Courtesy of Chad Lyons

Yale’s women’s and coed sailing teams both snagged important wins this past weekend, rebounding from subpar performances earlier in the season. The coed team dominated the Showcase Finals at St. Mary’s in Maryland, topping a field of the 18 best teams in the nation by nearly 30 points overall. The women’s team sailed at home this weekend, also taking the top spot over 13 other schools.

Coed sailing reaffirmed their status as one of the nation’s top teams as they fended off challenges from MIT, the College of Charleston and Georgetown — the medalists in last year’s coed national championship. Two weekends ago, the Elis faltered at the New England Intercollegiate Sailing Association Match Race Championship and fell short of qualifying for the national match racing finals. This past weekend’s performance indicates that the Bulldogs have more than regained their momentum since then.

“Sunday was pretty memorable,” Nic Baird ’19 said. “We had gusts over 30 mph, the boats were fully planing on the downwinds and you could pass four or five boats all at once in a big puff, all while nearly capsizing.”

Baird skippered in the A division, with Sonia Lingos-Utley ’21, Sam Tobin ’22 and Graceann Nicolosi ’20 sharing crew duties. All-American Baird led the squad to an explosive start when they captured first place in the first race of the 18 total contested. Over the course of the regatta, the Yale team in the A division accumulated five additional top-three finishes, taking third in the division with 124 points. The College of Charleston and Bowdoin took first and second, respectively.

Yale was equally formidable in the B division. Shawn Harvey ’21 skippered the first 12 races of the regatta with crew Graceann Nicolosi ’20, while team captain Nick Hernandez ’19 skippered the final six races with Harvey serving as crew. The Elis won the B division with a total of 122 points, edging out second-place Hobart and William Smith Colleges by six points. Harvey and Nicolosi’s first-place finishes in three consecutive races on Saturday were especially notable, as part of their eight top-three finishes over the entire regatta.

“This event had all the best teams from around the country,” Hernandez said. “It was great to show how we stand at the end of the fall season. We strive to be the best in all wind conditions, and our training has paid off thus far. We all have things we know we can improve, but it’s awesome to see we are on the right track for the national championships in the spring.”

A separate contingent from the coed team traveled to Northeastern for the Oberg Trophy and took ninth overall with 366 total points. Nicholas Marwell ’21 skippered the A division, with Helena Ware ’22, Meredith Ryan ’22 and Anisha Arcot ’22 sharing crew duties throughout the regatta. The group finished 14th in their division. Ryan also served as crew for skipper Dylan DiMarchi ’20 in the B division, a role she shared with Catherine Webb ’22. The trio powered through capricious weather conditions on the second day to sail consistently during the entire regatta – finishing between third and sixth place in nine of 13 races. These results were good enough to earn third place in their division with 75 points. Finally, skipper Christophe Chaumont ’22, along with crews Becca Rose ’21 and Arcot, represented Yale in the C division. The trio finished ninth with 130 points.

Four sailors from the coed team also traveled to Fairfield for the Fairfield Cup. The competitors only sailed eight races total, all on Saturday, as high winds on Sunday made the regatta impossible to continue. Yale was represented in the A division by skipper Jonathan Schwartz ’21 and crew Kathleen Wells ’21, who accumulated 63 points total for an eighth place finish. In the B division, skipper Jacob Asher ’21 and crew Allison Rice ’22 took seventh with 54 points.

Coed sailing also participated in a noncollegiate competition this weekend, with sailors Martin Tipton ’21 and Adam Wolnikowski ’21 finishing 14th at the 505 East Coast Championship. The duo sailed impressively against a field of 24 teams, which included many experienced older sailors.

The women’s team sailed at home this weekend, completing 10 races on Saturday before the regatta was called off at noon on Sunday due to high winds. Louisa Nordstrom ’20 skippered for Yale in the A division with Katie Clulo ’21 and Claudia Loiacono ’21 sharing crew duties. The trio placed in the top five in seven of 10 races, including two first-place finishes. The Elis suffered a small mishap in the second race of the regatta, earning a DNF which set them back to ninth place from their previous position in second. Yale rebounded to finish the regatta in third.

In the B division, skipper Chrissie Klingler ’20 sailed with crew Kira Woods ’19 and Cate Mollerus ’21. The Elis were dominant, winning four out of 10 races. At the beginning of the regatta, Yale was head-to-head with Harvard, but the Bulldogs were able to pull away in the last four races, cementing the top spot with an impressive 27 points.

“We had really great conditions on Saturday,” Klingler said. “I was really happy to walk away with the win after getting second in my division the two weekends before. We had great wind for all of fall break and got a lot of valuable practice time, and that was really useful for the racing over the weekend.”

Both the women’s and coed teams finish their regular seasons next weekend, with the women’s team heading to Bowdoin for the Urn Trophy and the coed team scattering to the Schell Trophy and the Nickerson Trophy at Dartmouth and Tufts, respectively.

Raymond Gao | raymond.gao@yale.edu .

RAYMOND GAO