Sailing Struggles at Danmark, President's Trophy

After a favorable start to the season, the winds blew against the Harvard sailing team this weekend.

The coed sailing team competed at the Danmark Trophy Cup on Saturday and Sunday at the Coast Guard Venue, finishing seventh overall. St. Mary's finished first in the event.

The team entered five members in three divisions. In division A, co-captains Cristian Taubman and Sarah Levin finished fourth, while sophomore Margaret Gill and Susan Bonney struggled, finishing 12th in division B. In the singlehanded division C, sophomore Sean Doyle finished second.

"The conditions were pretty rough," said Doyle. "The winds were between five and ten knots. It was the hardest regatta so far this year."

The event was a slight letdown after the strong performance last week in which they finished second to MIT at the Hoyt Trophy Regatta.

The Danmark Trophy was a qualifier for the Atlantic Coast Championships to be held on November 13, but no one was able to qualify this week.

The women's sailing team competed at the President's Trophy at Boston University on Saturday, entering two members into each of the two divisions of the ten-team event. Senior Lauren Toretta paired up with junior Alex Beale in Division A, while two freshmen, Sarah Jessop and Clemmie Everett raced in Division B.

Low winds caused two of the eight races in each division to be cancelled and impaired the conditions for those that went off.

"The wind was very shifty, coming in patches," Jessop said. "There was a lot of fouling and we had trouble around the corners."

The team was trying out some new team combinations in this non-qualifying regatta, which was won by MIT.

"We did all right, considering that we have never raced together before," said Everett. "We can definitely improve our bow handling, though."

Both teams will race again Saturday, with the women's sailing team competing in the Navy Women's Intersectional and the co-ed squad at the Singlehanded Championships at Brown.