Dave Curtis
Yale’s sailors came home this weekend with podium finishes across five regattas, proving once again the unmatched dominance of Bulldog sailing.
The coed Elis emerged victorious from the waves at the Tufts September Invite, finishing first ahead of 10 other teams while the women’s team earned the same results at Connecticut College for the Women’s Showcase. Elsewhere, the Blue and White raced to third place at the Danmark Trophy and Moody Trophy, while two other cohorts competed at the Sister Ester Open to win yet another set of podium victories.
“This was a pretty good weekend for us in all of the events that we sailed in,” crew Mina Cezairli ’21 said. “For the event I sailed in, I think good communication and a positive attitude on the water as well as attentiveness to the changing conditions such as wind and current were most important.”
Cezairli sailed in the Sister Ester Open, which took place at Salve Regina in Newport, Rhode Island. Two teams of Bulldogs entered the race, with Team 1 coming in third with 119 points while Team 2 snagged the top spot with 79 points. The Elis’ win shines especially brightly compared to last year, when a younger cohort ended the weekend in 15th.
Sailed at the Coast Guard on the Thames River, the Danmark Trophy saw shifting breezes for much of the weekend. Though the Bulldogs ceded the top spot to Harvard, they beat 17 opposing schools to earn a respectable third place.
Another squad of Elis also traveled to the University of Rhode Island for the Moody Trophy, which saw ideal sailing conditions for the entire weekend as opposed to last weekend’s wind-deprived regattas. The Elis managed another third-place finish at URI, losing second place to Brown by just a single point. However, a separate cohort of Bulldogs swept the competition at the same time at Tufts, finishing far ahead of the other 10 opposing schools.
“This was a strong weekend for the team,” skipper Dylan DiMarchi ’20 said. “With such a large group, we are now consistently sending multiple Yale teams to many of the regattas. Having these numbers makes practices feel much more like regattas, so the caliber of sailing during practice is increasing rapidly.”
While the coed team had a banner weekend, the women’s team also dominated at the Women’s Showcase Regatta at Connecticut College. Despite strong and shifty winds — breezes ranged up to 12 knots — the women still managed to beat Harvard by four points and win first, above last year’s third-place finish.
Next weekend, the Bulldogs will once again split up for another four regattas: the Storm Trysail big boat race in NY, the Stu Nelson Trophy in CT, the Coed Showcase Semi in MD and the Hewitt Trophy in NH.
The Bulldogs’ fall season will culminate in November at the Singlehanded Nationals in Santa Barbara, CA.
Valerie Pavilonis | valerie.pavilonis@yale.edu