Two St. Mary’s College of Maryland alumni were recently named world champions as Alex Curtiss '16 and Madison Bashaw '24 were members of USA 1, winner of the World Sailing Open Team Racing World Championship, held in Stockholm, Sweden, August 12 -16.
The 2026 Team Racing World Championship consisted of 12 national teams, racing in identical 26-foot keelboats. Each team sailed two boats, with a maximum of eight team members competing to win a combination of places – the lowest score wins.
Curtiss and Bashaw join an elite group of St. Mary’s College alumni to achieve world champion status in this discipline. Previous winners of this championship are: Mark Ivey '99 and Matt Lindblad '99 in 2005; Danny Pletsch '04, Caleb Silsby '03 and Paige Hannon Silsby '05 in 2006; and Justin Law '08, Michael Menninger '11 and Adrienne Patterson '08 in 2015.
“It’s a dream come true to be a world champion sailor,” Curtiss said. In addition to having this title be fulfilling to his sailing career, Curtiss, who was the skipper for USA 1, said it was especially meaningful to have done it with friends. “To be able to sail with your friends is amazing and to be able to capture a world championship with your friends is even more special,” he said.
USA 1 comprised of eight sailors whose sailing home base is Newport Harbor Yacht Club in Newport Beach, California. Among those friends and teammates was fellow Seahawk, Bashaw.
“It’s very surreal,” said Bashaw. “It’s such a wonderful feeling to have succeeded at such a high caliber. It’s a feeling not many people get to experience which makes it all the more special.”
Both Curtiss and Bashaw said they had to keep their emotions stable throughout the race, focusing on the task at hand and not getting too caught up in the highs and lows of the several-day-long event. But once they crossed the finish line. Elation. “A lot of elation,” Curtiss said.
Bashaw said she loved the feeling of being on the podium with the whole USA 1 team. It’s one of the things she loves about team sailing. Through it all, you are not alone. Including the celebration. “You are up on the podium with a team you love and battled this whole event with,” she said.
While the two haven't competed at this level together before, their ties within the sailing community are strong with a common thread being St. Mary’s College.
Bashaw said Curtiss and others from the Newport Beach area, where she lives, encouraged her to sail at the national public honors college in St. Mary’s City, Maryland.
“We have a great alumni base of Seahawks in Newport Beach and we all identified her as having the personality to do great things at St. Mary’s,” Curtiss said.
When he attended St. Mary’s College, he said it was immediately clear that his coaches, Director of Sailing and Varsity Coach Bill Ward and Adam Werblow, director of the waterfront and head sailing coach, had created a strong sailing community and instilled in him and other students a sense of community, open mindedness and a curiosity to learn. Similar values, he noticed, permeated throughout campus and ultimately led him to “keep sailing and see how far I could take it.”
Bashaw credits St. Mary's College coaches for instilling the power of determination. “They taught me how to push myself and believe in myself,” she said. Her professors encouraged discussion, encouraged her to challenge opinions and if she didn't understand something to use her voice. She credits the St. Mary’s College community for encouraging students to reach out to one another and get to know one another.
She said she knew about St. Mary's through the strong alumni group in California and fully got a taste of that sense of community the moment she was a Seahawk. “Whether you just committed or graduated 20 years ago, you are part of that family forever.”
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From humble beginnings, the St. Mary’s College of Maryland Seahawks have risen to compete at the highest level of college sailing and the River Center is now home to one of the premier sailing programs in the country. In 1980 the College established a varsity sailing team and began competing with fellow Mid-Atlantic teams. Throughout its history the Seahawks have won 17 National Championships, have produced over 150 All-Americans, nine Olympians, and have hosted six Intercollegiate Sailing Association (ICSA) National Championships.
