WEB UPDATE: Co-Ed Sailors Qualify for Nationals

Teams who have found themselves in the middle of the pack throughout a regular season often await that one opportunity to prove their abilities. They are anxious for that one chance to show they belong among the best in their respective sport.

The Harvard co-ed sailing team was given that chance this past weekend at the Inter-Collegiate Sailing Association National Semifinals at the Fan Pier Boston. Facing light and shifty winds that created rather tricky conditions, the Crimson placed seventh in the western portion of the semifinals. Harvard was rewarded for its efforts with one of 18 spots in the ICSA/Gill National Dinghy Championships in San Francisco, Calif. from June 1-3, accomplishing its season-long goal of making nationals.

“The first and foremost goal was to qualify,” senior skipper Jon Garrity said. “The wind was not super cooperative out there this weekend, so we are happy to move on.”

While the women’s squad was not in competition over the weekend, Harvard also had a contingent of sailors from the co-ed team compete at the BU Trophy in Boston, placing 11th overall as a team.

ICSA NATIONAL SEMIFINALS

The Crimson co-ed squad had been eyeing the ICSA National Semifinals all season long, as a chance to qualify for nationals and also to perform well at an event that brought together many of the top collegiate teams in the country.

“It was a very competitive weekend of racing,” Garrity said. “Things were made a bit trickier by the fact that we were only able to get in eight races in each division, which is a rather small sample size. This meant that not all of the top teams might qualify, so we needed to perform well.”

The regatta, which was co-hosted by Harvard and MIT, consisted of a western and eastern portion, in which the top nine schools from each contest’s 18-team field moved on to nationals. Yale won the western portion of the affair, which the Crimson competed in, while Georgetown took home the team trophy in the eastern category of the race. However, Harvard’s seventh-place team effort was more than enough to enable it to make the trip to nationals, as it totaled 111 points, 46 better than the top-placing non-qualifying school in its division, Connecticut College.

The Crimson’s efforts were led over the weekend by the B-division duo of Garrity and sophomore crew Grace Charles. They placed third in their division, starting and ending the weekend with victories and collecting another one along the way to bring their total to three wins over the two days of competition.

“It was really a team effort out there this weekend,” Garrity said. “We stepped up for each other when we needed to.”

In the A division, sophomore captain and skipper Alan Palmer teamed up with fellow second-year Quincy Bock, who took care of crewing duties. The pair finished ninth in the division, as they finished in the top five in half of their eight races, placing in the top three on two occasions.

Harvard can now look forward to making the cross-country trek to the West Coast for nationals at the beginning of the summer.

“There is a wide open field at nationals,” Garrity said. “Three teams have consistently been at the top of the standings all year, but for the rest of us, anything can happen.”

The northern California waters will also present the Crimson with a different environment than it is used to sailing in.

“San Francisco is an extremely windy venue, and we must take into account wind and currents while we are out there,” Garrity said. “We need to get better in big breeze, which means we will continue to lift weights each week in preparation.”

BU TROPHY

The BU Trophy on the Charles River over the weekend afforded a contingent from the co-ed team some competition against talented teams as the season approaches its closing weeks. The Crimson placed 11th in a 15-team field, with Salve Regina taking home top honors.

In the A division, the Harvard team of sophomore skipper Matt Donelan and freshman crew William White in races one through six, along with the efforts of second-years skipper Colin Santangelo and crew Florence On in races seven through nine, took home a 12th place finish.

“The wind was really shifty this weekend in both direction and pressure,” Santangelo said. “There were a few races out there that really threw me for a loop.”

Their B division counterparts matched the A division’s 12th place efforts, as junior skipper Alex Bick and junior crew Ali Beyer competed for the Crimson.