Sailing Excels in Weekend Regattas

The middle of October brings midterms and essays for most Harvard students. But for the members of the Crimson sailing team, the middle of October marks the halfway point of the season.

This weekend, the coed and women sailing teams showed signs of good things to come in the remaining weeks of competition. The coed squad traveled to Dartmouth College, where they took sixth place in the Captain Hurst Bowl. Meanwhile, members of the women’s team competed in the 2012 Yale Women’s Intersectional Regatta, placing eighth overall.

Both finishes marked the highest for Harvard since the coed team took sixth place in the Hood Trophy Regatta on Sept. 23. It has been a tough year for the Crimson due to the loss of graduating seniors, including All-American Brendan Kopp.

Although he is not quite pleased with his team’s results, Harvard coach Mike O’Connor is happy with the improvements he has seen in the team.

“We have seen results that indicate vast improvements over years past for particular players,” O’Connor said. “We had an event where a couple of our juniors won at Tufts, and those same two skippers competed at the regatta two years ago and finished last…. It was a similar situation with [Morgan] Russom and [Isabel] Ruane. Two years ago at the Yale regatta they finished around 15th and this past weekend they were second.”

O’Connor would like to see more regular success as the team heads into the fall championship season.

“Well, we need to be more consistent,” O’Connor said. “Particularly, we need to execute good starts more consistently.  I would also like to see us improve in our heavy-air technique. It’s something that we really need to work on, particularly in the late fall and early spring when it tends to be pretty windy and we need to be faster when the breeze is on.”

CAPTAIN HURST BOWL

The Crimson co-ed squad scored a total of 108 points in the Captain Hurst Bowl, just good enough for the sixth overall spot.

Its point total stood one point behind the fifth place finishers from Brown and two points ahead of the Midshipmen from Navy.

Sophomore skipper Gram Slattery and junior crew Alma Lafleer raced in the A division for Harvard. The duo recorded four single-digit finishes over the course of the weekend.

They scored 43 total points, fourth place in the A division. In the B division, freshmen Andrew Mollerus and Sydney Karnovsky finished in eighth place for the Crimson. The freshman pair tallied 65 total points.

Boston College won the regatta with a total score of 74 points, 54 coming from the A division and the remaining 20 in the B Division.

The regatta was held in honor of recently deceased former Dartmouth sailing coach Captain William Hurst.

2012 YALE WOMEN’S INTERSECTIONAL REGATTA

Over in New Haven, the Harvard women’s team took the eight overall spot in the 2012 Yale Women’s Intersectional Regatta. The Crimson tied with the Rams from the University of Rhode Island, as each team scored 146 total points. Harvard won the tie-breaker.

Juniors Ruane and Russom finished in second place in the A division. The duo scored 49 points, just four points ahead of the host-team Bulldogs, in six races. It marked the highest finish for either team on the weekend.

“We were excited about the result,” Ruane said. “We were nervous about this regatta because of the competition. It was really windy and there were really challenging conditions, along with the really competitive fleet. So we were just looking to do our best, and it was better than we could have hoped.”

Junior Caitlin Watson and Jacquelyn Cooley, freshman Sophie Bermudez, and sophomore Emma Smith alternated in the B division boat. By the end of the weekend, the foursome racked up 97 points.

Dartmouth and Yale stood neck and neck on the final day of competition. In the end, the Big Green prevailed with 78 points, slightly less than the Bulldog’s total of 84.

Ruane acknowledged the season’s challenges but remained confident in her teammates as they head into the final stretch of the fall season.

“In general, we had ups and downs for the team,” Ruane said. “The girls are looking better and better each weekend, and we are seeing the results of our hard work.... I think we have to continue the energy and dedication we have shown so far. We’ve really come together the past two weeks as a team. We are all working together, and we have to keep working as it gets colder and windier.”

—Staff writer Blake Sundel can be reached at bsundel@college.harvard.edu