Yale Athletics
The coed and women’s sailing teams kicked off their 2018–19 seasons this past weekend, dispersing to four different regattas throughout New England. The Bulldogs claimed first at the Harry Anderson Trophy as the host school, as well as second in a field of seven at the Pine Trophy, 10th at the Mt. Hope Bay Invite and 12th at the Toni Deutsch Regatta.
The highlight of the week- end was the coed team’s victory in the Harry Anderson Trophy. With captain Nick Hernandez ’19 and Shawn Harvey ’21 skipper- ing with crews Sonia Lingos-Utley ’21 and Claudia Loiacono ’21, respectively, the Bulldogs edged out Boston University for the win.
“I was really happy with how the team performed,” Hernandez said. “Although there were many top-ranked teams there, the main challenge to overcome was the tricky wind direction. There were large velocity and direction changes that were unpredictable, so the best thing to do was to put ourselves in a position that mitigated risk.”
Both divisions sailed 16 races over the two days, with Hernan- dez and Lingos-Utley coming in fourth in the A division, and Har- vey and Loiacono winning the B division 62–89, a formidable mar- gin. The Bulldogs secured victory in the first home regatta of the sea- son despite unreliable wind condi- tions that were tricky to navigate.
On the second day of sailing, Hernandez and Lingos-Utley also encountered a mechanical issue in which the strap attaching Hernandez to the boat broke. Yale was credited with a breakdown in that race and accrued six points.
In addition, Yale sent a contingent of four underclassman sailors to the Mount Hope Bay Invite hosted by Roger Williams University. The Bulldogs were represented by skipper Martin Tipton ’21 and crew Alexandra Contomichalos ’22 in the A division, and by skipper Adam Wolnikowski ’21 and crew Kathleen Wells ’21 in the B division. The pairs placed ninth and 14th within their respective divisions.
The Elis were also successful in the 76th annual Pine Trophy, a keelboat regatta hosted by the Coast Guard Academy. Yale sent a mix of veterans and newcomers. The team led by skipper Nic Baird ’19 and crews Dylan DiMarchi ’20, Nicholas Marwell ’21 and Christophe Chaumont ’22 tied Brown for first with 34 points but had to settle for second as a penalty for hitting a marker on the course. Yale won five of 14 races across the two days and placed in the top three in seven more. Along with Brown and third-place Dartmouth, the Bulldogs will advance to the conference match race championship, a qualifier for the national championship.
“We started off very strong but faltered a little as conditions changed,” Baird said. “We qualified for the next round so we’re happy, and our boat handling was getting better, which is the important part.”
The women’s team also opened its season this past weekend, competing across two regattas.
The Elis sent a women’s squad to the Harry Anderson Trophy alongside several coed squads, including the Yale one that won the regatta. The all-women’s team consisted of four veteran sailors, with skipper Louisa Nordstrom ’20 and crew Graceann Nicolosi ’20 in the A division, and skipper Chrissie Klingler ’20 and crew Kira Woods ’19 in the B division. The team took 11th overall in a coed field.
“I was really happy with getting the opportunity to skipper in coed A division this weekend,” Nordstrom said. “The level of competition was definitely much harder than the standard level in women’s regattas, and it served as a really great learning opportunity. Given that it’s the beginning of the season, I definitely wasn’t where I wanted to be overall skillwise, and competing allowed me to identify many of the things I need to work on in the upcoming season.”
The Bulldogs also dispatched four sailors to MIT this weekend for the Toni Deutsch Regatta. Skipper Emery Wallace ’21 and crew Kathryn Clulo ’21 competed in the A division while skipper Anisha Arcot ’22 and crew Helena Ware ’22 represented Yale in the B division. The first day of sailing began with an unstable easterly wind of five to 10 knots, fading as the day went on, at which point racing was halted for the day. The second day of the regatta saw more favorable conditions, with the breeze velocity reaching 13 knots.
Wallace and Clulo accumulated 133 points over the two days of racing, placing them 12th within the A division, just one point behind the University of Vermont in 11th place. The duo of first years, Arcot and Ware, finished a respectable ninth in the B division, capturing two top-three finishes throughout the 13 races of their first college regatta. On the first day, Arcot and Ware sailed six of seven races in the Firefly dinghy, a boat with which they had no previous experience.
Next weekend, both coed and women’s sailing head to Boston College. The coed team also scatters to MIT and Bowdoin while the women’s team sends additional sailors to Roger Williams.
Raymond Gao | raymond.gao@yale.edu