Crimson Boaters Enjoy End of Autumn

The No. 2 Harvard co-ed sailing team took advantage of one of fall’s last warm weekends last Saturday and Sunday, competing in five regattas and turning in a number of mixed performances.

A sixth-place finish at the eight-team Lane Trophy near Tufts capped off the weekend, but many took to the water before then. Members of the No. 4 women’s team were also in action, looking to improve on what has already been a surprisingly successful year.



WOOD TROPHY

The biggest regatta of the weekend took place at Dartmouth College in Hanover, N.H., where the Crimson finished in the middle of the pack, battling among 17 teams for a ninth-place finish. Hobart and William Smith College took top honors at the two-day event, while the University of Rhode Island and Boston College rounded out the top three.

“It’s more than just the results,” sophomore Megan Watson said. “Normally Dartmouth isn’t too windy, and we went with two all-girl boats that are light, so we struggled, but it was a good experience.”

Harvard was led in A-division by Watson at skipper and junior crew Christina Dahlman, who together took eighth place. In B-division, the sophomore duo of skipper Roberta Steele and crew Christina Cordeiro took ninth to pace the Crimson.

“I know the second day we did a lot better than the first,” Watson said. “We were constantly improving, so we were pretty happy with ourselves and the progress we made.”



NORMAN REID TROPHY

Arguably the best conditions over the weekend came at the Norman Reid Trophy at Boston College. The team race competition pitted seven schools against each other, and the host Eagles came away with the trophy at the day’s end. Nearby schools Tufts and Harvard took second and third, respectively.

Sailing for the Crimson was a trio of pairs: sophomore skipper Andrew Flynn and sophomore crew Lauren Brants, sophomore skipper Jon Garrity and senior crew Ashley Nathanson, and freshman skipper Drew Robb and junior crew Elyse Dolbec.

The team beat out Connecticut College, the University of Vermont, Bowdoin College, and Roger Williams University in the competition.



YALE WOMEN’S INTERSECTIONAL

Harvard’s most disappointing output over the weekend came in New Haven, Conn. at the Yale Women’s Intersectional. The regatta pitted 21 teams against each other, with the bulk of the races coming on Saturday. Both days featured relatively choppy waters, and with most of the top women in Hanover, the conditions affected the less experienced Crimson sailors on the way to a 16th-place finish.

Twelve races were sailed by the A-division grouping of freshman skipper Liz Powers and senior crew Cassandra Niemi, who finished in 13th place as a team.

In B-division, senior skipper Marion Guillaume and sophomore crew Kerry Anne Bradford finished next-to-last, beating out only Maine Maritime in the division’s final standings.

With many of the regulars away, Harvard’s focus during the weekend was on the co-ed regatta in Pennsylvania, as opposed to the women’s intersectional.

“The results were not the greatest [at Dartmouth], but the important thing was that it was a co-ed regatta, a higher level intersectional, and we got to send our women’s boats,” Watson said. “There was more depth than other regattas recently, better competition, so it was a much better experience.”



BOSTON UNIVERSITY INVITE

Brandeis University served as host to the Boston University invite on Sunday, as 14 different schools and 15 teams total sailed in 12 races during a shifty afternoon.

The Crimson finished right in the middle of the pack again, this time earning seventh place overall.

It was one of the best chances Harvard has had all year to get some of its freshmen time on the water, as the Crimson saw three of its first-years competing.

Senior skipper Rob Grenzeback and freshman crew Michelle Konstadt handled the A-division responsibilities, garnering an eighth-place finish, while freshman skipper Alex Bick and freshman crew Kate Harris took seventh place for B-division.

—Staff writer Malcom A. Glenn can be reached at mglenn@fas.harvard.edu.