For much of the fall season so far, the coed sailing team has cruised past competitors, but tricky conditions led to a disappointing finish in this weekend’s most important race.

The Elis took tenth overall at the Danmark Trophy, hosted by the United States Coast Guard Academy this weekend in New London. Back in New Haven, other Bulldog sailors participated in the Southern Series Four and the Freshman Series Four.

In the A division of the Danmark Trophy, Zach Brown ’08 and crew Sarah Himmelfarb ’06 finished fifth place just behind Tufts. In the B division, team captain Molly Carapiet ’06 and crew Hannah Oakland ’07 finished 11th with 170 points.

“There weren’t easy conditions,” Brown said. “If you made a mistake then you were immediately back in the fleet.”

The Bulldogs faced weather that they are not used to sailing in at home, including shifty winds. Brown said his boat normally starts off strong, but a slow start this weekend set them back. Brown and Himmelfarb were able to bounce back and win the ninth race in the A division.

On top of difficult conditions, the Elis faced tough competition from seventeen other schools. Boston College claimed first place with 252 points, Hawaii came in second with 261, and Dartmouth came in third with 266.

Brown said he hopes to work on getting off the line quickly in the next few practices.

On Saturday, Yale hosted the Southern Series Four, which the University of Rhode Island won with 74 points. Although the Southern Series is a more relaxed, less competitive regatta in college sailing, schools sent some of their best sailors this weekend because there were not many other regattas this past weekend. The Elis were able to send out two teams in each division, which placed eighth and ninth respectively.

As was the case at the Danmark, the conditions were challenging for the Bulldogs at the Southern Series.

“The conditions helped us get better at communication in terms of strategy,” Drausin Wulsin ’07 said. “It was actually a good thing because it made us talk more.”

In the A division, Giovianni Zevi Della Porta ’07 and crew Kate Williams ’08 finished eighth with 76 points, and Caleb Dorfman ’09 and crew Grace Becton ’09 finished ninth with 81 points. In the B division, Wulsin and Karen Chen ’07 finished sixth with 68 points, and John Graham ’08 and Lynn McGreggor ’08 finished tenth with 112 points.

“We didn’t do as well as we had hoped, but I thought we improved and learned a lot,” Wulsin said.

The Freshmen Series Four was held at the Yale Corinthian Yacht Club on Sunday. The Bulldog freshmen sailors finished on top with a total of 76 points, dominating Tufts and Connecticut College. Skipper Jane Macky ’09 and crew Adriane Levin ’09 took third in the A division with a total of 34 points. In the B division, skipper Kate Hagemann ’09 and crew Becton took second behind Connecticut College.

“We had really good combined results,” Macky said. “We took it as a very good learning experience. We were really focusing on the small things.”

Macky also said she was excited to win in the shifty conditions, especially because the Bulldogs do not get to practice in them very often.

The Bulldogs will be all over New England next weekend. Captain Matt Barry ’07 will sail at the Northeast Men’s Singlehanded Championships at Vermont, the women’s team has an Intersectional at Navy, and the Hap Moore Trophy Team Race at Coast Guard Academy is the first team race of the season.