20th century
Harvard and Yale held a sailing event in 1911, [3] [4] but this was a long-distance 'cruise' rather than a fleet or team race, and only one Yale yacht attended the event. Organized intercollegiate fleet racing began in 1928 between just a few schools in Eight-Metres for the Oliver Hay Trophy, now known as the McMillan Cup. [5] [6] [7]
The Inter-Collegiate Sailing Association (ICSA) [8] was formed June 16, 1930, as the Inter-Collegiate Yacht Racing Association (ICYRA).
The first inter-collegiate dinghy fleet event, the Boston Dinghy Club Challenge Cup, took place with 34 entrants in 1930 in parallel with the founding of the ICYRA. There was also a major sailing event between Princeton and Dartmouth in 1934, but details of its format are not recorded. [5]
The initial emphasis of the ICYRA was very much on fleet racing, rather than team racing, but during the 1930s, team racing between individual colleges started to emerge, with 2 to 4 colleges meeting up, each fielding 2 to 5 boats. Collegiate dinghy sailing blossomed in 1934–36 with initiatives taken by Princeton with its 'Tiger' dinghies (1934), [5] MIT (the famous Pavilion was founded and built in 1935 at the instigation of Walter C. "Jack" Wood), [9] and Brown (1936). [2] The first ICSA dinghy fleet regatta took place in the spring of 1937 at the MIT Pavilion and was won by MIT, [10] with Brown, Cornell, Harvard, Princeton, Williams, and Yale also competing. [11]
In the fall of 1937, 19 colleges took part in another ICYRA dinghy regatta at the MIT Pavilion. [12] The Morss Trophy was also first awarded in 1937, being won by MIT [13] [14]
Following World War II, collegiate sailing spread across the U.S. and parts of Canada, with ICYRA membership rapidly growing to modern numbers. George O’Day (Harvard), Harry Anderson (Yale) and Bill Cox Sr. (Princeton) helped develop the ICYRA team race rules in the 1940s, and these were the forerunners of the NAYRU (now US Sailing) and International Yacht Racing Union (later International Sailing Federation) team race rules.
A regional team racing championship, four-a-side format, first took place in 1950 in the New England District for the Leonard M. Fowle Trophy, a separate trophy from the new Fowle Trophy that is awarded to the best overall collegiate team. [15] National team racing for the Walter Cromwell Wood Bowl, four-a-side format, commenced in 1970 between teams formed with sailors within a particular ICSA district or 'conference', and, since 1977, individuals from one college. The University of Rhode Island was the first winner of the current team racing championship in 1977. [16]
