Dave Curtis
Yalies sailed to success this past weekend as the coed teams placed first in every regatta they entered and the women’s team earned second at the Showcase Finals.
The coed teams sailed at the Captain Hurst Trophy at Dartmouth, the Sacred Heart Trophy at Sacred Heart University and the Storm Trysail Intercollegiate Regatta at the Larchmont Yacht Club, while the women competed in the Jen Harris Women’s Showcase Finals hosted by Navy in Annapolis, Maryland. Despite variable winds and unexpected conditions, the Bulldogs adapted and continued a strong season.
“Finishing second with just 12 points between us and Brown University, the reigning national champions and winners of the [women’s] event, left the team wanting more and wanting to push harder for the ultimate goal,” assistant coach Martim Anderson said.
On day one of competitions, the women sailed with a southeast breeze on the Severn River, despite a forecast for much worse conditions. Anderson noted that the conditions were similar to what the team expects in June for the national championships. According to skipper Chrissie Klingler ’20, it was important that the team started strong and picked lanes well, as Saturday’s conditions led to teams favoring one side of the course over the other. Day two saw light and changing winds that only allowed for two races per division over the course of the day.
At the Captain Hurst Trophy, the Blue and White sailed to victory, scoring 64 points to Stanford’s 71. Not only did the overall team secure the highest spot on the podium, but the three individual teams also claimed first, second and third. The win came after a sunny day and clear conditions on Sunday.
The Bulldogs also won the top positions at the Sacred Heart Trophy, placing first and second individually to beat out Tufts by four points overall despite fluctuating winds. This was an especially strong performance given that this was the first race for either Yale team at Sacred Heart.
The Storm Trysail Intercollegiate Regatta was yet another win for Yale, despite the lack of champagne conditions. In lieu of dinghy sailing, the usual mode of competition, the sailors competed on J100s, which have six crew members on board. Almost all team members sailed the same boat last year at this competition, allowing the team to focus as conditions changed. On Sunday, the team started in the lead but dropped back to fifth before recovering and rallying to first in the last 10 minutes.
“We are all on the boat together, each doing a different but equally important job, and collaborating on tactical decisions and sail trim to do everything we can to make the boat go faster,” helm Emery Wallace ’21 said.
The collaborative nature of the weekend continued beyond the race.
“My favorite part of the regatta is that it is an intersectional event, so we got to race against a lot of our friends from the past,” Wallace said. She noted that many of the competitors sailed together in junior sailing and high school sailing, so the weekend was an opportunity to see former teammates from across the country.
Forty-eight teams competed in the Storm Trysail Intercollegiate Regatta.
Katie Taylor | katie.taylor@yale.edu