Brown and BU leading the Sperry Women's College Nationals

THE FIRST DAY of the 2017 College Nationals is in the books with the Brown University Bears leading the Western semifinal of 18 teams, while the Boston University Terriers have grabbed the top spot in the Eastern semifinal for the Inter-Collegiate Sailing Association's (ICSA) Sperry Women's National Championship being hosted by the College of Charleston in South Carolina.

Jon Rogers, our San Diego friend and esteemed head coach for the Coronado YC junior sailing program, will be commentating for the ICSA's live-stream TV that commences Friday and which we will carry here on SAILING ILLUSTRATED.

I spoke by phone with Jon after today's racing concluded. He said, "It was extremely challenging. We had wind from all directions, and major changes in strength. Not to mention some very heavy rain. Our TV coverage goes live this Friday, May 26th for the final day of the Women's Nats, and continues on May 27-29 for the Laser/Performance Team Racing Nationals, and May 30 - June 2 for the Gill Coed Nationals."

The Coed Nationals, a.k.a. the Dinghy Champs, is fleet racing and historically is the pinnacle collegiate national championship.

The Sperry Women's Nats continue tomorrow in the two semifinal groups. At the end of racing tomorrow the top nine teams from each group of 18 teams advance to the Women's Finals for two more days of racing on Thursday and Friday. A fleet of FJs is being used for one semifinal, Z-420s (Jon calls them turbo'd Club 420s) for the other.

Follow all the ICSA action via their social stream here. You'll even find the press releases that the cut-and-paste websites use.

Full results: Eastern Semifinal, Western Semifinal.

Below, the burgees of the leaders: the Boston University Terriers (left) and the Brown University Bears (right).