Sailing Takes Home New England Match Racing Championship

A victory at the New England Match Racing Championship in Newport, R.I., highlighted the Harvard sailing team's performance over five regattas this weekend.

NEW ENGLAND MATCH RACING CHAMPIONSHIP

With their victory on Sunday, sophomore Nick Sertl, senior Jacob Bradt, and sophomore Taylor Ladd became the first Harvard team to win the Larry White Trophy since 2002 and qualified for the ICSA Match Race National Championship.

Dartmouth and Yale finished second and third, respectively. Despite his boat's lack of experience with match racing, Bradt looks forward to competing at the national championships, which will be held Nov. 20-22 in Mt. Pleasant, S.C.

“A big concern of ours was our combined lack of experience racing this style of keelboat; however, our boat handling and boat speed rarely got in the way of our performance, and at time was far superior to our competitors,” Bradt said. “I’m definitely proud of our performance because of how well the three of us were able to come together and work as a team.”

Harvard came into Sunday as the number four seed after competing in the qualifying round robin on Saturday. The Crimson pulled a clean victory going 2-0 in the final round against Dartmouth.

TRUXTON UMSTED MEMORIAL REGATTA

Harvard finished third of 19 teams behind College of Charleston and Georgetown. Saturday saw five protests and one request for redress filed, resulting in three disqualifications.

With four divisions to fill, the Crimson sent senior pairing of skipper Andrew Mollerus and crew Sydney Karnovsky in the A division, senior skipper Marek Zaleski and junior crew Julia Lord in the B division, junior Juan Carlos Perdomo in the C division, and freshman Andrew Puopolo in the D division.

“The team did extremely well and we were pretty solidly in third place,” Puopolo said.

Perdomo, who was NEISA coed sailor of the week of Sept. 30, finished third, only two points behind second and five behind first in his respective division. His teammates contributed as well, with every boat finishing inside the top 10 in its division

YALE’S WOMEN INTERCONFERENCE REGATTA

Harvard sailors finished 17th of 18 teams at Yale. The Crimson sent senior skipper Sophie Bermudez and junior crew Emma wheeler in the A division and freshman skipper Taylor Gavula and senior crew Kristina Jakobson in the B Division.

In the A division, Harvard finished 18th out of 18 teams with a score of 245 rotating in Jakobson and sophomore Ariana Gross into the initial lineup.

The Crimson boat fared better in B division placing 16th with Gross also rotating in.

Shifty winds prevailed both days for the sailors who competed in Z420 boats resulting in two capsizes on Sunday. The US Coast Guard Academy dominated with University of Rhode Island and Yale behind them, respectively.

CAPTAIN HURST BOWL

Harvard finished 14th out of 18 teams over three divisions at the Dartmouth-hosted Captain Hurst Bowl. Freshman skipper Nick DiGiovanni and junior crew Priscilla Russo took the A division, freshman skipper Jackson Wagner and junior crew Olivia Kjorlien sailed in the B division, and sophomore skipper Dylan Farrell and junior crew Nomin-Erdene Jagdagdorj took the C division.

Winds ranged from five to 15 knots and temperatures in the 60 degree range on Saturday. Temperatures dropped drastically on Sunday to lows in the mid 20s with mild snow flurries.

In the A division, the Crimson placed 13th out of 19 teams with a score of 156. The B division, won by Stanford freshmen Kathryn Booker and Russell Clarida, saw Harvard finish 16th with freshman Divya Arya and sophomore Kevin Coakley rotating in. They also pulled out a 13th place in the C division.

Boston College finished first backed by a dominating boat in the C division.

NEISA INVITATIONAL AT MIT

The Crimson finished in seventh place close to home, racing Firefly and FJ vessels in a one day regatta on the Charles River in ideal sailing weather. Harvard sent two pairings of freshman skipper Nick Karnovsky and crew Alejandra Resendiz in the A division and junior skipper Bennett Capozzi and freshman crew Catherine Tang in the B division.

MIT captured the gold in its home Regatta.