Sailing Practices Team Racing Before ACCs

With its most important regattas of the fall season scheduled for next weekend, the Harvard sailing team took a break from its normal fleet-racing competition to participate in team racing this past weekend. Team racing is a format of racing in which three boats from each school compete and a school’s cumulative score is added up to determine the winner.

“Team racing is more prevalent in the spring,” senior skipper Colin Santangelo said, “but we used the two regattas this weekend to get people ready for the spring and to just get in the mindset. Team racing is all about how well a team competes together, and it is about being able to both slow down your opponents and help your teammates.”

The Crimson co-eds sent two groups out on the water over the weekend, and each brought home similar results. One squad claimed fourth place at the Hap Moore Trophy Team Race at Coast Guard, while the other finished fourth at the Michael Horn Trophy hosted by Harvard on the Charles River.

“It was nice to get some team-racing practice in early this weekend,” Santangelo said, “as it is a lot better to make mistakes now than in the spring.”

HAP MOORE TROPHY TEAM RACE

Harvard had its top group of sailors finish fourth at the Hap Moore Trophy Team Race over the weekend. The event was hosted by Coast Guard on the Thames River, which provided the 12-team field with some great racing conditions.

“We were hoping to do a little better than fourth,” senior skipper John Stokes said, “as we have been having a good fall and are a pretty deep team, which is important for team racing.”

The Crimson were represented by a trio of seniors as skippers, co-captain Tedd Himler, Alan Palmer, and John Stokes, along with third-year skipper Brendan Kopp. Three juniors, Marie Appel, Quincy Bock, and William White, who is also a Crimson news editor, and sophomore Alma Lafler took care of the crewing duties for Harvard over the weekend.

“There are some races we would like to have back” Stokes said, “but it was an alright effort overall. We really only started to practice team racing last week and will focus more on it in the spring.”

MICHAEL HORN TROPHY

The Crimson co-ed squad also had a contingent stay close to home this past weekend and finish fourth out of five teams at the Michael Horn Trophy on the Charles River. Fellow Ancient Eight member, Brown, took home the top team honors at the Harvard-hosted regatta.

“We had more experience last year and were able to win this event,” Santangelo said, “but I think we competed well this year and showed that we are able to compete at the top level of team racing.”

Santangelo was the lone senior representing the Crimson at this event over the weekend, while co-captain Emily Lambert and Alex Jumper served as the only third-years competing for Harvard.

Ryan Byrne and Sarah McCuskee paired up as the only Crimson sophomores competing at the event, while freshmen Caitlin Watson, Louisa French, Morgan Russom, Isabel Ruane, and Margaret Fulham rounded out the competitors for Harvard.

“Morgan did a great job out there competing in her first team race as a freshman,” Santangelo said. “Her performance bodes well for the future of this team.”

With the only team racing regattas of the fall season now complete, the Crimson turns its attention to the Atlantic Coast Championships, the most important regatta of the fall, next weekend.

“Harvard is currently ranked first in New England,” Santangelo said, “but ACC’s will give us a good chance to compete against some of the best schools from other divisions and see how we stack up nationally.”

—Staff writer Thomas D. Hutchison can be reached at tdhutch@fas.harvard.edu.