With yet another national championship to its name, the Georgetown sailing team is the most decorated Georgetown athletics program in history and currently the No. 1 team in the country. Standout sophomore Greg Martinez finished first out of the top 18-singlehanded sailors in the nation to capture the national title.
The Intercollegiate Sailing Association/LaserPerformance Singlehanded National Championship was hosted by Brown and Salve Regina in Newport, R.I. The event began on Friday morning and wrapped up on Sunday afternoon with Martinez coming out on top.
Martinez’s victory notched Georgetown’s ninth national championship. The last person to win for the Hoyas was Charlie Buckingham, who captured the championship in 2011. This year’s competition faced tough conditions, with the temperature hovering around 40 degrees. Additionally, the wind was in full force, with speeds up to 20 knots (23 mph) on Friday.
“The sailors who weren’t in as good shape or were maybe a little bit smaller were really impacted by the winds,” Head Coach Michael Callahan said. “[Martinez] knew these were his favorite conditions to sail in and had that mentality going in. I think if you’re confident going in and stick with that mentality, you’re going to do well.”
In addition to challenging weather conditions, Martinez also sailed against the most talented and decorated sailors in the country. Harvard’s Juan Perdomo, the reigning ISAF Youth World Champion, came out strong and kept up with Martinez’s consistency until the very end. Perdomo ultimately came in second place, trailing Martinez by 10 points. Another formidable opponent was College of Charleston’s Enrique Arathoon, who is the El Salvadoran Olympic hopeful Laser Sailor. Arathoon was ultimately disqualified from the race after he fouled twice and failed to complete his penalty. The last big name of the race was Yale’s Mitchell Kiss, a four-time National Chamion Laser Sailor, who fell behind Martinez and Perdomo earlier in the race.
Martinez, a member of the 2013 US Sailing Developmental Team, capitalized on the strong winds, unlike his competitors, who were set back by them.
“On the last day of the regatta, with the Harvard sailor, we were wondering if he needed to work a little harder at the start or continue being somewhat conservative. There were times he could have second guessed himself, but he never did,” Callahan said.
Though Martinez prevailed, the rest of the team did not have the same success. On Saturday, members of the team took part in the HAP Moore Team Race on the Thames River in Connecticut. The Hoyas finished 10th out of 12 teams. Georgetown gave some of the younger sailors on the team the opportunity to compete in this race. Freshmen Jack Gerli and Massino Mazzolini, and sophomore Sean Golden all competed for the Hoyas. The crews included freshmen Isabelle Teare and Emily Fung, and sophomore Elizabeth Mullarney.
“All of the other schools had their top teams there, but we did not send all of our top sailors. Our goal was to gain more experience,” Callahan said. “We like to give our top sailors weekends off and obviously some sailors were involved in different events. We did better than I thought overall, so I was happy with the outcome.”
The Blue and Gray look to continue their success in the coming competitions. This weekend, Georgetown will participate in the Coed Atlantic Coast Championship in Charleston, S.C., as well as the Women’s Atlantic Coast Championship in Ithaca, N.Y.