Sailing Qualifies Three for Nationals

Building on their recent strong showings, the Harvard sailors subdued the waters throughout the Northeast last weekend.

At the Danmark Trophy regatta, hosted by the United States Coast Guard Academy, the Crimson battled to the finish for top honors with St. Mary’s, ultimately clinching victory in the final ‘A’ division race.

Co-captain Clay Bischoff teamed with senior crew Lema Kikuchi in the ‘A’ boat to fight off a difficult westerly wind and lay claim to a slim division lead after the first day of competition.

After day one, the Crimson and St. Mary’s had pulled away from their competition and become engaged in a two-boat race for victory.

Featuring Bischoff and co-captain Michelle Yu, Harvard’s ‘A’ boat struggled to maintain its lead over St. Mary’s on Sunday, falling behind on occasion and entering the final race leading by just three points.

Bischoff and Yu closed well, however, and earned a second place in the final race, five positions ahead of St. Mary’s, which ensured a Harvard ‘A’ division victory.

Meanwhile, junior skipper Cardwell Potts and sophomore crew David Darst, sailing in the ‘B’ division, did not start as well as their ‘A’ division counterparts.

Sailing ‘420s,’ the two found themselves in fourth place after the first day, 18 points out of first place.

Potts teamed with Kikuchi for the final eight races, and the pair, now sailing a ‘Flying Junior,’ mounted a comeback charge and passed BC and Tufts to capture second place behind St. Mary’s.

At the end of the regatta, the Crimson led the ‘A’ division by eight points, while St. Mary’s held the ‘B’ division by a five- point margin, giving the Crimson a narrow three point cumulative victory.

On the Charles, the women’s team competed at the Women’s Singlehanded Championship, hosted by MIT.

The weekend was marked by strong winds, which caused a number of boats to capsize during the regatta.

The first day of competition featured a field of 43 top sailors, which would be narrowed down to 24 by day’s end.

Each of Harvard’s entries—freshmen Genny Tulloch and Sloan Devlin, junior Jennie Philbrick and senior Clemmie Everett—qualified for the second day of compeition.

The Crimson sailors took a conservative approach on the first day, aiming for top-10 finishes rather than taking unnecessary risks in the hopes of a victory.

“I definitely never was out of control,” Tulloch said. “It was hard going up wind because the girls bigger than I am could go a lot faster.”

Positioning her boat directly ahead of those larger sailors, who were better able to fend off the wind, Tulloch was able to negate their advantage.

The strategy paid off. The Crimson was the only team to qualify all its sailors for the second day of competition, a far cry from the difficulties the team suffered in MIT’s technical dinghies just two weekends ago.

On day two, with strong winds once again challenging the sailors, the Crimson fared nearly as well as it had on the previous day, with Philbrick, Tulloch and Everett holding third, fourth and sixth places heading into the last race.

Only the top five would qualify for the national championship.

Philbrick, previously in sixth, captured fourth place in the final race, earning her the fifth and final qualifying slot. Tulloch and Philbrick captured third and fourth respectively, while Devlin finished 13th.

Consistent sailing proved invaluable, as no one sailor dominated the regatta. Those sailors who posted the most consistent results found themselves furthest ahead of the pack.

The qualifying trio will head to Houston later in the year to compete in the national championships.

“It’s really exciting because the nationals are going to be held in Houston, my hometown,” Tulloch said. “So it’ll be held at my yachting club.”

Also looking to continue on the road to national competition, junior John Mulcahy raced in the Last Chance Single Elimination, hosted by Savin Hill Yacht Club.

Battling brisk winds, Mulcahy started slowly, with two poor finishes in the first five races.

Midway through the regatta, however, he turned his effort around, never again finishing lower than fourth, and winning three of the final four races.

Finishing fourth overall, Mulcahy qualified for the Singlehanded New England Championships, joining teammates Bischoff and freshman Vince Porter, both of whom qualifed last weekend.

Locally, in the Boston University Invite, hosted by Northeastern, Harvard’s sailors ran into difficulty from both strong winds and their equipment.

In the first race, Harvard’s ‘A’ boat, featuring senior skipper Liam Mahoney and clasmate Zoe Epstein, encountered trouble in the first race when the jib halyard wire snapped, preventing completion of the race.

The two did not fare much better in the rest of the regatta, placing sixth overall.

In the ‘B’ division, senior skipper Sam Clark and junior crew Emily Nielson took second, earning the Crimson a fifth place overall finish.

The Crimson looks to maintain its momentum next weekend at the Hap Moore Team race, hosted by the Coast Guard Academy , and the Mosbacher-Knapp regatta, hosted by the University of Pennsylvania.