Harvard Sailing Comes Up Just Short at Weekend Regattas

The Harvard sailing team finished in second place at both the Open Atlantic Coast Championships Round 1B (OACC) and the Hewitt Trophy this past weekend. The Crimson fell two points shy of Tulane University at the OOAC, still qualifying for the ACC Finals, while finishing 14 points short of Boston College at the Hewitt Trophy.

Open Atlantic Coast Championships

Four Harvard sailors headed to St. Mary’s City, MD this past weekend searching for sunshine, windy conditions, and favorable tides, and the weather delivered. The wind fluctuated between five to 10 knots on Saturday, allowing for 10 downwind-finishing races in each division. All in all, the trip was a success for Head Coach Michael O’Connor’s team.

The Harvard A-Division Boat, manned by juniors Justin Callahan, who was a finalist for the 2024 Skipper of the Year award, and Kennedy Leehealey, a 2024 Crew All-American, started strong, finishing in fourth three times, third and second once, respectively, and first twice through their first seven races. Meanwhile, junior Mitchell Callahan and senior Alexandra Dorofeev on the B-Division Boat tallied 36 points over the same stretch, winning their eighth race to conclude four top three finishes.

Despite the strong starts, both boats struggled over the next few races, with the A-Boat netting 13-6-10 in races eight to 10 and the B-Boat paring a 10th and a 13th place finish in races nine and 10. The B-Boat’s 13th place finish saw the Crimson lose the lead it had maintained since race four to Tulane in 108-103.

Sunday’s racing again saw clear skies but slower winds, sitting around 3-4 knots. The Crimson closed the gap in the last two races, with the A-Boat earning one more win and a fifth-place finish, while the B-Boat finished fourth and fifth. Despite the rally during the second day of competition, the Crimson’s last-minute push through the more mild conditions was not enough to surpass Tulane’s 132-point total.

By finishing within the top nine, however, Harvard clinched a berth to the ACC Finals in two weeks where the Crimson will again face Tulane and many of the same opponents as this past weekend.

Aiming to defend its 2023 Atlantic Coast Title, Justin Callahan was confident that the team would be able to bounce back from the performance this past weekend, and that the squad would would be able to gel and find its groove following the departure of last year’s seniors Marbella Marlo and Lachlan McGranahan, who was named the College Sailor of the Year.

“I think it comes down to a matter of just chemistry and putting all the pieces to the puzzle together and just executing them at the right time,” Justin Callahan said.

Hewitt Trophy

While both Callahans, Dorofeev and Leehealey represented the Crimson in Maryland, four Harvard sailors traveled north to Brunswick, MN, where they were met with much colder, cloudier conditions than those at OAAC. Saturday’s sailing saw one W3 and five W4 races for the A-Division and one W3 and four W4 races in the B-Division.

Both boats remained consistent throughout all nine races, maintaining their second-place position from race two through the end. Freshman Harrison Strom and sophomore Katherine Shin on the A-Division Boat won five of their races, only falling to third twice, fourth once and sixth once in each of the other races. Their boat finished first in the A-Division overall, seven points ahead of Boston College’s 28.

“I think for both Harrison and I, our goal was just to get better at sailing together and be more in sync with our communication in the boat,” Shin said. "I don't think I could ask for [a better result] for the two of us.”

The B-Division Boat, led by freshman Kate Danielson and sophomore Christina Chen, won two of its nine races, but five races outside of the top three including an eighth-place finish left them with a 33-point total.

The Boston College B-Division Boat was dominant, winning seven races and totaling only 12 points. Even as the wind died out on Sunday, there was little movement at the top of the leaderboard. Boston College maintained its lead, finishing 14 points ahead of Harvard.

The sailors of Harvard will continue to split up next weekend, competing at the Women’s Atlantic Coast Championship Final (WACC) in Annapolis, MD, NEISA Match Racing Championships in Marblehead, Mass. and Nevins Trophy in Kings Point, NY this weekend. The Crimson will look to improve upon its fifth and sixth place finishes at WACC and NEISA last year, respectively.