Road Regatta Stretches Crimson Thin

The Harvard sailing team found itself extremely busy this past weekend, participating in five regattas around the New England area.

The coed team was stretched thin, as they competed in four regattas, including the top-level Danmark Trophy. The team finished in the middle of the pack, placing ninth out of 20 in a very competitive race. Overall, the Crimson fared the best in the Smith Trophy, placing third, only ten points behind defending national champion Boston College.

Meanwhile, the women’s team struggled on the Charles, finishing 11th out of 20 in the Regis Bowl at Boston University.

SMITH TROPHY

28 boats crowded the starting line at MIT for the Smith Trophy. Both club and varsity teams accounted for the larger-than-usual turnout, and the Harvard co-ed team took advantage of this opportunity to gain some scheduling points.

“We’re really working hard on our performance, it was a really good opportunity to get some good scheduling points for future regattas and show what we’re made of,” said senior Lauren Brants.

In the end, it was the Crimson’s dynamic duo of junior skipper Drew Robb and crew Brants who came in second in the A division, while freshman skipper Jerry Tullo and senior crew Kerry Anne Bradford finished in seventh place in the B division.

Tullo sailed in his first collegiate regatta, and though it took him some time to adjust to the boat, he performed incredibly well by day’s end, recording a win in the seventh race of the regatta.

Meanwhile, Robb and Brants rebounded from a disappointing 16th-place in the third race to finish no lower than fifth in the rest of their races.

As the coed team looks to maintain their current tenth-place ranking in the New England Intercollegiate Sailing Association (NEISA) poll, Harvard’s performance this weekend definitely proved that postseason aspirations may be indeed a reasonable expectation this season.

DANMARK TROPHY

Part of the co-ed sailing team ran into turbulent conditions this weekend in New London, CT, site of the Danmark Trophy.

Sailing against strong winds and extremely shifty conditions, sophomore skipper John Stokes and junior Michelle Konstadt finished in eleventh place in Division A. Sophomore skippers Teddy Himler and Alan Palmer, along with classmate crew Quincy Bock, earned a respectable fifth place in Division B, thanks to top-five finishes in the last three races.

Stokes and Konstadt started out strong, but in the end, the weather and fierce competition got the best of them.

Despite a ninth place overall finish, Palmer said that the sailors, many of whom were filling in for veterans who sat out, came out of the regatta with experience and something to build upon.

“We didn’t have some our more experienced sailors on the boats…so it was promising that we can do well without our veterans,” Palmer said.

REGIS TROPHY

The women’s sailing team weathered tough conditions this past weekend, despite the fact that the regatta took place right across the BU Bridge on the Charles.

“I’ve always found sailing at BU to be very difficult, even with my experience,” sophomore Meghan Wareham said.

“The difference in conditions between the first and second days were extremely tough to work with,” freshman sensation Annie DeAngelo added.

Overall, the Crimson finished 11th in a field of 20, nine points behind tenth-place Yale.

With junior Liz Powers out with an MCL injury, DeAngelo and fellow freshman Emily Lambert were called upon to step up and fill in. After winning their B-division race last week, Lambert was moved up to division A and DeAngelo manned the fort in division B, skippering for the first time all season. Despite their talent, signs of youth showed in this match, and as a result, skipper Lambert and her crew Wareham finished 12th while DeAngelo and sophomore crew Grace Charles finished tenth out of 16.

“It was kind of a frustrating weekend, but the fact that we had some good races showed us that we have a lot of potential to really get better this season,” DeAngelo said.

Inconsistency and inexperience plagued the two boats throughout the entire regatta.

“You can say that we started strong and finished strong,” DeAngelo said, making reference to the boat’s third and second place finishes in the first and last race. “We fouled people a lot, so that’s something we have to work on.”

CENTRAL SERIES FOUR

Younger members of the co-ed sailing team gained valuable experience at Tufts on Saturday, finishing tenth and ninth respectively in the A and B divisions. Even with a disqualification in the third race, the A division sailors managed to finish strong at the end of the stretch with a second and fourth place finish to push the Crimson ahead of the Jumbos.

HARVARD INVITE

The Harvard sailing team played host to 18 different schools Sunday yet failed to compete well in familiar waters. Overall, the Crimson finished 12th out of 18.

Skipper Alexander Bick and crew Ali Beyer, both juniors, placed tenth in Division A while Division B sailors, junior skipper Mark Rinaldi and sophomore crew Florence On, finished 13th.