Sailing Earns a Trio of Top-Three Finishes Over Four Regattas

Harvard sailing made waves at four different regattas, ending the weekend with three top-three finishes. The team sent contingents to the 34th Lynne Marchiando Regatta, the BU Trophy Race, Central Series 3, and the Dellenbaugh Women's Trophy.

LYNNE MARCHIANDO REGATTA

No. 9 Crimson had its third-consecutive second place finish against a field of nationally-ranked competitors at the Lynne Marchiando Regatta hosted by MIT. Racing in FJs and NC Fireflies, Harvard fell short to Yale, finishing with a 12-3 record overall.

After going the first day with no losses and in first place, the Crimson saw its lead disappear, losing races to No. 3 Boston College, No. 10 Stanford, and No. 8 Roger Williams. But even with the podium-topping overall score lost to the Bulldogs, Harvard still managed to beat Yale on the water, finishing 1-3-6 in its team race against the top-ranked team.

“We've been putting in a lot of work in practice and that has shown in our past few weekends,” freshman crew Kevin Coakley said. “We have a group of very capable sailors.”

The weather also provided a significant challenge, with gusts over 40 knots forcing sailors to use storm jibs and reefed mainsails. During the first day of racing, competition was postponed due to wind. Even on Sunday, the gusts averaged in the 20s.

This Crimson group brought a large contingent of six skippers and seven crew to the regatta, and it changed up its lineups frequently.

“We kept changing combinations and creating new pairings to adjust as best as we could,” Coakley said. “We tried to match the opposing team's weight combinations so we wouldn't be mismatched if the conditions changed quickly.”

BU TROPHY RACE

A smaller Harvard contingent took first at the BU Trophy Race, a little farther down the Charles River.

The pair of freshman skipper Nick Sertl and sophomore crew Nomin-Erdene Jagdagdorj sailed in FJs in the A division, coming in first with a mere eight points. In the B division, sophomore skipper Bennett Capozzi and sophomore crew Olivia Kjorlein came in eighth, but their score of 21 kept the Crimson in first.

Harvard competed in a field of sixteen NEISA schools, including Yale, No. 5 Tufts, and MIT.

The sailors also experienced high winds and racing had to be canceled on Saturday after numerous boats capsized.

CENTRAL SERIES 3

The Crimson maintained its stellar weekend record with another second-place finish at the Central Series 3, hosted by Harvard. Teams sailed in FJs.

The Harvard squad finished behind Salve Regina in the pool of 11 NEISA competitors. The freshman duo of skipper Dylan Farrell and crew Kirstin Anderson took fourth and sixth in the two A division races that took place. In the B division, junior skipper Adam Brodheim and freshman crew Ariana Gross finished first and sixth, respectively, making the Crimson’s combined score of 13 good enough for second.

"I thought the racing went pretty well," Farrell said. "We did a good job staying flat and fast upwind and were able to get through the day without capsizing once. As always, we could improve on our starts, which were not great in the first two races."

Each duo as only allowed to compete in two races, as the contests were called early due to wind, capsizes, and risk of hypothermia.

DELLENBAUGH WOMEN’S TROPHY

While the remainder of the team stayed to compete on the local Charles, four female members of the team headed to Providence, RI, where they earned 13th place out of a pool of 18, sailing in 420s. Host Brown took first, while other Ancient Eight members No. 1 Yale and No. 5 Dartmouth took fifth and 15th respectively.

The field of competition also included No. 9 Charleston, No. 7 Coast Guard, and No. 8 Bowdoin. Teams also came from as far as California and Florida to compete in the interconference regatta.

Junior skipper Sophie Bermudez and senior crew Ashleigh Inglis held down the A division for the Crimson, finishing in 14th place with 70 points. The tenth place finish earned by freshman skipper Taylor Ladd and junior crew Kristina Jakobson brought the team’s final placement up to 13th.

Even with temperatures in the 50s—slightly warmer than those in Boston—winds and capsizes brought the first day of competition to an early close. However, on Sunday, conditions improved greatly and the winds averaging about 16 knots gave way to a day filled with races.

—Staff writer Isabel DeLaura can be reached at idelaura@college.harvard.edu.