CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – Harvard Sailing is slated to compete this week at the ICSA Team Racing National Championship in New Orleans, Louisiana. The open regatta is scheduled for April 23-25, with the women's championship set to follow April 26-27. Both events will take place on Lake Pontchartrain.
Forecast
ICSA Open Team Racing National Championship | New Orleans, La.
Thursday is expected to be partly cloudy, with temperatures in the upper 70s and winds out of the southeast between 10-11 knots. Friday will also be partly cloudy, with an early afternoon chance of scattered thunderstorms and temps in the upper 70s. The wind on Friday will be similar to Thursday. Saturday, meanwhile, will be ominous, with thunderstorms expected all day and temps in the low 80s. The wind will be between 6-8 knots and originate out of the south-southwest.
ICSA Women's Team Racing National Championship | New Orleans, La.
Sunday will greet sailors with partly cloudy skies and temperatures in the low 80s, with the wind coming out of the south-southeast (5-9 knots). Monday will be a touch warmer, with the sun peeking through the clouds for most of the day. The wind will be blowing between 10-12 knots out of the south-southeast and south.
What to Know
- Harvard enters this week's action as the defending open champions. The Crimson has won two of the last three national championships, emerging victorious in 2023 and 2025. Harvard finished in second place in 2024, falling a half-victory shy of entering the 2026 regatta as the three-time defending champs.
- The Crimson women will look to improve upon its two best finishes in program history as it came in fifth place in 2024, before registering a third-place performance 12 months ago.
- Harvard is in search of its fifth open national championship in program history (2002, 2003, 2023, 2025) and its first women's title.
- The Crimson makes its way to team race nationals after its coed team was an automatic qualifier, following its NEISA Open Team Racing Championship triumph on April 5 in Cranston, Rhode Island. The Harvard women's team, meanwhile, was an at-large selection after it finished in fourth place at the NEISA event on April 12 in Medford.
- Harvard has been dominant on the coed side, winning six team races during seven spring weekends, with the one outlier being a runner-up effort in which it tied for the best record (Thompson Trophy). The Crimson won the NEISA Open Fleet Racing Championship last weekend, giving it seven victories in eight weeks.
- The Crimson women enter this week's action as a national championship contender after they won two team races and posted six top-5 performances this spring. Harvard finished among the top-6 at each of its seven team-race regattas. This past weekend, the Crimson came in third place at the NEISA Women's Fleet Racing Championship.
- Other NEISA Fleet Racing Championship notes: Harvard won its fourth straight open championship… The Crimson earned NEISA's automatic bid to the ICSA Open Fleet Racing National Championship in May… Harvard posted its second straight third-place performance at the women's regatta… The Crimson women have finished in the top-5 four consecutive years.
- On the open side, Harvard returned this season all three of its skippers (Justin Callahan, Mitchell Callahan, Robby Meek) and two of four crew members (Aidan Pesce and Rosella Irfan) from the 2025 national championship squad. The women, meanwhile, returned two of three skippers (Kate Danielson, Zoey Ziskind) and two of five crew (Amelie Zucker, Peyton Hadfield).
- In addition to its performance last weekend at the NEISA Fleet Racing Championships, Harvard participated at a pair of one-day regattas on the Charles River. At the MIT-hosted Boston Dinghy Cup Fleet Race, the Crimson came in 11th place. Twenty-four hours later at the Boston University-hosted Morris Trophy Fleet Race, Harvard finished in 10th in what was a weather-shortened event.
Up Next
Harvard will compete at the ICSA Open Fleet Racing Semifinals in Tampa, Florida, May 19-20. The Crimson women, meanwhile, will wait to see if they receive an at-large invitation to the ICSA Women's Fleet Racing Semifinals (May 15-16), which are also slated for Tampa. That announcement has typically come following the completion of team race nationals.
