Sailing Takes 11th at Moody Trophy

The Harvard coed sailing team finished in 11th place this weekend at the Moody Trophy hosted by the University of Rhode Island.

Senior skipper Michael Drumm and freshman crew Kevin Coakley took tenth place in the A division.

“We performed fairly well against a very competitive field of teams,” Coakley said. “[Drumm] and I made a few mistakes throughout the weekend, but we identified them and made adjustments as the racing went on.”

18 teams came out for this two-day inter-conference regatta, as racing took place in FJ boats across both divisions.

“[Drumm] and I have been specifically working on our boat-handling in practice and that paid off this weekend,” Coakley said. “We sailed fast and made some gains with that speed. Personally, I needed to improve on identifying the best breeze on the course before the rest of the fleet did.”

Junior skipper Marek Zaleski and sophomore crew Emma Wheeler finished in eighth place within the B division.

“I think this weekend went decently,” Zaleski said. “[Wheeler] and I worked well together and improved as the regatta progressed. We had a tough time getting off the starting line for most of the regatta but managed to work through our difficulties by the end.”

The weather conditions were not favorable for sailing down on Salt Pond on Saturday. Constant rain and cold air temperature made racing difficult, but the day ended up with several closely contested races. In true New England fashion, the weather turned out to be beautiful by Sunday.

“The weather was more of a factor than usual this weekend,” Coakley said. “Near-constant rain on Saturday made it difficult to see puffs on the water, and a lack of wind on Sunday forced the race committee to call off a few races.”

Roger Williams captured first place in the Moody Trophy, edging out second-place Dartmouth and third-place Yale.

"As a team, we want to continue improving throughout the season, and this weekend was no different," Coakley said. "We used this regatta as an opportunity to face off against strong competition and to identify how we can best prepare for the rest of our schedule."

—Staff writer Tanner Skenderian can be reached at tskenderian@college.harvard.edu