Co-ed Sailors Qualify for Regional Regatta

This weekend’s action proved bittersweet for the Harvard sailing team.

The co-ed team traveled to Brown University, where it qualified for the Atlantic Coast Championship with an eighth-place finish in the Schell Trophy. But the women’s team could not replicate that success, finishing 10th at Connecticut College’s Victorian Coffee Urn.

Despite its low finish, the women’s team had reason to celebrate when junior Caitlin Watson skippered Harvard’s B Division boat to first-place finishes in the first and third races of the regatta. It was the first time Watson had finished first as a skipper in her college career.

“[This weekend’s performance] is something that [Watson] is really proud of, and we applaud her for that,” said freshman Kristina Jakobson, who participated in the first race of her college career at the Victorian Coffee Urn as crew for the B Division boat.

The co-ed team is preparing for ACCs in two weeks at the United States Merchant Marine Academy in New York.

“The competition will be pretty difficult,” Crimson coach Mike O’Connor said. “We sailed a regatta there earlier this season, so it’s good that we are acclimated, and we are looking forward to it.”

The team says it is excited about the production it is getting from its younger members, especially freshman walk-ons

“We are pretty dependent upon walk-ons, and there are several of them that are doing a great job,” O’Connor said. “Sydney Karnovsky has done a tremendous job crewing for Andrew Mollerus. They have been working really hard and improving every day.”

SCHELL TROPHY

Harvard edged the University of Vermont by one point to take eighth place in the eighteen-team regatta. The Crimson barely squeezed into ACCs, as only the top eight finishers qualify for the postseason. Yale ran away with first place, beating out second place Brown by 31 points.

“We were able to overcome a few obstacles, including an OCS—a premature start—in the second-to-last race,” O’Connor said. “We are a young team and we are up against some very difficult competition, and the fact that we were able to qualify for the ACCs bodes well for us.”

Sophomore Gram Slattery served as skipper for A Division, and juniors Alma Lafler and Ben Lamont split time as crew. They finished seventh overall with 97 points, including a second-place finish in the fourth race.

In B Division, Mollerus raced with Karnovsky, junior Luke O’Connor, and sophomore Brian Drumm. They earned 119 point for 12th place, including six single-digit finishes.

“We are a work in progress but we achieved our goals qualifying for ACCs,” O’Connor said. “It means that we will have a good chance of qualifying for nationals in the spring.”

VICTORIAN COFFEE URN

The women’s team struggled with consistency and conditions in its 10th place finish. Dartmouth took first in both divisions, beating second-place Yale by 45 points.

“We had some really variable conditions, which made it difficult,” Jakobson said. “We had really light and shifting winds on Saturday, and on Sunday we had a lot of heavy wind and puffs.”

In Division A, junior skipper Morgan Russom and junior crew Isabel Ruane came in 13th overall with 104 points. Despite starting slow with two consecutive 15th-place finishes, the team improved throughout regatta and ended the weekend with a second-place finish.

“There are things we could have done better and will continue to work on,” O’Connor said. “A lot of it has to do with execution out of the starting line, and some of it has to do with our heavier boat handling.”

The Crimson’s Division B boat fared better, placing sixth overall. Watson joined junior Jacquelyn Cooley and Jakobson in this division. The racers earned five single-digit finishes, including two in first place.

“We are disappointed that we didn’t qualify this weekend, but we worked hard and had some really good races, and we are proud of those,” Jakobson said.

Nevertheless, the women’s team is looking forward to the season’s remaining and watching the co-ed team compete in ACCs.

“It’s a shame we didn’t qualify, but we are really psyched that the coed team did,” Jakobson said. “We are looking forward to lots of training and working hard to get ready for the spring.”