While many of us spent our winter holiday with old and new friends, a few of Dartmouth's sailors felt the need to both win a regatta and enjoy a party, a tried and true Big Green tradition. So they headed off to Tulane University and the Sugar Bowl at the Southern Yacht Club on Dec. 30 and 31 searching for the thrill of competition and, with Bourbon Street so close by, a little fun.
The Sugar Bowl brought 17 teams from around the country for an intense, invite only, 20-race regatta. Both days the wind was five to 15 knots, the perfect medium breeze where the Dartmouth sailors really shine -- and shine they did.
Dartmouth edged out Stanford for first place overall after a tiebreaker after both teams finished the regatta with 77 points. In sailing, tiebreakers are decided by which team has the most first-place finishes in the various divisions. The team of Jimmy Attridge '07 and Killarney Loufek '07 dominated B-division, taking 6 of 10 races and won the award for the lowest scoring team in the regatta, posting a final score of only 20 points.
After placing third in the first race, Attridge told Loufek, "What we need is more cow bell. Give me more cow bell!"
While most would have been stupefied by the "Saturday Night Live" reference, Loufek responded by navigating their 420 to victory in the next five races.
Not to be outdone by the B-division, the stellar women's team of Emily East '06 and Kate Hacker '07 finished third in A-division despite the race committee starting the contest early, causing Dartmouth and two other teams to be a minute late for the start.
For her perseverance and excellent overall performance (against, it should be noted, mostly male skippers) in the breeze, East was awarded the outstanding women's competitor award.
Along with a trophy, East also won tickets to the more famous but less competitive Sugar Bowl held in the Louisiana Superdome.
In celebration of their blowout, the team of four spent the waning hours of 2004, and a few early ones of 2005, walking up and down Bourbon Street with their newly-acquired cow bell, ringing in the New Year.
In the coming weeks, look for Dartmouth sailors in the gym getting pumped for the National Championships.
