The Hobart and William Smith sailing team will be back on the water this week, April 23-25, when it heads to New Orleans for the 2026 Open Team Race National Championship. HWS enters the national championship ranked 13th in the Sail1Design College Sailing Team Race Rankings.
 
Boston College, Brown, College of Charleston, Dartmouth, Georgetown, Harvard, Northwestern, Roger Williams, St. Mary's College (Md.), Stanford, Tufts, Tulane, Pennsylvania, Coast Guard and Navy will also compete for the Walter C. Wood Trophy in Louisiana this weekend. The Crimson are the defending national champions and are ranked first in the nation.
 
In the team race format, each team has three boats and sails head-to-head against one other team, so each race is either a win or a loss. After a full round robin stage where each team faces off with the other 15 teams, the teams will be split for a second round robin. Once the top-eight round robin is complete, the top four teams will partake in a final four round robin, which will determine the podium places.
 
HWS earned a spot at this year's regatta with an at-large bid. The championship field consists of five automatic bids and 11 at-large selections. HWS finished third at the Middle-Atlantic Intercollegiate Sailing Association Team Race Championships, posting a 7-7 record. Senior Juan Carlos LaCerda Jones, junior JJ Klempen and sophomore James Kopack competed as skippers. Seniors Elijah Goldman, Cooper Delbridge, Laura Therien, junior Stella Kim and first-year Jamie McGuffee sailed as crew.
 
HWS is making its 14th appearance at the team race national championships since 1999. In their previous 13 appearances, HWS has been in the top 10 all but once. It won the Wood Trophy in 2005.