Coming off a groundbreaking season last year, the sailing team began their 2002 campaign by hosting the Harry Anderson Trophy Sept. 7-8. The Bulldogs, who were competing without captain and A team skipper Stu McNay ’04, finished 10th in a strong 22-team field.

McNay’s absence — the junior is currently racing at the World Championships in Sardinia, Italy — combined with lack of racing experience this season and tough conditions contributed to the Bulldogs’ disappointing finish.

“With Stu not there this weekend being the first regatta of the season, it was really about getting back into the swing of things,” Brandon Wall ’03 said.

On a hot and windless weekend, the Elis hosted the regatta at the Yale Corinthian Yacht Club. The light air and sub-5-knot winds made for difficult sailing.

“The trying conditions required us to have a lot of patience out there this weekend,” Jenn Hoyle ’05 said.

Four Yale sailors competed in the A fleet races. Arthur Kinsolving ’03 and Hoyle sailed the first day while Julie Papanek ’05, Kate Littlefield ’04 and Melissa Wisner ’05 competed the second day. The Elis finished 15th overall in the A races with 79 points. In the 10 races, their best showing was a third-place finish.

“We did a lot of switching around and gave a bunch of different people the chance to get some experience in our first major regatta of the season,” Hoyle said.

Stanford, which finished eighth place overall, won the A races with a score of 24 points. Each team’s overall regatta score was based on a combination of A and B flight races.

The Bulldogs fared better in the B races, taking fifth place with 41 points, 17 points behind the Crimson. Wall and Meredith Killion ’05 sailed in the B boat, winning two of their 10 races.

Wall said that he is confident about the Bulldog’s chances this year in New England Intercollegiate Sailing Association races and on the national scene.

“We have excellent depth,” Wall said. “This is the best that the coed team has looked at the beginning of the season in my four years.”

This weekend the coed sailors will compete in the Captain Hurst Bowl at Dartmouth. The women’s team will race in the Man-Labs Trophy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, while other Eli sailors will head to Harvard to battle in the Team Racing Series One.

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