THE CARDINAL CHEMISTRY

College sailing celebrated a historic moment with a national championship victory of a supremely talented squad-which just so happens to be exclusively female.

- ASHLEY DART

AS the high-noon sun blazes the waters of the Long Island Sound, there's no wind or even a ripple in sight. Dozens of college sailing teams shelter in tents erected on the US Merchant Marine Academy pier. It's the fourth and final day of the 2023 ICSA Open Dinghy National Championship as racers, PROS and spectators alike wait patiently for the breeze to fill. With a 5 o'clock cutoff time, the postponement flag hangs limp. A palpable tension and anticipation are building. Something incredible is about to happen. 

A gentle sea breeze finally emerges a few hours later, and the race committee scurries into action to run three races in each division. The winning sailors find a rhythm with the wind and the current, in tune with what is above and below them. As the sun sinks closer to the horizon, racing is called to a halt, and the news spreads from boat to boat: The women of Stanford Sailing have won the Open Dinghy National Championship.

Hand in hand, the Stanford team leaps into the water as the monumental splash echoes the historical moment, for never before has an all-women squad won the most coveted college sailing title. The Open Dinghy National Championship featured female pairs as low-point winners in both the A and B divisions. Stanford senior Michelle Lahrkamp and junior Ellie Harned have earned the low-point score in the A division, while Yale's Carmen Cowles and Anisha Arcot claimed the B division honors. The championship saw eight women skippers out of 44. In another historic first, Stanford fielded six women sailors for the Open Team Race Championship, and of the 25 skippers at the Open Team Race, four were women.