Barnard is top sailor

Chris Barnard, a Newport Harbor High product who recently completed his junior year at Georgetown University, has been named 2012 Intercollegiate Sailing Assn. Sailor of the Year.

Barnard, who began sailing at the Newport Harbor Yacht Club at age 8, is joined on the ICSA All-American team by locals Mac Mace, Sally Mace, Perry Emsiek and Heather May. Emsiek and May were recognized in the crew category, while Sally Mace, Mac’s younger sister, was a women’s All-American.

Barnard, a skipper who also sailed for Newport Harbor High, topped a field of four finalists for the Everett B. Morris Award that goes annually to the top collegiate sailor. Charlie Buckingham, another Newport Harbor alum who competed at Georgetown, won the award in 2011 and 2010.

Barnard helped Georgetown win the ICSA Coed Dinghy National Championship in early June on Lake Travis, near Austin, Texas.

He earned honorable mention in All-American voting in 2010. He consistently finished in the top three in A-Division at most of the regattas in which he competed in 2011-12.

Mac Mace, another product of Newport Harbor YC and a Sage Hill School graduate, was a junior skipper at College of Charleston in South Carolina in 2011-12. He was a finalist for the Everett B. Morris Award and is now a two-time All-American.

Mac Mace and fellow College of Charleston standout Emsiek helped the Cougars earn Sailing World’s No. 1 national ranking among college coed programs for the 2011-12 season. College of Charleston was also ranked No. 1 in the Sail 1 Design College Sailing Team Race rankings, en route to the school’s first team race national championship.

In addition, College of Charleston won the Leonard M. Fowle Trophy, awarded annually to the best overall collegiate team in the country.

Emsiek, who attended Mater Dei High, was a senior this past season. She was also an All-American crew member as a junior.

Sally Mace, a sophomore at Stanford in 2011-12 who also graduated from Sage Hill, was recognized as a skipper. She helped the Cardinal win an unprecedented six Pacific Coast Collegiate Sailing Conference titles during the 2011-12 season. Stanford was eighth at the coed and team racing national championships and were 13th in the women’s racing championships.

May, a Corona del Mar High alumna, was a junior this past season.

The honorees were recognized at a season-ending banquet on June 8 in Austin, Texas.

— Barry Faulkner