The No. 3 nationally-ranked women’s sailing team followed up on the Olympic Trials victory of its alumna Isabelle Kinsolving ’01 by finishing fourth in the Atlantic Coast Championships this weekend.

Yale qualified for the regatta, which was held concurrently with the last days of the Olympic trials, by virtue of its first place finish in the Yale Women’s Intersectional Oct. 18-19 at the Yale Corinthian Yacht Club in Branford.

Molly Carapiet ’06 and crew Jenn Hoyle ’05 finished fourth in A division at the ACCs, while Emily Hill ’07 and Meghan Pearl ’06 finished fourth in B division. Sarah Himmelfarb ’06 was also present to serve as a crew.

Carapiet, who had been in Houston, Texas, for the Olympic trials, left Texas early to sail in the ACC regatta.

Although they finished fourth overall, the Bulldogs were just three points out of third and six out of first.

Carapiet said a few crucial mistakes kept the Elis from finishing first.

“We made some mistakes that cost us the victory,” Carapiet said. “But we still did pretty well. I think that everyone on our team is learning very quickly, and I hope that will lead to success in the spring.”

Hoyle, who is the women’s captain, said despite improving from the beginning of the season, the Bulldogs struggled in light air conditions and had one bad race in each division.

“It shows that in lighter air, when you know you’re not going to get in many races, you just have to be as consistent as possible,” Hoyle said.

The Eli freshmen also saw success. Philip Stemler ’07 and crew Alison Spitzer ’07 finished 11th out of a field of 13 in a tightly-fought A division competition at the Freshman Atlantic Coast Championships Nov. 8-9. But the real story was Matt Barry ’07 and crew Hannah Oakland ’07, who sailed to a first place B division finish and allowed Yale to earn sixth place overall in the championships, held at the Massachusetts Maritime Academy.

But while the women and the freshmen succeeded, the coed team ran into trouble. Yale came in 15th out of 16 at the Atlantic Coast Dinghy Championships, held this weekend at the New York Maritime Academy.

Heavy currents and winds on the first day and windless conditions on the second day kept the regatta to only six races, giving the Elis little chance to compensate for or offset early troubles and mistakes. Eivind Karlsen ’06 and crew Benoit Bewley ’05 finished 15th in A division, while Julie Papanek ’05 and Eric Steinlauf ’05 finished 11th in B division. The coed team remained unranked nationally for a second consecutive biweekly ranking period, failing to regain the top-20 status it had held for several years.

Steinlauf said the team’s small frames may have put Yale at a disadvantage.

“It was really windy on Saturday, getting up towards 20 knots, but even with me in the boat we were a little bit too light,” Steinlauf, a heavy crew, said.

Although this weekend marked the end of the sailing teams’ regular season, Papanek will travel to Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, Fla., next weekend for the North American Singlehanded Championships.