Strong Weekend for Sailing in Final Fall Tune-Up

It was a great weekend on the water for the No. 9 Harvard coed sailing team. The Crimson competed in three regattas over both days and finished in the top two spots for two of the three events. It was a final tune-up before Harvard prepares for its last week of sailing next week with the Atlantic Coast Championship.

HAP MOORE TROPHY TEAM RACE

Harvard’s strongest performance of the weekend occurred at the Hap Moore Trophy regatta, where the team finished in first place out of 12 boats that raced.

The regatta was in the form of team racing, which junior captain Andrew Mollerus explains is not the primary style of sailing in the fall.

“As a result, few schools put more than a week or so of team racing prep in before the event,” he said. “We as well as many of the other teams were somewhat rusty coming into the weekend.”

The Crimson finished with an 11-3 record for the weekend. Boston College and Tufts University followed right behind in second and third place.

“Overall, this was a great weekend for Harvard sailing,” junior Jacob Bradt said. “While it certainly was not the toughest team race regatta of the year, I definitely think that, as a team, we are leaps and bounds above where we were with respect to our team racing abilities as of this time last year.”

Bradt believes that the biggest weakness for his team this weekend was in its race starts. His teammates see potential for growth in other ways.

“Our team struggled to sail the boats as fast as we could while thinking about how to beat our competitors, which we have diagnosed and will emphasize in upcoming practices,” senior Brian Drumm said.

Drumm and Mollerus were joined by seniors Michael Drumm and Gram Slattery, and junior Marek Zaleski as skippers in this regatta. The crews for Harvard were Bradt, junior captain Sydney Karnovsky, sophomore Emma Wheeler, and freshman Kevin Coakley.

“Everyone did a great job of adjusting to new conditions and situations that came up during racing,” Coakley said. “We had 5 skippers and 4 crews rotating throughout the regatta, so everyone played different roles on the water at different points over the weekend. It reflects well on our team’s preparation and depth that we were able to be successful regardless of which combination was sailing.”

SISTER ESTHER ANNUAL REGATTA

The wind was shaky all weekend for the sailors down in Narragansett Bay for the Sister Esther Regatta. The Crimson competed against 19 other boats and finished in second place overall.

Sophomores Matthew Mollerus and Olivia Kjorlien finished in fifth place in the A division, while freshman Nick Sertl and sophomore Nomin-Erdene Jagdagdorj took first place in the B division to round up the final result for the Crimson.

Salve Regina hosted this in-conference regatta which showcased the 420 style of boat. Boston University finished in first place, scoring nine points lower than Harvard.

MIKE HORN TROPHY

The Crimson came in fifth place out of six teams in the Mike Horn Trophy on Saturday. The regatta was hosted by Harvard and took place on the Charles which experienced stable winds and clear skies throughout the day.

Racing was done in a round robin style that included three rounds of 45 races in total. The Crimson finished the day with a record of 3-12.

Junior Sophie Bermudez, sophomore Bennett Capozzi, and freshmen Taylor Ladd and Dylan Farrell were the skippers for the Crimson. Senior Ashleigh Inglis, junior Kristina Jakobson, sophomore Cara Kennedy Cuomo, and freshman Kristin Anderson were the crews for the day.

Boston College took first place with a 13-2 record and Tufts was right behind in second place. The regatta was in the style of team racing with FJs.

“We are always trying to improve at every event,” Coakley said. “We took this weekend as an opportunity to get better at team racing and prepare for the Atlantic Coast Championship next weekend.”

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