Harvard Splits Up, Has Mixed Results

In a weekend full of wild weather, it wasn’t rain that stopped the Harvard sailing team—it was the sun.

Still skies on Sunday cut the co-eds’ weekend at the Smith Trophy short, and in limited racing, the Crimson finished in the middle of the pack in 13th place.

Elsewhere in Boston, the Harvard women turned in their best finish of the season, placing second overall at the Women’s Regis Bowl.

The co-eds sent a second group to Central Series Four, where the Crimson took ninth place, but Sunday’s Harvard Invite was cancelled due to lack of wind.

“We’ve only had three races so far, and I think we’ve made a few avoidable mistakes that we’re working on correcting right now,” sophomore skipper Emily Lambert said. “The season’s been really good so far, but I think we can really see improvement.”

WOMEN’S REGIS BOWL

Harvard’s all-female quartet traveled down the Charles to compete in the Boston University-hosted Women’s Regis Bowl, and came away in a tie for second place among the 10 competing schools.

“This weekend was somewhat less competitive of a regatta than the bigger ones we’re used to,” Lambert said. “But it was a really good time to practice for upcoming events.”

Lambert skippered the Crimson’s top boat, while classmate Alexandra Jumper handled the crewing duties.

The pair placed fourth overall in the combined division of 20 boats, finishing in the top three in half of the weekend’s 12 races and winning once.

And while Harvard’s second boat took first-place honors in two races, skipper and captain Liz Powers and sophomore crew Marie Appel couldn’t match the consistency of their A-boat counterparts, finishing eighth overall.

Powers and Appel recorded four top-10 finishes in addition to their two wins.

Though the conditions were unpleasant, the seasoned Crimson women felt comfortable in their home waters.

“We were sailing on the Charles, so it was conditions we’re used to seeing in practice, which probably gave us somewhat of a local advantage,” Lambert said. “The rain just meant that we had to wear more clothing and be wet—it didn’t really affect sailing too much.”

As a team, Harvard finished with 160 points, matching Tufts’ total for second place. Boston College won the regatta with 126 points.

SMITH TROPHY

In college sailing’s largest regatta, the Crimson co-eds were able to keep pace, finishing 13th in a field of 26 schools representing most of New England college sailing.

Harvard sailed the regatta, hosted by MIT, without its top tandems, instead giving some of its less-experienced sailors a chance to test the waters.

“It was definitely an opportunity to gain some experience,” junior skipper Colin Santangelo said. “It’s a pretty high-level regatta, and it’s pretty important that we did well. There was a little more pressure on us than usual.”

Santangelo and freshman crew Sarah McCuskee tied for ninth in the A division, matching Roger Williams with 74 points. The pair started the weekend strong, finishing sixth and second in the first two races, but faded later in the shifty conditions.

“Saturday was really rainy, and the rain has a tendency to kill off the breeze a little bit—it was lighter than it would have been otherwise,” Santangelo said. “It was shifty because it was coming off all the buildings in Boston, and it was hard to predict the wind shifts.”

Sailing in the B division for Harvard was the tandem of freshman skipper Ryan Byrne and senior crew Michelle Konstadt. The pair was 14th among B boats with 111 points.

Byrne and Konstadt cracked the top 10 twice, recording a fourth and fifth-place finish over Saturday’s nine races.

Rhode Island handily won the regatta, besting runner-up Connecticut by 20 points.

CENTRAL SERIES FOUR

Harvard also sent a co-ed contingent to the local-level Central Series Four regatta, hosted by Tufts. The Crimson placed ninth out of 11 teams, amassing 257 points.

Roger Williams’ top quartet won the event with 73 points.

Senior Alex Bick skippered the A boat, which placed 17th out of 22 competing boats. Sophomore Julia van der Vink served as his crew for the first seven races, with freshman Jin Zang stepping in for the final race.

Harvard’s B boat was right behind in 18th place. Freshman Sam Millham was the skipper, while sophomore William White took on crew duties. The B pair’s ninth-place finish in the regatta’s final race was the only time a Crimson boat placed in the top 10.

—Staff writer Kate Leist can be reached at kleist@fas.harvard.edu.