Sailing Wins One But Loses Another

With the midway point of the season having come and gone, the Harvard sailing team began the second half of the campaign on a less hectic note than usual. Competing in only two regattas this weekend compared to the usual four or five, the Crimson couldn’t underestimate the importance of these two events to kick off the remainder of the season.

The highlights of the weekend for Harvard were provided by the co-ed contingent sent to New Hampshire for the Captain Hurst Bowl Regatta hosted by Dartmouth, as the Crimson captured a first-place team finish for the first time in three weeks.

“It was good to have a good regatta in the breeze,” senior skipper John Stokes said. “All of us sailed really well in the breeze. We’re going to use this as a building block and a confidence builder for the Hoyt Trophy [at Brown] next weekend and the qualifiers the week after that.”

Harvard also had an all-freshman female delegation compete at the Yale Women’s Regatta held in New Haven, Conn., where the Crimson placed 17 out of a field of 18. While the outcome was not ideal, it was important to the team that the rookies gained valuable time and experience on the water.

CAPTAIN HURST BOWL

Harvard’s top co-ed sailors traveled up to Hanover, N.H., to compete in the Captain Hurst Bowl regatta, where the Crimson took home first-place honors behind the strength of a first-place A division win and a third-place B division finish. The team would sail to victory by a margin of 17 points, earning its first team victory since the end of Sept.

After being recognized as the Sailor of the Week by U.S. Sailing just a week prior, senior skipper Alan Palmer was instrumental in the team’s capture of top honors in the A division.

The senior duo of Palmer and crew Quincy Bock, along with sophomore crew Ryan Byrne, took care of business in their division, finishing in the top five positions in 11 out of the 14 races, including seven top-three finishes. They finished 13 points ahead of the second-place sailors from the Big Green.

At the 20-team intersectional, Harvard also sent out Stokes alongside fellow fourth-year crew Meghan Wareham and freshman crew Luke O’Connor to compete in the B division. The trio started each day of sailing slow but quickly built up momentum with four top-two finishes, ending the regatta in third place.

“It was a really close regatta for most of the weekend,” Stokes said. “We largely pulled it out because of the performance from our heavies Alan [Palmer], Ryan [Byrne], and the performance from our A team. There’s room for improvement but we’re really happy with how we performed.”

YALE WOMEN’S INTERSECTIONAL

Harvard sent a squad of four freshmen to compete at the Women’s Intersectional regatta over the weekend held at Yale, where the women sailed to a disappointing 17th place finish out of 18 teams. But the team continued this season’s trend of giving the rookies a chance to race and gain some experience, which the veterans on the squad hope will prove very valuable to the team in the future.

“We’re pleased with the performance of all of our freshman,” junior captain Emily Lambert said. “Unfortunately for our girls, the regatta was just too windy, and they weren’t able to perform as well as we know they can. But it’s a good learning experience for them, and they’ll be able to grow from it.”

Skipper Morgan Russom and crew Isabel Ruane sailed in the A division, where they placed 17th out of the field of 18, but the two gradually performed better as the event proceeded, notching a pair of top-ten finishes in the last four races.

Classmates Caitlin Watson and Louisa French took care of the skippering and crewing duties in the B division, respectively. Unable to complete the first two races of the regatta, the two were nevertheless able to squeak out of a last-place finish with a narrow one-point edge over Boston University.