It’s already November, but Yale’s three sailing teams are set to continue their seasons as water temperatures drop and another New England winter looms.

The Elis qualified for the coed and freshman Atlantic Coast Championships by virtue of their performance at the Schell Trophy/New England Fall Dinghy Championships and the New England Frosh Championships/Nickerson Trophy, respectively, this weekend. The nationally ranked No. 11 women’s team qualified for the women’s Atlantic Coast Championships two weeks ago, dominating the competition at the Yale Women’s Intersectional and finishing 1st.

Molly Carapiet ’06 said she always knew the team could make it to the Atlantic Coast Championships.

“I knew all season we had the potential to qualify for the ACCs,” Carapiet said. “But qualifying for all three [freshman, women’s, and coed] shows the depth of our team, and I hope that in the future we can do even better.”

The women, who sailed to a 6th-place finish in the Victorian Coffee Urn at Harvard this weekend, will travel to Old Dominion University in Virginia on Nov. 15-16 for the Women’s Atlantic Coast Championships.

The coed team, led by all-purpose skippers Julie Papanek ’05 and Carapiet, finished 7th overall in the Schell Trophy/New England Fall Dinghy Championships regatta at MIT.

Papanek and crew Meredith Killion ’05 finished 7th of 18 in A division, while Carapiet and crew Jenn Hoyle ’05 finished 9th in B division. Yale, by finishing 6th out of teams in their conference, nabbed the second-to-last New England Intercollegiate Sailing Association (NEISA) berth to the coed Atlantic Coast Championships, which will be held at the New York Maritime Academy Nov. 15-16.

Carapiet said it was Papanek’s consistency, rather than her own sailing, that allowed the Bulldogs to qualify.

“I did not sail very well on Saturday,” Carapiet said. “I sailed better on Sunday, but [Papanek] sailed really well all weekend, and that allowed us to qualify.”

The freshmen also succeeded this weekend. Matt Barry ’07 finished 1st in B division at the New England Frosh Champs/Nickerson Trophy at the United States Coast Guard Academy in New London. Barry’s victory combined with Phil Stemler ’07’s 2nd-place A division finish to secure Yale 2nd place at the Nickerson and an automatic berth in the Freshman Atlantic Coast Championships, which are scheduled for Nov. 8-9 at the Massachusetts Maritime Academy.

Stemler sailed with Alison Spitzer ’07, while Hannah Oakland ’07 crewed for Barry.

“I was real happy with the second place in A and really happy with Matt for winning B,” Stemler said. “I think it was a measure of our improvement over the year. We may have struggled early on, but we’ve had a few months to get used to the scene and figure out how to sail in different conditions.”

Stemler also noted that the competition that he, Barry, Spitzer and Oakland sailed against will be tough opponents in future years.

“There were definitely some really good sailors there,” Stemler said. “I think the freshman class is a really solid class in New England college sailing. We’re going to be battling with these guys for years to come.”

Although full results were not available for the Victorian Coffee Urn at press time, Emily Hill ’07, who skippered in the regatta, said she was happy with the women’s’ performance at the Nov 1-2 regatta.

“I was really happy with how we did,” Hill said. “We just went there and tried our best we’ve been practicing really hard.”

Hill sailed to a 3rd place finish with crews Kate Littlefield ’04 (races 1-6) and Meghan Pearl ’06 (races 7-13). Kendra Emhiser ’07, who skippered in B division, sailed to a 9th place finish with crews Natalie Kitchen ’05 (races 1-6) and Kate Littlefield ’04 (races 7-13). The sailors faced shifty, light winds both days, which are considered normal conditions for Boston’s Charles River. The wind picked up on the second day, accompanied by rain.

Despite the weather, however, Hill said she thought everyone on the team considered it a successful weekend.

“Everyone felt really good and everyone qualified for everything,” Hill said. “It was great.”

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