On the shores of Lake Mascoma, beautiful weather often means no wind. Just like a baseball team in an endless rain-delay, the sailors spent the early part of their season praying for enough wind to make practice possible.
Dartmouth has been fighting an uphill battle against teams that have been practicing since August.
Unsurprisingly, the Big Green sailors have seen mixed results thus far.
Over the weekend, Kendall Reiley '09 and Adele Wilhelm '08 competed in the New England Women's Singlehanded Championship at Yale. The duo vied to finish in the top four and snag a qualifying spot for Nationals. In the end, Reiley overcame preseason disadvantages to qualify for Nationals with her performance in the final race.
Although inadequate practice time in the singlehanded laser hampered Wilhelm, Reiley made up for missed practice this fall with years of laser experience. The sophomore was in fifth place going into the regatta's final race, just a point behind Tuft's Katie Storck, who occupied the fourth and final qualifying spot.
Reiley showed poise beyond her years to finish fourth in the final race while Tuft's Storck fell to 11th. Reiley's fourth place finish pushed her into fourth overall, securing her a bid to Nationals.
"I'm excited I was able to stay calm and focus on my sailing in the last race. I'm thrilled to get the opportunity to represent Dartmouth at nationals," Reiley said.
Andrew Loe '06, Karl Johnson '06, Andrew Geffken '08 and Luke Hathaway '08 also competed in the New England Slope Championships, another Nationals qualifier in four-person Colgate 26s at Coast Guard, this weekend.
After a knee injury left All-American Erik Storck '07 out of commission, Johnson came off an injury-induced retirement, while Loe shifted to the driver's seat for the Big Green's sloop team. Dartmouth finished fourth out of 10 teams, just missing a trip to Nationals.
In addition to sailing in four-person and singlehanded boats this weekend, Big Green sailors also flaunted their skills in standard two-person boats.
The Big Green was victorious at the Western Series at home, where Ben Bier '10 and Matthew Cohen '10 combined with Rebecca Dellenbaugh '10 and Steph Gagnon '10 bested nine teams to win the competition.
Also competing in the event were Nolan Reis '08 and Elizabeth Teague '09, who teamed with Philip Woram '10 and Cynthia Kahlenberg '10 to finish sixth overall. Nathaniel Smith '09 and Kathy Oprea '10, along with James Cart '10 and Vanessa Sievers '10, formed Dartmouth's third contingent and finished seventh overall.
At the Hood Trophy regatta hosted by Tufts this weekend, Dartmouth's Ben Sampson '08, Killarney Loufek '07, Jimmy Attridge '07 and Elizabeth Bryant '08, hindered by inadequate practice times and Lake Mystic's perplexing winds, finished 16th overall.
Big Green sailors head into their first Atlantic Coast qualifier next weekend with high hopes. The women's team will compete in the Regis Bowl at Boston University while the coed team will race in the Danmark Trophy regatta. With the coed team ranked fourth and the women's team ranked 12th nationally, more practice time could lead to more consistent results for the Big Green.
