KINGS POINT, N.Y.—The Hobart and William Smith sailing team opened the 2025-26 season this past weekend with three regattas hosted by the Merchant Marine Academy. Senior Nico Garcia-Castrillon highlighted the weekend for HWS, finishing second at the Laser North. In total, the team had three sailors qualify for the Carl Van Duyne MAISA Singlehanded Championships.
 
HWS also finished seventh at the KP Open Dinghy Regatta and William Smith sailors were fifth at the KP Fall Women's Regatta.
 
WEATHER

• Saturday's racing got started in a light southerly that built throughout the day to the point of white capping and gusts deep into the teams. Racing was completed by 2:30 due to incoming thunderstorms.
• Teams arrived to virtually no wind on Sunday. The weather did not change and the racing committee called it a day at 11:30.

 
LASER NORTH

• The Laser North is a single-handed regatta that serves as a qualifier for the Carl Van Duyne Middle Atlantic Intercollegiate Sailing Association Men's Singlehanded Championship.
• Due to the weather conditions, only eight races were contested on Saturday.
• HWS was led by Garcia-Castrillon. He finished second overall with 17 points. Garcia-Castrillon finished in the top three in every race, including wins in the first two races.
• Sophomore Jack Carter was fifth with 50 points. He was second behind his teammate in the second race and had four top-five finishes.
• Junior TJ Allison secured the seventh and final qualifying spot, placing seventh with 55 points.
• Sophomore Dante Garcia finished in a tie for eighth with 59 points. He just missed a qualifying spot by four points.
• First-year Seamus Carolan rounded out the field. He compiled 93 points in his collegiate debut.

 
KP WOMEN'S REGATTA

• William Smith sailors made their season debut with a fifth-place finish in Kings Point.
• With only eight teams, the regatta was contested in one combined division with A and B Division Sailors competing together.
• Sophomores Sabrina Starck and Olivia Wilkins represented the Herons in B Division. They were sixth with 57 points. Starck and Wilkins were in the top 10 in all but one race.
• Sophomore Deana Fedulova and junior Reilly Roedel competed in A Division. They won the first race and were also in the top 10 in all but one race.

 
KP OPEN INVITE

• Like the women's regatta, the open Invite was contested in one combined division with A and B Divisions sailing together.
• HWS finished seventh with 163 points.
• Senior Juan Carols Lacerda Jones, junior Bennett O'Keefe and sophomore Sam Carson sailed in A Division. They were seventh with 63 points. O'Keefe sailed in races 1-4 and Carson competed in races 5-8.
• Sophomore James Kopack, senior Cooper Delbridge and junior Stella Kim sailed in B Division. They were 14th with 100 points.

 
UP NEXT
HWS will be back on the water next weekend, Sept. 14-15, for three regattas. William Smith will be in Annapolis, Maryland, for the Faye Bennet MAISA Women's Singlehanded Championship. HWS will also head to Ithaca for the Susan Rogers and the MAISA Top Nine Open.