Crimson Sailing Performs Strongly

Returning home refreshed and ready to kick its season into high gear after a week long training trip in Maryland, the Harvard sailing team competed in three regattas over the weekend, its most action in a single weekend to date in its young spring season.

Both the co-ed and women’s squads responded well from the additional practice over Spring Break, as the co-ed squad placed first in the Boston Dinghy Club Cup at home on the Charles and the women’s team finished a respectable runner-up in the Duplin Trophy Women’s Team Race in Medford, Mass.

Also, some individuals performed well in the Owen, Mosbacher, and Knapp Trophies in Kings Point, NY.

“We had a very successful weekend,” sophomore captain Alan Palmer said. “We were able to perform well at home and also had a strong showing down in New York.”

BOSTON DINGHY CLUB CUP

The co-ed contingent led the Crimson’s efforts this weekend, as the squad emerged victorious from a field of eighteen teams in the Boston Dinghy Club Cup on the Charles River. Harvard shared hosting duties with its counterparts from MIT for the regatta and ended the weekend thirteen points ahead of Tufts in the three division racing format.

Skipper Palmer and senior crew Lauren Brants competed in the A division for the Crimson, finishing second in the most competitive division. They started off their seventeen races of the weekend well, with two early victories and three second place showings in their first ten contests, and also finished strong, placing in the top five in all but one of their last six races.

“There was a pretty steady wind out on the river,” Palmer said. “It was a little different than our normal situation out there, but we were able to take advantage of being home. We had a rough Saturday but were able to compete well on Sunday after bonding over Zoe’s My 3 Sons (some breakfast meal at a restaurant) on Saturday night.”

Sophomore skipper John Stokes and junior crew Michelle Konstadt took third overall in the B division, finishing with 118 points on the weekend, just a mere two points out of second place. All but one of their top five showings came within their last six races, as the duo matched its A division teammates in finishing well and securing team victory for the Crimson on its home waters.

In the C division, senior skipper Jon Garrity split time with Brants and junior crew Winston Yan to finish fourth in that division’s seventeen races. They won three races on the weekend and were runners-up in two other contests.

“Any time you are able to put up three solid finishes in all of the divisions, you are going to do well,” Palmer said.

DUPLIN TROPHY WOMEN’S TEAM RACE

The Crimson women’s squad placed a close second over the weekend at the Duplin Trophy Women’s Team Race to its counterparts from Boston College, and that school’s fine sailing program. The regatta was hosted by Tufts on Upper Mystic Lake and was the women’s squad’s first ever team race intersectional.

“We were very excited to compete in our first ever team racing contest,” senior Megan Watson said. “Usually we do some team sailing as part of the co-ed squad, but we look forward to more opportunities for team racing as a women’s team and hopefully one day a women’s team racing national championship.”

Once again the Crimson finished strong to claim their runner-up position over the two-day affair. Harvard was tied for second with Yale with a 7-2 record after day one but then went on to post the best record of Sunday’s championship round at 5-1 to finish 12-3 on the weekend, just back of the Eagles 13-2 mark.

“We won most of our races off the starting line,” Watson said. “We had some really close races with BC and I think we have started a rivalry with them for the rest of this season and for the coming seasons.”

Three women’s boats represented the Crimson in the regatta. Skipper Watson teamed up with sophomore crew Meghan Wareham to lead Harvard, while junior skipper Liz Powers and freshman crew Alexandra Jumper also formed a duo over the weekend. Freshman skipper Emily Lambert and rookie crew Annie DeAngelo formed the Crimson’s final pair in Medford.

“The three freshman did a great job,” Watson said. “It was a new experience for them and they did very well in translating what they saw on the chalkboard into actions out on the water.”

OWEN, MOSBACHER, AND KNAPP TROPHIES

Harvard’s efforts in New York over the weekend resulted in a tenth place team showing out of twenty teams in the Owen, Mosbacher, and Knapp Trophies.

Sophomore skipper Teddy Himler was paired with sophomore crew Quincy Bock and took third in the A division for the Crimson. The duo placed in the top four in nine of their fifteen races, winning one contest and claiming second in another.

Freshman skipper Brendan Kopp and junior crew Alex Bick took home fifteenth place in the B division.

“Teddy and Quincy had a strong showing in an equally competitive regatta with some Mid-Atlantic teams,” Palmer said. “Brendan was competing in his first collegiate regatta and will only improve as he gains more experience.”

While Boston College was victorious at this regatta over the weekend, Yale managed to claim the Knapp Trophy as the first finisher among Harvard, Yale, and Princeton and also collected the Mosbacher Trophy as the Ivy League champion.

—Staff writer Thomas D. Hutchison can be reached at tdhutch@fas.harvard.edu.