Sailing Opens Season with Strong Showings

Harvard sailing started its season with a splash as the team finished in the top five for three of its four regattas this weekend. The Crimson, which ended last season unable to qualify for nationals, displayed improvement and promise in its first races.

Prior to this weekend, the Crimson was ranked 16th nationally. The four Regattas were hosted by Yale, MIT, Tufts and Harvard.

39th Harry H. Anderson Jr. Trophy

Harvard finished second overall behind Yale, the host of the Crimson’s first away regatta.

Sophomores Sydney Karnovsky and Andrew Mollerus took 4th in the A division while sophomore Jacob Bradt, Junior Michael Drumm, and captain Isabel Ruane shared the responsibility for gaining first place in the B division.

Racers competed in both FJs and 420s. The weather conditions down in Connecticut turned out to be incredibly variable over both days.

“Throughout all the variability, it was still good to see that we stayed consistent in our results throughout the regatta,” Drumm said. “There wasn’t a lot of winning in some races and losing badly in others; we were focused on staying in the top-five.”

Tony Deutsch Trophy

The Crimson placed in its worst position all weekend in this women’s in-conference regatta hosted by MIT. Only FJ racing took place on this two-day competition.

While No. 5 Boston College and No. 17 MIT took the first and second spots respectively, Harvard finished up in seventh place with 256 points. Senior Caitlin Watson and sophomore Kristina Jakobson competed in the A division where the Crimson finished in sixth. Sophomore Sophia Bermudez and junior Ashleigh Inglis placed seventh in the B division.

“The team as a whole definitely needs to work on starting,” Mollerus said. “We go from sailing on rivers, where the water is much choppy to more open waters, away from the coast, and the game changes a lot. We need to be more disciplined in practice, we need to work on starting and we need to be more consistent.”

Although no protests were filed, the wind was shifty for most of the day on Saturday. Despite the calmer airflow on Sunday, there were several abandoned starts.

Lark Invitational, Central Series 1

No. 10 Tufts, the host of this Invitational, took three of the top five spots in this in-conference regatta. Competition took place through both FJs and Larks. Harvard finished up in fifth place overall with 225 points.

Due to the wind, there were two protests in Saturday’s competition, but none came through on Sunday.

Junior Richard Bergsund and freshman Karen Kennedy placed fourth in the A division while captain Ames Lyman, junior Ansel Duff and sophomore Hajar El Fathihi took third in the B division.

Although he didn’t compete in this regatta, Bradt felt strongly about how the team has changed compared to last year.

“We’re a little more confident because it comes with experience and with age,” he said. “The people that sailed this weekend had enough experience under their belt for them to feel ready to compete.”

Harvard Invitational

The freshmen on the Crimson proved most resilient in this home regatta on the Charles Sunday.

The in-conference competition consisted solely of FJs. Freshmen Matthew Mollerus and Emma Wheeler took first and sophomore Matthew Clarida and freshman Victor Kamenker took fifth in the A division.

In the B division, the strength of the freshmen really showed. Five freshmen and sophomore Adam Brodheim collected the fourth and sixth positions.

“We had a bunch of freshmen do well and get experience in their first regatta,” Drumm said. “Overall, it was a fun weekend.”

“We saw a big improvement from last year,” the older Mollerus added. “[This weekend] we all went through and did what we had to do. “

—Staff writer Tanner Skenderian can be reached at tskenderian@college.harvard.edu.