The Yale sailing team placed fifth in the Danmark Trophy regatta at the Coast Guard Academy Sunday while Molly Carapiet ’06 placed first at the New England Women’s Singlehanded Championship at MIT.
Team captain Stuart McNay ’04 and crew Kate Littlefield ’04 placed fourth in the A division while skipper Brandon Wall ’03 and crew Meredith Killion ’05 placed 10th in the B division at the Danmark.
McNay was satisfied with the result.
“The wind was extremely shifty which does not necessarily play to our team’s strength, which means we performed quite well giving the circumstances and it will be a great building block for other regattas we will be sailing later this fall,” McNay said.
Carapiet, who traveled to Cambridge with Sarah Himmelfarb ’06 to participate in the regatta, was modest about her win.
“I had hoped to qualify but I had no expectations to win at all, so it’s very exciting,” Carapiet said. “This is the first time that Yale has ever won this regatta and I’m happy that I could do it for Yale — they supported me a lot this weekend.”
McNay had even more complimentary words for Carapiet.
“Molly won in a field of very talented competitors, including last year’s singlehanded national champion, and she should perform very well at nationals,” McNay said.
After placing third out of the top 24 boats Saturday to qualify for the Sunday race, Carapiet placed first in three of the 12 Sunday races to clinch the championship. As one of the top five finishers, Carapiet will travel to the National Championships in Houston Nov. 8-10.
Commodore Michael Renda ’03 sailed in the Last Chance Men’s Singlehanded Eliminations at Boston College on Saturday but fell short of qualifying for the New England tournament.
Yale sailors also participated in the Chris Loeder Trophy at the University of New Hampshire Saturday and Sunday, where they placed 11th overall. Skipper Ross Anderson ’03 and crew Melissa Bailey ’04 placed 11th in the A division while skipper Edward Stuart ’03 and crew Natalie Kitchen ’05 placed eighth in the B division.
While the Bulldogs’ upperclassmen competed throughout New England, the freshmen stayed at home for the Yale Freshman Invitational Sunday. The Bulldogs finished fourth overall out of six schools.
Next weekend, the Bulldogs travel to the Coast Guard Academy for the Hap Moore Team Race, which McNay acknowledges has proven challenging for Yale in previous years.
“We have not done fantastically in team racing regattas in the past, but we are now older and stronger and we have a lot more depth,” McNay said.
Renda said some of the team’s difficulties over past weekends have stemmed from the massive renovation going on at the Yale Corinthian Yacht Club boathouse.
“Once things settle down we’ll start tearing it up on the water,” Renda said.