Despite losing three All-Americans to graduation, the Yale sailing team and captain Molly Carapiet ’06 are confident they will be right back in the hunt for a national championship. The 2004 national champion women’s team is ranked fourth in the country while the coed team is ranked second.
“Despite some of our top sailors graduating last year, I think we still have a lot of talented sailors on our team and things look extremely promising for the season,” Jason Rabinovitch ’08 said.
Although the team has not practiced or raced much so far this season, its results in the season-opening Harry Anderson Regatta at home last weekend were encouraging.
At the Harry Anderson, Hannah Oakland ’07 crewed for Carapiet after practicing for only two days together. They made an impressive showing in the A division but look forward to working on their communication while sailing. Brown ’08 and Sarah Himmelfarb ’06 won the B division to lead Yale to a sixth overall finish in the regatta.
The women’s team is expected to be strong this year with the leadership of Eliza Becton ’06 and Kendra Emhiser ’07. Names to watch out for include skipper Emily Hill ’07, two-time women’s honorable mention All-American skipper. The team also welcomes several new freshmen, including Jane Macky ’09, who hails from New Zealand.
“I am really excited about the sailing season ahead of me,” Macky said. “With great coaches, high competition in the training sessions four times a week and regattas on the weekend I expect to learn a lot. College sailing is new for me and I think it will be challenging and a lot of fun.”
The team’s sights are set on the national championship, Carapiet said.
“For the fall season we would like to do well at the Sloop Nationals as well as the men’s and women’s single-handed nationals,” she said.
The sloop team will be lead by Matt Barry ’07, the captain of the coed team. Carapiet said she hopes Barry will go the men’s single-handed nationals.
Brown is a returning sophomore who is sailing with fellow All-American Himmelfarb. Another team to look out for is Phil Stemler ’07, a staff reporter for the News, and crew Abby Coplin ’08.
If the past weekend was any indicator of the upcoming season, Harvard, Tufts and UC Irvine will be tough competition for the Bulldogs. The team will sail in three different regattas in the upcoming weekend. The Elis are especially looking forward to the Yale Women’s Intersectional, which Yale has won the past two years.
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