Crimson Overcomes Greatest Road Test

The journey on land proved to be the most difficult experience for Harvard’s sailing teams this weekend, as both the No. 3 co-ed squad and the No. 6 women found it difficult actually getting to their races in Maryland.

Once they finally arrived, it was a mixed bag, as the co-eds turned in a satisfying fourth place finish at the Truxtun Umstead Trophy in Annapolis, while the women took seventh at the St. Mary’s Intersectional in St. Mary’s City.

TRUXTUN UMSTEAD TROPHY

The Crimson’s greatest difficulty came before the 19-team regatta, as the team endured a 21-hour drive to the US Naval Academy thanks to snowy conditions on the road south. Once the team arrived on Saturday, Harvard raced only twice in two divisions before the day’s action was canceled.

The event, which features four divisions—A and B with conventional dinghies and C and D featuring single-person lasers—was just barely warm enough to take place on Sunday, when the Crimson took fourth.

“Teams that typically do well at these kinds of regattas are those with a little more depth,” senior skipper Clay Johnson said. “Overall, we did pretty well, and we were psyched about our finish.”

Johnson and crew Emily Simon managed the best performance, taking third place with just 58 points in A-division, while captain skipper Kyle Kovacs teamed up with junior Elyse Dolbec and sophomore Jon Garrity at crew to take fourth. Freshman Drew Robb narrowly eked out a third-place finish in C-division, while senior Matt Knowles took 12th place for Harvard in D-division.

“We were really impressed with Drew Robb’s finishes,” Johnson, the former captain of the co-ed team, said. “He came in not having as much laser practice and posted some solid, consistent results. For a freshman to do that at a really high level was impressive.”

Also impressive was the fact that the event was able to take place considering the frigid conditions.

“I think a few kids actually got hypothermia and one kid hit his head and had to go to the hospital, so they called the races on Saturday for safety’s sake,” Johnson said.

Nearby St. Mary’s won the event with a final point-tally of 212, while Hobart/William Smith College took second with 239 points. The State University of New York-Maritime sailed in third with 250 points, and the Crimson’s 272-point total was just enough to beat out Navy’s 286 points in the top five.

Harvard’s strong performance on the heels of such a long trip might actually be due to the similar nature of the recent weather in Cambridge.

“The windy regattas probably work to our advantage,” Johnson said. “We’re more used to it than some of the Southern schools.”

ST. MARY’S WOMEN’S INTERSECTIONAL

The women arrived late to the St. Mary’s Women’s Intersectional hosted by the school, missing the first two A-division races en route to the seventh-place finish.

Sophomore skipper Roberta Steele and sophomore crew Lauren Brants picked up the slack as best as they could in the remaining 11 races, leading the Crimson to an eighth-place finish in A-division.

“It was an interesting way to start the weekend,” Brants said of the long drive down and the five hours of sleep the team got before Saturday’s action.

The B-division tandem of freshman skipper Liz Powers and senior crew Cassandra Niemi fared slightly better, as they narrowly beat out a feisty Georgetown squad and took sixth overall in the division.

“I think things went pretty well considering the circumstances,” Brants said. “It was really breezy and we didn’t have any heavy crews, but we stuck it out.”

As a team, Harvard ended the day with 180 total points, 12 behind Dartmouth in sixth place and also 12 ahead of Old Dominion in eighth.

The Seahawks of St. Mary’s made it a sweep on the weekend, as they also took first in this even on their home waters. Yale took second, while Tufts, Charleston and the Hoyas rounded out the top five.

“Even though it was breezy,” Brants said, “we had a great time.”

Next week marks the first full slate of the year for the Crimson, as the two teams will compete in a total of five regattas on Saturday and Sunday.

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