Harvard Finds Smooth Sailing in New England Waters

The Harvard sailing team found itself thinly stretched over the waters of New England last weekend, participating in three major regattas.

It was the women who brought home the best result of the weekend, earning a runner-up finish in the Mrs. Hurst Bowl.

Meanwhile, the co-ed team split between the Hatch Brown Trophy and the Nevins Trophy, placing eighth and 13th respectively at the very competitive events.

“Our team was stretched pretty thin this weekend,” junior Drew Robb said. “[But] across the board, we did pretty well.”

MRS. HURST BOWL

The Crimson women felt right at home in Hanover, N.H. last weekend, finishing just one point out of first in an 18-team field at the Mrs. Hurst Bowl.

“We’ve actually won this regatta the past two years, so it has a special place in our heart, mostly because it’s named after this wonderful old woman who comes down every year with all of her baked goods,” senior co-captain Megan Watson said. “It’s a really nice way to start off the season, and it’s even better when we sail well.”

Skipper Watson and her crew, sophomore Meghan Wareham, rebounded from a disappointing 14th in the first race to finish second in the A-division.

“It worked to our advantage that it was not very windy,” Watson said. “The wind was also very shifty, so that’s very similar to what we sail on the Charles. They were ideal conditions for us.”

Watson and Wareham recorded one win and two second-place finishes in the regatta’s seven races.

The dynamic freshman duo of skipper Emily Lambert and crew Annie DeAngelo continued to impress in their second week of competition, beating out the Charleston boat for first place in the B division.

Lambert and DeAngelo won three of the seven races they sailed in at the regatta.

It was the second straight division victory for the rookie pair.

“We’re very, very excited by how well Emily and Annie sailed together,” Watson said. “The Charleston girl that they beat was an All-American. It was their first major college regatta and they surpassed all of our expectations.”

The Cougars edged out Harvard for the overall title, amassing 60 points to the Crimson’s 61.

But Harvard finished 29 points ahead of third-place Yale, giving the team a lot of confidence heading into the rest of the fall season.

“It’s very promising for the rest of this year that we now have three solid women’s skippers,” Watson said. “It’s definitely a change from last year when we only had two.”

Watson and junior Liz Powers will sail next weekend in the New England Singlehanded Championships, a qualifier for singlehanded nationals.

“It’s definitely challenging because New England has by far the best singlehanded sailors in the country. The region is completely stacked,” Watson said.

Watson was third in that regatta last year, advancing to nationals. Powers is looking for her first bid.

HATCH BROWN TROPHY

Part of the Crimson’s co-ed team stayed a bit closer to home this weekend, sailing at the MIT-hosted Hatch Brown Trophy on the Charles River.

But competing in two three-division regattas took its toll on the Harvard team, as the Crimson could only muster an eighth-place finish in the 18-team event.

“In this particular regatta, we could have done a little bit better,” Robb said.

Skipper Robb and sophomore crew Quincy Bock sailed in the A-division, placing 12th.

Although the pair started out with a strong third in the regatta’s opening race, they only had five more top-10 finishes in the 12-race event.

Harvard’s B- and C-division teams fared a little better, earning fifth- and sixth-place finishes respectively.

Sophomore skipper John Stokes and junior crew Michelle Konstadt manned the B-division boat, while skipper Powers and sophomore crew Grace Charles sailed in the C-division.

Boston College easily won the regatta, finishing a full 102 points ahead of runner-up Yale.

NEVINS TROPHY

The other half of the Crimson co-eds sailed at Kings Point, NY in the Nevins Trophy, hosted by the US Merchant Marine Academy. After a disappointing Saturday, Harvard found itself out of luck on Sunday when poor conditions caused all races to be cancelled.

The team finished 13th out of 20.

“As a whole, we started off very slowly,” senior co-captain Jon Garrity said. “My first four races were pretty bad, and [sophomore Teddy Himler] was over early in the first race. We were playing catch-up from that point on.”

Skipper Garrity and his crew, senior Kerry Anne Bradford, had the best showing for the Crimson, finishing sixth in the B-division.

Sophomore skipper Alan Palmer and senior crew Lauren Brants sailed to 16th in the A-division, while Himler placed 11th in the singlehanded C-division.

Boston College was once again the dominant overall winner.

“There was no racing on Sunday because there was no wind,” Garrity said. “It was disappointing because we had kind of worked ourselves into a rut on Saturday.”

—Staff writer Kate Leist can be reached at kleist@fas.harvard.edu.