Sailing Posts Top-Six Finishes

When the weather suddenly shifts from rainy misery to summer-like temperatures, few activities seem more appealing than sailing. The lovely forecast helped the Harvard sailing squad find success at three different venues this past weekend. The teams sent to the Dellenbaugh Women’s Intersectional Regatta, Southern New England Team Races, and the Mystic Lake Invitational/Central Series Three all attained top-six finishes, proving themselves worthy of competing among some the top programs in the nation.

DELLENBAUGH WOMEN’S INTERSECTIONAL REGATTA

In sports, home-field advantage is often perceived to be critical, but in the B-Division of the women’s regatta, it didn’t play a factor as the sailors from Boston took the top two spots while host school Brown came in third. Boston College propelled itself to a regatta victory after several first-place finishes. The other boat, which consisted of Harvard sailors Liz Powers and Marie Appel, didn’t achieve the top spot but still lead the Crimson to fifth place out of 18 teams. Powers, the women’s team captain, and Appel, a sophomore, rode two first-place and two second-place finishes in the B boat’s runner-up effort.

While the squad’s A Boat, consisting of sophomore Emily Lambert and clasmmate Alexandra Jumper, didn’t have the same success as the B boat, its ninth-place finish was good enough to send the women’s team to a top-five finish. Lambert and Jumper improved over the course of regatta, bouncing back from two 18th place finishes with consecutive second-place finishes. After slipping back to double digit places, the duo was able to taste second place once more as it rallied to finish in the top half of the A boats.

“We unfortunately had two really bad races on Saturday,” Lambert said. “We definitely improved on Sunday.”

SOUTHERN NEW ENGLAND TEAM RACES

At some point in life, everyone learns that it is important to find ways other than constantly complaining in order to find a solution to a problem. Apparently, that message didn’t make its way into the sailing world since 35 protests were filed over the course of Sunday’s Gold Fleet races at Connecticut College. But the Crimson was able to navigate its way through the chaos to post a satisfying 6-8 record in the Gold Fleet races, earning sixth place overall.

“I think we’re pretty happy with how we did,” captain Alan Palmer said. “Those are pretty much the best teams we’re going to see.”

In order to advance to Sunday’s Gold Fleet, Harvard first had to finish in the top four at Coast Guard Academy on Saturday, and it proved its mettle. The two-day competition was set up such that half the teams raced at Connecticut College while the other half simultaneously competed at Coast Guard Academy on Saturday. The top four finishers at each site would race the next day in the Gold Fleet at Connecticut College, while the other schools competed at the same time in the Silver Fleet at the Academy.

Given the intensity of team-racing and the skill level of the competitors, it was perhaps not particularly surprising that the day produced many protests.

“In team-racing, which is what the format was, there end up being a lot more protests,” Palmer said. “Some events will have on the water judges who will immediately make a call [but] they weren’t able to get enough judges…There were 50 potentially protestable situations…some ended up being irrelevant.”

For the Crimson, the chaotic environment provided a good platform for learning, as the three skippers, Palmer, junior John Stokes, and junior Colin Santangelo, were team-racing together for the first time.

“[Santangelo] really hadn’t team race, or maybe he had but not at the same level,” Palmer said. “He didn’t know as much but he was able to pull some stunt-like moves that caught teams by surprise.”

After all the races had finished, Harvard stood tied with Brown as both schools had 6-8 records, but in the end the Bears were able to take the victory through a tie breaker.

“The weekend was actually pretty good,” Palmer said. The captain insisted that strong racing occurred despite the prevalence of protests. “A lot of good races were decided on the water, not in the protest room.”

MYSTIC LAKE INVITATIONAL/CENTRAL SERIES THREE

In the official results of the Tufts-hosted regatta, conditions were described as perfect. The host school’s enthusiasm about the weather must have boosted its own performance as its three teams took first, third, and fifth respectively. But while the host school took home most of the honors, the Crimson was still able to sneak into the top five, taking fourth of the ten teams behind Tufts 1, Boston University, and Tufts 2.

It was a freshman affair for Harvard in the Mystic Lake Invitational, as three out of the Crimson’s four sailors were rookies. One of those three, Jason Michas, teamed up with the lone sophomore at the regatta, William White, to help the Crimson’s A boat to a sixth-place finish while freshmen Sam Millham and Alma Lafler took eighth place.

—Staff writer Christina C. McClintock can be reached at ccmcclin@fas.harvard.edu.