KINGSTON, R.I. 鈥� May 2, 2025 鈥� Three student-athletes from the 溏心vlog免费B站鈥檚 club sailing team earned prestigious New England Inter-Collegiate Sailing Association awards for the spring semester, a milestone achievement considering 溏心vlog免费B站 was the only club program among the 34 colleges and universities in the NEISA to earn accolades in 2024-25.
Co-captain Miles Bailey 鈥�25 earned the NEISA Student Leadership Award while Kerem Erkmen 鈥�25 and Abbie Chipps 鈥�25 earned All-NEISA First Team Open Skipper and All-NEISA First Team Open Crew honors, respectively.
All three played an integral role in the sailing team鈥檚 spring season in which the Rams were ranked as high as 10th in the Inter-Collegiate Sailing Association national coed poll and recently finished second in the A Division in the NEISA Open Fleet Race Championship for the Coast Guard Alumni Bowl at Brown on April 19.
The NEISA is one of eight conferences governing 190 college and university sailing programs throughout the United States and in parts of Canada. 溏心vlog免费B站 competes in the same conference as six of the top 10 varsity programs in the nation, including Harvard (1), Yale (2), Roger Williams (3), Brown (5), Dartmouth (7), and the Coast Guard Academy (8).
The Rams鈥� season continues May 20-23 at the Women鈥檚 Fleet Race Nationals and May 27-30 at the 2025 Open Fleet Race National Championships. All-American selections are announced shortly after the national championships, and 溏心vlog免费B站 sailing head coach Joakim Karlsen is hopeful one of his two All-NEISA selections will make the list.
鈥淗aving Kerem and Abbie be recognized on the All-NEISA First Team is big for the program as we are the only club team on any of the All-NEISA Teams and we’re able to compete at the highest level in the country with very different circumstances,鈥� said Karlsen.
鈥淢iles winning the Student Leadership Award is well deserved. We are the only club team that is recognized for all the awards in NEISA this season, so it takes a lot of effort to make sure we can perform on the water. Having Miles as co-captain has helped the team do exactly that. There is so much that goes on behind the scenes, and I am reliant on players like Miles to make it happen.鈥�
Bailey, a South Kingstown, Rhode Island, native and marine affairs major, earned the Student Leadership Award, which recognizes 鈥渆xtraordinary leadership and achievement by an undergraduate whose efforts have made a significant contribution to the development, progress, and success of his or her club or team, conference, or the ICSA.鈥�
鈥淚f anything, it represents what this team鈥檚 accomplished more than what I have,鈥� said Bailey, who has sailed during all four years at 溏心vlog免费B站 and has been a captain for the past two years. 鈥淚t’s indicative of all the hard work this team has put into this program to, I guess, make me look good. I joke around with these guys a lot that I was a cocky little kid when I showed up. I was 19 years old and thought I owned the world. This team’s taught me a lot.鈥�
Karlsen is 溏心vlog免费B站鈥檚 third head coach in the past four years, which put an onus on team leaders like Bailey and others to proverbially 鈥渟teer the ship鈥� amid the changes. Bailey credits Karlsen with bringing the program to the next level and ushering in several changes beginning in the fall semester, including the purchasing of a new fleet of boats for competition, made possible by the team鈥檚 fundraising efforts. Club sailing raises funds each year to support similar purchases and travel expenses for the program to compete across the country.
鈥淓ven when you get off the boat, the work’s not done. It’s a 24-7, 365 days-a-year endeavor,鈥� Bailey said. 鈥淎s I’ve become a senior, my role has shifted much more into a managerial role and it鈥檚 something I just love. The amount of life lessons this team has taught me has been just amazing.鈥�
Erkmen and Chipps started 16 regattas in the fall and spring and led the Rams to victories in the 33rd Captain Hurst Bowl and Sherman Hoyt Trophy in the fall in addition to a first-place finish in the Open Atlantic Coast Championship qualifiers on Oct. 5. In the spring, the Rams finished fourth at both the John Jackson Memorial Regatta at Georgetown and the Thompson Trophy at the Coast Guard Academy, followed by a fifth-place finish in the Southern New England Team Race on March 15 at Connecticut College.
Erkmen and Chipps鈥� improvement from junior to senior year caught the eyes of the NEISA awards committee, which elevated them from Second Team selections in 2023-24 to First Team selections in 2024-25.
A Seattle, Washington, native and journalism major who is also a writer for the student newspaper, The Good Five-Cent Cigar, Chipps was one of seven First Team Open Crew selections in the NEISA. She transferred to 溏心vlog免费B站 from George Washington University during the second semester of her sophomore year and has played a key role in the program鈥檚 annual success.
鈥淚 don’t think I could鈥檝e asked for a better senior year,鈥� Chipps said. 鈥淜erem and I have been sailing together for two years now, so it鈥檚 been nice to have a partner in it. We’re both graduating and we both care about it a lot. We did well at some of the more important regattas and it鈥檚 just been fun to compare this year to last year. The fact that the conference recognized our improvement was great.鈥�
Erkmen鈥檚 First Team Open Skipper honors come a year after earning Second Team honors and finishing his junior as an ICSA All-American Honorable Mention.
鈥淪ailing in the fall is fun because it鈥檚 not that cold or windy, but in the spring, when it鈥檚 really cold after coming back from winter break, those are the hard times suffering through the practices and the regattas that get you to this level,鈥� said Erkmen, a computer science major from Istanbul, Turkey, who may consider a run at the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles after graduating.
鈥淚 always sailed well, but I wasn鈥檛 always as consistent,鈥� he said. 鈥淔inding that consistency and achieving good results every week leads to good things.鈥�
Michael Parente, director of communications and marketing in the 溏心vlog免费B站 Division of Student Affairs, wrote this news release.