Stanford Sailing Kicks Off Defense of the Fowle Trophy

Stanford’s sailing program just kicked off its defense of the Leonard M. Fowle Trophy. The Cardinal won the ICSA Open (co-ed) Fleet Race Nationals, Women’s Fleet Race Nationals, and Women’s Team Race Nationals. They finished fourth in the Open Team Racing National Championship.

Stanford’s sailing program has been run by head coach Chris Klevan since 2021. His coaching staff is an impressive array of decorated former college sailors such as 2022 College Sailor of the Year Shawn Harvey, two-time All-American Augie Dale, and 2024 College Sailor of the Year Lachlain McGranahan.

The Cardinal features two-time defending Women’s College Sailor of the Year in senior Vanessa Lahrkamp and 2025 Crew of the Year Alice Schmid, as well as four more first-team All-Americans.

Latitude recently had the opportunity to catch up with Chris Klevan. Here’s what he told us:

On expectations coming into the season: 

“We have team standards and practices that we preach. It’s on returners to show the younger people what it means to be a part of our team. As a coach, I give enough space for the natural leaders to do that in their own way. … Nobody graduated [from last year] so it does feel like we’re running it back. That can be good and bad. We sail so much in a college season, by the time Nationals ends it’s often time for a team to turn over a bit. We have six new people that provide good energy, but the leaders and starters are the same.”

On Stanford’s harsh travel schedule, sailing 14 regattas on the East Coast in the fall and spring:

“It’s definitely a challenge. … I need to keep the pulse of the team but I don’t want to be peppered with every minor issue. I ask everyone on the team to assume they are traveling every weekend. … There are times in which somebody might come to me and ask for a weekend off, whether it’s school, or if they’ve identified a portion of the curriculum that is especially rigorous, but everyone realizes if they ask for a weekend off and it’s granted, it’s possible that the lost opportunity won’t be recouped.

“This whole formula is contingent on everyone wanting to travel and compete and train. If that was no longer the case it wouldn’t work. … It’s hard, there’s no doubt about it. Our kids are good at it, but there’s no doubt it’s a challenge and the team embraces that challenge. Every program has natural shared adversity. I sailed at Hobart when I was in college, and there it was the weather. The shared adversity at Coast Guard [where I coached before Stanford] was the harshness of military life. Every team has shared adversity, and for us it’s the balance between school and sailing and travel, and every team has to walk that line. A healthy team picks you up when you falter, and that’s the biggest takeaway from that experience, not the trophies.”

On two-time defending Women’s College Sailor of the Year Vanessa Lahrkamp:

“She’s a winner. I don’t know how many people have won more than her. Being a four-year starter in both co-ed and women’s presents more opportunities, but that’s a credit to her as well. Making either roster is always competitive on our team, and she’s always been an easy start for me. She’s quite literally the bar with [fellow All-American skipper] Tommy [Sitzmann]. … It’s really nice as a coach and as a young sailor to see where you need to be every day, and also to see that excellence and being a champion isn’t being perfect.”

On what sets Stanford apart:

“On top of being incredibly talented, this team is full of hard workers and people who want each other to succeed. The kids find a ton of community and an old-school regatta feel that complements the East Coast competitive feel, and reminds them that this experience is supposed to be fun. I think every sailor except for two on the team [has] logged a race as a crew. I think it’s a telling stat, because the crewing position is far less glamorous, and the fact that everyone has done that role and served the boat selflessly says a lot.”