SAILING: Bulldogs ship up to Boston to win Hatch Brown, Regis Trophies
A windless weekend did not stop the Bulldogs from competing at five regattas. They won both the Hatch Brown and Regis Trophies, and Nicholas Davies ’24 qualified for Men’s Singlehanded Nationals later this fall.
Courtesy of HDFA Photography
In Boston, the Bulldogs captured first place at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology-hosted Hatch Brown Trophy, finished in the top two positions at Boston University’s Regis Trophy and placed 12th at the Tufts Invitational.
Additionally, Nicholas Davies ’24 placed third at the Monotype Trophy at Boston College, qualifying him for the Laser Nationals later this season. Yale sailors also competed at Bowdoin’s Barnett Trophy in Maine, where they finished in fourth.
The air was still across New England on Saturday, making it nearly impossible to race. After the first day, only three of the five regattas had started and of those regattas, only 12 races were completed, according to the Inter-collegiate Sailing Association’s website. At the MIT-hosted Hatch Brown Trophy on Boston’s Charles River, the breathless weather paused competition for the day.
“Competitors went out four different times with nothing sustainable,” noted MIT sailing master Franny Charles in the official regatta summary. “All competitors must do the wind jig [Sunday] morning.”
The prayers for wind were answered as the sailors were able to participate in a total of 15 races across three divisions on Sunday. By the end of the day, the Bulldogs edged out Roger Williams University by one point to win the Hatch Brown. Yale was also victorious in the 2019 Hatch Brown Trophy.
Also in Boston, the Bulldogs sent two teams to the women’s Regis Trophy. Similar to Hatch Brown, the Boston University-hosted event saw no races on Saturday due to the still air.
“It was frustrating not to get to sail [Saturday], but that is all part of the nature of a sport that depends on the wind,” Helena Ware ’23 wrote to the News. “[Sunday’s] weather was beautiful though — a good mix of wind conditions so you had to be on your toes!”
Taking full advantage of the favorable conditions on Sunday, the Bulldogs dominated the competition. Yale’s first boat — consisting of skipper Carmen Cowles ’25 and crew Meredith Ryan ’23 on A fleet, and skipper Emma Cowles ’25 and crew Ware on B fleet — finished in the top three in all but one of the regatta’s races, leading them to finish in first place overall. Mia Nicolosi ’25 and Ximena Escobar ’25 helped lead the Bulldogs’ second boat to a second-place finish. Yale’s performance this year at the Regis marks an improvement from its fifth-place finish at the 2019 iteration of the regatta.
Yale also sent two sailors — Davies and Petru Neagu ’23 — to compete at the Monotype Trophy, which was hosted by Boston College this year. The Monotype is the New England Intercollegiate Sailing Association’s, or NEISA’s, Singlehanded Championship, meaning that the top four boats, each of which only holds a single sailor, qualify for the national regatta later this fall. The sophomore Davies placed third in the competition behind Brown and the U.S. Coast Guard Academy, punching his ticket to the ICSA Laser Nationals. In 2019, Yale hosted the Monotype, and Davies and Neagu were also tapped to compete in the event. They finished in seventh and 11th places, respectively.
Further up the coast in Brunswick, Maine, the Bulldogs took on the Bowdoin-hosted Barnett Trophy.
Coming off a victory at the Pine Trophy last weekend, first year Nathan Sih ’25 was excited to gain more experience in collegiate sailing this weekend at the Barnett. Instead of racing J70 keelboats like at the Pine, the Barnett Trophy competition consisted of Flying Junior, or FJ, dinghies, which only have two sailors aboard compared to the J70’s four sailors.
“It was amazing to head up to Maine this weekend and get my first taste of college dinghy sailing,” Sih told Yale Athletics. “I had a great time with the team, and it was super fun to get out racing.”
Along with Ben Markert ’23, Sih won the regatta’s A division. Their efforts pushed the Bulldogs to a fourth-place overall finish behind Harvard, Bowdoin and Tufts in a slip from their win at the event in 2019.
The five regattas concluded Yale’s second weekend of sailing this fall — Yale won two regattas both last weekend and this past weekend, giving them four total wins this month.
Yale sailors swept the NEISA Sailor of the Week awards for their successes in the first weekend of competition. Teddy Nicolosi ’24 and Anisha Arcot ’23 earned NEISA’s coed award for their prowess at the Harry Anderson Trophy raced at home in Branford. With their help, the Elis placed first in the regatta.
On the women’s side, first years Nicolosi and Escobar were also granted NEISA Sailor of the Week honors for their hard work at the Toni Deutsch Regatta on the Charles River. Although the Bulldogs finished in third place overall, the pair dominated the B division with a 31-point lead over the second-place boat in their division.
Next weekend, the Blue and White will race in four regattas. While some sailors are staying home to compete at the Yale Invite, others will head north for Tuft’s Hood Trophy, Dartmouth’s Mrs. Hurst Bowl and Brown’s Hoyt Trophy. In 2019, Yale won the Hoyt and swept the podium at home.