In early February, the Dartmouth sailing coach and two former Dartmouth sailors traded in their heavy jackets and snowshoes for the summer weather in Auckland, New Zealand for the Team Race World Championship of Sailing.
Nine countries were represented at the event from all over the world including the likes of India and the Czech Republic. Several countries including the USA were able to enter two teams based on their prior team racing records.
Patrick Hogan '01, a two time collegiate All-American headed up USA1 while Brian Doyle, the current Dartmouth sailing team coach, and Leigh Lucas Woodworth '98, both former All-Americans, competed for USA2.
Team racing has been rapidly increasing in popularity over the past ten years. It consists of one three-boat team competing against another three-boat team in 13-foot long boats. Each boat has a skipper and a crew making a team of six people.
The goal for each race is to maneuver your team of three boats into a better combination of finishes than your opponent's three boats. The team with the lowest score at the end of the race wins such as finishing in first, second and fifth would defeat the team finishing in third, fourth and sixth.
Team racing is always very exciting and intense with many races decided within the last few boat lengths from the finish line. It requires quick thinking and flawless boat handling as one helps move their team into a winning combination.
Doyle had been unable to attend the Nationals but jumped at the opportunity to join USA2 and Woodworth at the World Championships. USA2 had been runner up in the worlds the previous two times, and were determined to take revenge on both USA1 and the rest of the world.
The regatta, spread out over six days of racing, was mostly sailed in moderate 5-15 knot wind conditions just outside of America's Cup village in Auckland. The regatta took place just before the America's Cup, so the sailors were greeted daily by the Swiss and New Zealand boats headed out to practice.
Coach Doyle and USA2 got off to a quick start finishing undefeated in the first round robin of racing with USA1 not far behind in third. Each team sailed against all of the other teams in the event once in order to split the fleet into the top and bottom. Both USA teams soared into the top fleet as they positioned their teams into winning combinations before each finish. The top eight teams then raced against each other multiple times with the teams posting the best winning records moving onto the semifinals.
Unfortunately, a rule for the event was set so that one country could not have two teams represented in the semifinals. USA2 was in third place and USA1 was in fourth place so Doyle's USA2 advanced to the semifinals leaving USA1 done for the event.
This was a difficult finish for Hogan and his USA1 team to swallow because they had proven their skill to be in the top four in the world but were left out of the semifinals. Fortunately, there was much Steinlager that had yet to be finished giving Hogan and USA1 a chance to enjoy the wonderful fruits of New Zealand.
Doyle and the rest of the USA2 team rested up for the last two days of sailing matched up with their nemesis Team New Zealand who had beaten USA2 in the finals the previous two world championships. Crediting "boatspeed and years of team race experience," Doyle and USA2 were able to defeat the defending champs, matching them up with the number one seed GBR2.
In the final battle for the top team racing team in the world, Doyle and USA2 were able to defeat the British in three quick races, capturing the gold at the 2003 World Team Race Championships. This was the first World Championship victory for all the team members after having been so close before.
Doyle has been the head coach of Dartmouth College since 1993, taking one year off to compete in the Tornado Olympic Trials. He has built a top-notch sailing program consistently finishing in the top 10 nationally in both co-ed and women's racing. In 2000, the Dartmouth women's team won the National Championships, while the co-ed team won the New England Championships in Team Racing in 2001 and Fleet Racing in 2002. The All-American Committee has recognized 47 All-Americans during Coach Doyle's tenure as head coach.
