What’s the sound of one hand sailing?

Freshman laser sailor extraordinaire Charlie Buckingham winning.

Buckingham won the MAISA single-handed championship this weekend at the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md. Buckingham also won the Navy Laser Open earlier in the year to qualify for this championship race. The top four finishers at the MAISA finals move on to the laser national championship in Seattle Nov. 2 and 3.

“He’s one of the top single-handed racers in the conference,” Head Coach Mike Callahan said of Buckingham. “He had very few double-digit finishes.”

According to freshman Evan Aras, Buckingham maintained consistent position in most of his races and minimized losses in the rough conditions instead of making a push to win.

Unlike most of the Georgetown sailors, Buckingham grew up sailing lasers and he and Aras give the Hoyas depth in the single-handed division, something that has been lacking since Andrew Campbell (SFS ’06) graduated. Last year, the majority of Georgetown’s laser races were run by dinghy sailors who converted to laser sailing as needed.

Aras finished eighth but failed to qualify.

“It was really tough sailing,” Aras said. “No one walked away with the regatta.”

Inconsistency and two bottom-two finishes made Aras’ attempt at qualifying difficult.

“Since I was so far behind I was riskier later in the regatta,” Aras said. “A whole bunch of times I found myself doing things I knew weren’t right. I would stick with one side of the course because it worked before, but I was in denial that I needed to change course because I was so far back it was all or nothing for me.”

Aras never had a chance to complete his climb to the qualifying places because the regatta was cut short. The wind died on Sunday, cutting the regatta four races short of the standard 18.

“If they had run the last four races, Evan probably would have qualified, but that’s the way it goes,” Callahan said.

Aras was near the front of the pack in the final race of the day before the race was cancelled.

While the men’s side has the consistency of Buckingham and Aras to lead the laser racers, the women’s side hasn’t been as fortunate.

Senior Blaire Herron and sophomore Amanda Hassler competed at the women’s MAISA championship but neither came close to qualifying. Hassler has sailed lasers before but Herron had never raced single-handedly.

“I’m disappointed I didn’t qualify, but I only practiced single handed like three days this season,” Herron said.

Herron has attempted to qualify for the single-handed national championships each of her four years at Georgetown, but never succeeded.

“It’s good to expand your sailing beyond double handed,” Herron said. “It’s a different kind of sailing. With double handed you can be focusing on other boats and the crew can be doing something else but single handed, you need to focus on everything.”

Georgetown also raced in two double-handed regattas, winning the Tom Curtis regatta in the District. Only six races were run at the Curtis as winds on the Potomac were inconsistent, light and then non-existent.

At the larger, more competitive Danmark Trophy in New London, Conn., Georgetown finished eighth in a field of 20 national teams. Senior Chris Behm and junior Carly Chamberlain finished ninth in the A division. Senior Zack Kavanaugh and junior Caila Johnson took seventh in the B division.

For Callahan, the refrain has become familiar. “Nationals and June are still a long way away. We’ll be where we need to be then,” he said.

Next weekend, Georgetown will compete in three regattas, the Hap oore Trophy in New London, Conn., the women’s intersectional in Annapolis, Md., and an offshore regatta in Larchmont, N.Y.