Trophy at Kings Point and the Nickerson Trophy at Tufts, as well as the PCCSC Women’s Fall Championship and the Top-9 Fall Invite at home and the PCCSC match race title, where they went 8-0. Stanford’s women were also second at the Women’s ACC Final, seven points from the title.
Brown, the defending open fleet race national champion, was a constant presence at the front. The Bears won the NEISA Match Race Championship, the Danmark Trophy and the Savin Hill Invite among others, finished third at the Open ACC and second at the Schell, and Brown’s women won the Stu Nelson Trophy at Connecticut College.
Harvard’s women produced the fall’s breakthrough. After the Women’s ACC, they won the Victorian Urn, the NEISA women’s fall championship, with both divisions winning. Georgetown led the Mid-Atlantic, winning Round 1B of the Open ACC, the Intrepid Trophy for the MAISA match race title, and the War Memorial, the MAISA open fall championship. Boston College was among the most consistent teams anywhere, winning the Hewitt Trophy and the Women’s Atlantic Coast Tournament and finishing second at the Open ACC.
Standout Sailors
Kate Danielson had the fall of any sailor in the women’s game. The Harvard junior won B Division at the Women’s ACC Final, won B Division again at the Victorian Urn, and then won the Janet Lutz Trophy. A year earlier she was ninth at the same championship.
Dorothy Mendelblatt and Genevieve Schmidt of Yale played a central role in two of the fall’s biggest regattas. They won A Division at the Women’s ACC Final by 19 points, and a week later, sailing B Division, they delivered the second place in the final race that won Yale the Open ACC.
Hamilton Barclay turned last fall’s second place at the singlehanded nationals into a title, winning the Foster Trophy by 27 points. Brown’s James Pine had one of the strongest first-year seasons in the country: he won the NEISA Open Singlehanded Championship, skippered Brown’s winning crew at the NEISA Match Race Championship and finished fourth at the Foster Trophy.
Navy’s Aden Newman led the Midshipmen to both big-boat titles, and Stanford’s Reade Decker won A Division at Round 1A of the Open ACC. In the Midwest, Purdue’s Christopher Draper and Hope’s Caroline Henry won the MCSA singlehanded championships to earn their places at nationals.
Themes of the Season
The first theme is how little separated the top teams. Beyond the Open ACC and the Kennedy Cup, Yale and Navy tied on 130 at Round 1B of the Open ACC, Tufts and Roger Williams tied for second at the Victorian Urn, and NC State and Coast Guard tied on 37 at the Kennedy Cup. When results are this tight, a single race can change the national picture.
The second is reach. Stanford won three times on the East Coast this fall, and the Women’s ACC Final, hosted by St. Mary’s in Maryland, finished with Harvard, Stanford, Yale and Tulane in the top four, representing three conferences. The national picture extended well beyond traditional regional boundaries.
The third is new names on old trophies. Harvard’s first Women’s ACC, NC State’s first national championship podium, Navy’s first Kennedy Cup since 2012, and Tufts’ second place at the Victorian Urn, its best finish there since 2000, all point to a sport where the established order can move.
Finally, the weather had its say. Racing at the Hurst Bowl ended after Saturday’s snow and breeze, the Kennedy Cup’s final day produced a single race before the wind shut off, and light air limited several regattas. Consistency on the days when racing was possible decided a lot of the fall.
Still to Come This Fall
The Match Race National Championship is sailed at Balboa Yacht Club in Newport Beach, California, on November 14-15. Brown’s crew of James Pine, Camren Spriggs, Charlie Gish and Reese Corckran qualified by winning the NEISA title, and Yale and Boston College are also competing. Harvard won the event last fall. The Fall Pacific Coast Championship at UC Santa Barbara is the same weekend.
Looking Ahead to Spring 2027
The spring college sailing season builds toward national championships in Annapolis, with the U.S. Naval Academy hosting all four events on the Severn River. The Open Team Race Nationals are scheduled for April 29 to May 1 and the Women’s Team Race Nationals for May 1-3. The Women’s Fleet Race Nationals follow on May 18-21, and the Open Fleet Race Nationals, the sport’s oldest national championship, close the season on June 1-4.
There are defending champions to watch. Brown won the Open Fleet Race National Championship last spring, its first win at the event since 1948. Harvard won the Open Team Race title and the Leonard M. Fowle Trophy as the best all-around college sailing team of the 2025-26 season, and Stanford won the Women’s Team Race National Championship. On this fall’s evidence, all three will have plenty of company.
Yale arrives with momentum after its Open ACC and Schell titles. Stanford’s results on both coasts suggest depth in both its open and women’s teams. Harvard’s women will carry a Women’s ACC title and a singlehanded national champion into the spring. And Navy, champion of both fall big-boat events, will host every national championship on its own waters.
Most of all, if the fall is any guide, the spring will be close. The difference between first and fourth at this fall’s biggest regattas was often a race or two, and in a few cases a tiebreaker. That is good news for anyone watching college sailing in 2027.
