Yale Athletics
Competing at the Women’s Showcase Finals, the Yale women’s sailing team took silver in a field of 18 this weekend. Coed sailing, meanwhile, finished fifth at the match race conference championship, ninth at the Captain Hurst Bowl and fifth at the Sacred Heart Trophy.
Yale’s second-place finish at the women’s finals, hosted by Brown, was especially impressive given the caliber of its opponents, which included some of the best teams in the nation. The results from this weekend reaffirm the Bulldog sailors’ perennial status as national contenders and provide further momentum for the Elis, who were ranked fifth in the New England Intercollegiate Sailing Conference by Sailing World last week.
At Brown, Yale finished just two points shy of first place overall. Skipper Louisa Nordstrom ’20 and crew Graceann Nicolosi ’20 topped the A division, accruing a total of 75 points over the two-day, 14-race meet. The two All-Americans faced shifty and unpredictable weather conditions but persevered to rise to the top of their division.
“[The sailing] was super tricky and really tight points-wise up until the end,” said Nordstrom. “The wind was oscillating constantly and really unpredictable, so it was really hard to be consistently in the top in each race. Overall though, I think our team did a great job adjusting to shifting conditions and were able to be one of the most consistent teams out there.”
In the B division of the Women’s Showcase Finals, skipper Chrissie Klingler ’20 achieved an impressive second place finish. Kira Woods ’19 and Cate Mollerus ’21 shared crew duties. Yale’s duo in the B division achieved several first-place finishes but ultimately lost its lead due to a subpar last race.
The coed team had a rougher time on the water this weekend, falling short of qualification to the match race national championship, with a fifth-place finish in the conference finals. Match racing pits two boats head-to-head, often in elimination style.
The Bulldogs faced a string of tough luck this weekend, missing out on the first seed position in the match race conference championship due to a technical malfunction at the beginning of the regatta. The Elis then faced Dartmouth, another strong team off to a rocky start, in the quarterfinals, with the Big Green winning by a score of 2–1. The quartet representing Yale at MIT this weekend featured team members Nic Baird ’19, Shawn Harvey ’21, Dylan DiMarchi ’20 and Meredith Ryan ’22.
“We sailed well in the seeding round,” Baird said, “But a breakdown on the boat we were sailing cost us the one seed – that pitched us against Dartmouth. They beat us 2–1 and ended up going on to win the event. We really were sailing very well as a team, making few mistakes and dominating in most races. When we lost it was close, and when we won it was by significant margins. We just happened to lose just at the wrong time. Sometimes that’s how it goes and there’s nothing we can do about it.”
The coed team also sent a contingent of seven sailors to Dartmouth for the Captain Hurst Bowl this weekend. Led by captain Nick Hernandez ’19, who skippered in the A division with crew Catherine Webb ’22, the Bulldogs placed ninth in the field of 17.
Hernandez and Webb sailed neck and neck with Stanford’s duo in the A division, even leading at several points of the race. However, the Cardinals rallied with four consecutive first-place finishes to end the regatta, edging out Yale for the top spot overall. Skipper Nick Marwell ’21 and crew Helena Ware ’22 took seventh for Yale in the B division with 92 points. In the C division, skipper Sam Tobin ’22 sailed with crews Becca Rose ’21 and Katie Clulo ’21 sharing responsibilities.
“I knew the competition would be pretty challenging,” Tobin said. “After a rough start, I slowly improved my results throughout the weekend. It’s cold up north. I’m not so used to sailing in that kind of weather, but the beautiful foliage and wind conditions made for a great regatta. There was one race where I felt as though all of my training came together perfectly: good start, good boat speed and good decisions on the water. I’m looking to gain more experience at this level of racing in order to develop consistency in my decision-making process and hoping for better results in the future.”
Finally, the coed team traveled to a third regatta this weekend: the Sacred Heart Trophy at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield. Yale was represented in the two-division, 11-race regatta by skipper Christophe Chaumont ’22 and crew Anisha Arcot ’22 in the A division and by skipper Jacob Asher ’21 and crew Kathleen Wells ’21 in the B division. Chaumont and Arcot finished third in their division with 35 points, while Asher and Wells took seventh in the B division with 69 points. Overall, the Bulldogs finished fifth out of 11 teams.
The women’s team returns to the water to compete at home next weekend, while the coed team scatters to Fairfield, MIT and St. Mary’s College of Maryland.
Raymond Gao | raymond.gao@yale.edu .