Some might think that first place in the New England singlehanded championship and second place in the national singlehanded championship are enough for Molly Carapiet ’06, the Yale women’s sailing team’s star freshman.
The Inter-Collegiate Sailing Association hardly agrees with that sentiment. The association released standings Nov. 18 putting Carapiet at the top of preliminary rankings for the inaugural Quantum Female College Sailor of the Year award, ahead of national champion Anna Tunnicliffe. Tunnicliffe, a sophomore at Old Dominion University, is ranked second, and Amanda Clark, last year’s national champion and a senior at Connecticut College in New London, is ranked sixth.
The ranking is based on Carapiet’s finishes in both the New England and National championships and will eventually include her results from the spring 2003 New England and National Women’s Dinghy Championships, which are doublehanded regattas.
Carapiet said she had high hopes for the upcoming spring season, but that winning the award would be difficult.
“I hope to do as well in the doublehanded stuff as I did in the singlehanded,” Carapiet said. “With the team’s support I hope to have a successful spring season. It’ll be much harder, because everybody practices doublehanded every day.”
Carapiet will likely be sailing in the doublehanded regattas with Sarah Himmelfarb ’06, who crewed for Carapiet through most of the fall season.
Himmelfarb said she was pleased to hear that Carapiet was atop the standings.
“It’s really great sailing with Molly, and I’m really happy for her — she definitely deserves whatever she’s earned,” Himmelfarb said. “I think we’ve both worked really hard this fall and improved a lot. We’re looking forward to doing even better in the spring.”
Himmelfarb also said that Molly had practiced very hard.
“They added up all the practices people went to and Molly went to the most practices,” Himmelfarb said. “She went to all of them.”
The award will be presented to the female skipper who is at the top of the quantitative rankings at the conclusion of the 2003 ICSA North American Women’s Dinghy Championship.
Quantum Sail Design Group of Annapolis, Md., will sponsor the award.
Julie Papanek ’05 was the skipper in the B division at the women’s Atlantic Coast Championships, Nov. 16-17, where Carapiet captained A division and Yale took third.
Papanek said she valued the award itself highly.
“I think the award is really awesome because women’s sailing doesn’t get as much support as coed sailing,” Papanek said. “I think it would be amazing if a Yalie could win the award in the first year of its existence.”
Papanek also said that Carapiet’s ranking was great for the team as a whole.
“Two years ago the women’s team wasn’t even ranked,” Papanek said. “To have a freshman women’s sailor at the top of the Quantum rankings says good things about the team and where we’re heading.”