This weekend at the 76th annual Boston Dinghy Cup hosted on the Charles River in downtown Boston, the Dartmouth sailors showed the collegiate sailing world why they deserve to be ranked number one. The regatta was the largest intersectional regatta thus far this spring season, hosting 18 teams from all over the nation. Co-hosted by MIT, Boston University and Harvard University, it featured four divisions of dinghies including two divisions of FJs, one of the notoriously unstable Larks and one of Technical Dinghies from MIT.
After a total of 68 races in conditions varying from driving rain and 20 knot winds to big chop and light air, Dartmouth dominated the competition, finishing with a total of 373 points, beating second place Tufts by a huge margin of 25 points and leaving third place Brown in the dust by 72 points. Erik Storck '07 and Clementine James '05 won the A division by eight points while Peter Fleming '05 and Killarney Loufek '07 took fourth in the B division and Lauren Padilla '05 with crews Liz Hyon '05 and Andrew Geffken '08, took fourth place in the C division, as well. While many collegiate racing teams can barely muster four teams to send to an intersectional regatta, Dartmouth was able to put Andrew Loe '06 and Elisabeth Kreter '05 (who have sailed the more competitive A division in the past) in the D division, where they won by 42 points, beating out second-place St. Mary's College, 54 to 96. It was clear to every New England and National team at the regatta that, while other teams may be able to compete with Dartmouth on a head-to-head, division-by-division basis, no other team even comes close to the depth of talent displayed by the Big Green. Of the 68 races sailed this weekend, Dartmouth sailors placed in the top 5 in 35 of those races. In a world where performance can be as erratic as the wind, such consistency is peerless.
"This regatta, since it was four divisions, really allowed the depth of our team to become apparent," James said. "The conditions were extremely shifty and trying, but all nine sailors kept their heads in the game and prevailed. This was an awesome event to win, since it gives both the coed and women's teams something to build on going into national qualifiers. We will only improve in the coming weeks after our lake thaws and we can again practice on it. Although everyone else hated the rain this weekend, we are hoping it helped melt the ice so that we can stop driving to Boston for practices. Our team is back!"
Elsewhere this weekend, the sailors narrowly missed winning the Veitor Trophy held at Connecticut College. With 18 teams in attendance and racing abandoned Sunday afternoon due to dangerously high winds and cold temperatures, the steeled team of Ben Sampson '08, Betsy Bryant '08, Todd Whitehead '06 and Laura Sheinkopf '07 lost a close tie-breaker to Boston College, with both teams finishing with 106 points for the regatta. Sampson and Bryant lost a tie-breaker in A division for first place in the A division to Tufts, beating third place Boston College by one point. In the B division, Whitehead and Sheinkopf were edged out of first place by just one point, as well, by Boston College.
The sailing team is looking forward to another perfect record this weekend and hopes to soon be back out on Lake Mascoma, preparing for the coming National Championships.
