Sailing Takes Home Three Top-Ten Finishes

The Harvard sailing team competed in three separate regattas over the weekend in Connecticut, Maryland, and Massachusetts, posting top-ten results in each of the events.

SOUTHERN NEW ENGLAND TEAM RACE

After finishing seventh last weekend in the St. Mary’s Team Race, Harvard’s veteran leadership looked to make its mark in New London, Conn., in an event hosted by Connecticut College. The group did just that, even if the weather conditions were far from ideal.

“There wasn’t very much wind the first day so we didn’t get many races in, which was unfortunate,” junior crew member Julia Lord said. “We only were able to finish one round robin. Usually what we would like to do is have more than that so we can have more practice.”

When the results from Saturday, the first day of racing, were posted, the Crimson was in the lead with a 3-0 record against the rest of the field. This fast start did not prove to be a fluke for Harvard, as it was able to finish in second place out of the ten inter-conference schools it competed against.

“I think we did a lot better this weekend than in the past,” Lord said. “We were on spring break this week so we had a lot of time to practice. I think that was really good for us. There were a couple of things we could’ve done better, but we’ve definitely improved since last weekend.”

The Crimson’s only losses came to Brown and Connecticut College. With Harvard and Brown both posting identical 7-2 records over the event, the loss to the Bears proved consequential. Brown came home with the trophy as the squads’ results against one another broke the tie between the two.

ST. MARY’S WOMEN’S INTERCONFERENCE

In the second regatta hosted by St. Mary’s in the past two weeks, the all female contingent sent down to Maryland by the Crimson finished tenth place in out of a pool of 18 schools.

Racing in FJs and 420s in shifty winds of 7-10 knots, Harvard totaled 328 points over the 36 races competed in by its A-Division and B-Division crews. Tis performance was more promising for the Crimson than its 13th place result a week prior in the shortened Navy Spring Women’s Regatta.

The A-Division boat of sophomore skipper Taylor Ladd and sophomore crew Kirstin Anderson started off the event solidly with a top-five and top-ten finish in the first two races. After a lull in its performance over the next three events, the boat pulled itself together and earned top-ten finishes in ten of the final 13 contests. Over the weekend, the duo scored 148 points; good enough for fifth place in the division.

Freshman skipper Taylor Gavula and freshman crew Lena Episalla led their boat to an 11th place result in the B-Division. Posting consistent results throughout the weekend, the pair scored 180 points over 18 races.

Just besting Boston College’s 227 point showing, the University of Rhode Island was able to claim victory in the regatta with its 219-point performance.

THE IKE GEIGER TEAM RACE REGATTA

In a team regatta hosted by MIT on the Charles River Basin, Harvard posted a 10-11 record en-route to finishing fifth among the eight in-conference schools competing in the event.

Facing stiff breezes early on in the morning that relaxed as each day progressed, the team of Crimson sailors racing in FJs was able to best the Coast Guard, Northeastern, and URI. After a promising 6-1 start in the first round robin of the event on Saturday, the shifting conditions began to take a slight toll on Harvard as the racing plodded on, leading to the final result.

“The conditions were pretty variable throughout the weekend, breezes were up and down, and the wind changed directions a lot,” sophomore crew Kevin Coakley said. “I think we did pretty well adapting to a lot of different circumstances, but we definitely have some work to do as far as becoming a cohesive unit and being able to transfer all the skills from one type of breeze to other types of conditions.”

Boston College pulled away with the victory after going undefeated on Sunday’s round robin and posting an impeccable string of results to finish the weekend with 19 race wins to its two losses.

—Staff writer Jackson M. Reynolds can be reached at jackson.reynolds@thecrimson.com