This is the Rams’ first appearance at the NEISA Women’s Team Racing Championship and a major step for the program as it continues its success within a traditionally varsity-dominated landscape

Kingston, R.I. – April 2, 2026 – The University of Rhode Island club sailing team’s investment in women’s team competition is starting to pay dividends.

For the first time in program history, the Rams have qualified for the New England Inter-Collegiate Sailing Association (NEISA) Women’s Team Racing Championship, scheduled for April 11 to 12 at Tufts University. This regatta is the NEISA’s annual team conference championship with the winner earning an automatic berth to the Inter-Collegiate Sailing Association of North America (ICSA) Women’s Team Racing National Championship at the end of the month. Strong performers at the conference championship also have an opportunity to qualify.

URI is the only club team competing amongst nine varsity programs, including host Tufts, Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Bowdoin College, the U.S. Coast Guard Academy, and last year’s conference champion Yale University.

This year’s trip to the conference championship represents a historic first for URI sailing, which had not competed in women’s team racing since 2023 when head coach Joakim Karlsen served as interim coach. Team racing at the collegiate level consists of three boats with six sailors total – three skippers and three crew members – competing against their opponent to earn the lowest combined score of the finishing positions.

URI qualified for the NEISA this year by finishing second behind the Coast Guard Academy at the Callahan Trophy cross regional regatta in March. That race featured four schools competing in three round robins; URI finished 6-3 in its three rounds, just one win behind Coast Guard and three ahead of third-place finisher Northeastern University.

“All the credit goes to our sailors,” Karlsen said. “They’ve been working hard all year building the skills they need and sailing at a high level. We’re excited to compete in the conference championships.”

URI’s first attempt at women’s team sailing under Karlsen “did not go well,” according to the Rams’ third-year coach, so the women stuck to fleet and singlehanded racing in 2024–25 – singlehanded racing is strictly solo competition with one sailor per boat – until Karlsen was confident the Rams had enough qualified skippers to complement their deep roster of crews to compete successfully as a team.

The skipper trio of junior Ariana Schwartz, senior Kytalin Hendrickson, and junior Emaline Ouellette led Rhode Island in team competition this year, but Karlsen noted it took a total team effort to qualify for the conference championships, including sophomore crews Savannah Miner and Erin Little and freshman Harper Kelly, among others. Karslen also credits assistant coach Kate Bjerregaard, a former four-year varsity sailor at St. Mary’s College, with using her experience to guide Rhode Island’s underclassmen.

“Team racing has an incredible amount of complex layers beyond just boat speed, technique, and boat handling,” Karlsen said, “and those need to be in place to be able to execute. Our sailors really put in the work this year. We’re seeing combinations of [skippers] and crews that we hadn’t tested out before. They’ve all been instrumental to our success. Those combinations are looking strong and now we’re in the conference championships among the top 10 teams in the conference. As the only club team in this group, I’m incredibly proud of what we’ve accomplished.”

Qualifying for nationals would be a perfect ending to the 2025–26 season, but Karlsen has warned his sailors against being “result oriented” this year, especially with a relatively young roster that figures to return in 2026–27.

“We’re very process oriented,” Karlsen said. “We’re not sure what will happen at the conference championships, but the goal is to focus on what needs to be done and execute at a high level. We don’t want to just count our wins and losses. Let’s just focus on the race ahead and be performance focused.

“What I’ve tried to hammer home this season is that the only thing that matters is the race in front of us. We’re not thinking weeks ahead or two races ahead. We’re just focused on what we can do right now and make sure we execute our best race possible.”

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Michael Parente, director of communications and marketing in the URI Division of Student Affairs, wrote this news release.