Paloma Vigil, Contributing Photographer

Four of Yale’s coed sailing team members snatched first place at the ICSA Match Race National Championship for the second year in a row and the second time in program history.

Jack Egan ’25, Megan Grimes ’24, Christophe Chaumont ’23 and Nicholas Davies ’24 competed together for the second year in a row at the match race championship at the San Diego Yacht Club this past Sunday. Under leadership from coaches Thomas Barrows and Hall of Famer Dave Perry, the team coordinated in unison to beat out the University of Charleston and Brown University and win the match. 

“It felt really special to win this event with this team, especially for the second year in a row,”  said Chaumont, who will leave the team of four when he graduates. “Couldn’t have asked for a better way to end my senior fall season.”

The team’s skipper Egan, was the overall brains of the operation as the one making a lot of the stressful decisions as commander of the vessel. He mentioned that there were a couple of times he put the team in a bad situation, but the group’s teamwork was able to “bail them out of it.”

“Being able to defend the title is a special feeling,” Egan told the News. “The field this year was certainly tough, but we were able to overcome it.” 

The team opened the three-day race weekend with a win against Tulane and then Georgetown in the semifinals. Then, in the final round, the team swept the waves and defeated Charleston 3–0.

Although not the match race coach, head sailing coach Leonard commented that, since the team has worked together for two years now, they have “really gelled into a cohesive unit.” He said the great result was a way to repay the sailors’ hard work. 

Grimes, one of the three crew members, said that the win meant a lot to the group of four because this was Chaumont’s last year of racing. It was the last time the four would be able to compete together, making the two-year win even more meaningful. 

Chaumont said that although they didn’t have much practice in the boats they raced in as they did for nationals last year, the team “did a good job of taking each race as a learning opportunity and improving as the event went along.”

Grimes also attributed most of the success to Egan’s “composure under pressure” as a skipper. 

According to Davies, the three days had champagne conditions, a light wind condition typical of San Diego. This allowed for more stands and less time pressure than the regattas in the past. 

“We proved ourselves to be resilient in close matches in the knockout stages and adaptable to the J22s, boats in which we had only been able to practice for a day prior to the regatta,” said Davies. 

The sailing season will resume in 2023.