The Dartmouth sailors were flawless through the first round-robin, earning five wins and no losses. With sunny skies and a fairly steady east breeze on Sunday, the competitors took to the Charles River for the final day of racing. In the second round robin, Dartmouth advanced, losing only to BC and Yale. The initial field of 12 teams was then cut down to four. A double final four ensued, in which each team raced every other team twice. Dartmouth swept its first set of races, leaving the Big Green tied with Yale. The Big Green also swept its second set of opponents, taking home the title with 11 total victories.
Dartmouth finished with a mark of 11-2 in the regatta. Its closest competitor was Yale, who finished at 9-4.
Dartmouth, Harvard and Yale had all qualified for nationals.
Even after qualifying for nationals, Dartmouth's sailors were not satisfied.
"The most important thing in championship regattas like this past weekend is to sail one race at a time and never think about the end result," top skipper Erik Storck '07 said. "On Sunday, we had qualified [for nationals] with two races to go, but that had seemingly no effect on anyone. We had gone there to win, so we just continued to sail each start, and then every part of the race in the same methodical way we had all weekend. That is the only way to continue to win races."
"We knew that this weekend could be special," captain James Attridge '07 said. "We have finally started sailing on our lake, and everyone is really excited to be out there and training."
Barring any letdowns in the upcoming weeks, Dartmouth is poised for greater success. While Nationals is not until the week of May 23, there are many other regattas still to come.
"For the rest of the season, we will shift our focus back to fleet racing to try to win another New England Championship this week and more importantly qualify for the Co-ed Dinghy National Championships," Storck said. "We then have a couple weeks of intense preparation before going to Nationals. Not getting distracted too much by the big picture will be our only way to be able to attain our goals for the end of the season."
With the lake unfrozen, the Dartmouth sailors have a chance to make a charge at the national title.
Dartmouth sent three teams to the championship regatta: Andrew Loe '06 and Betsy Bryant '08, Ben Sampson '08 and Kate Hacker '07, and Storck and Killarney Loufek '07. Along for the trip were alternate crews Matt Cohen '10 and Anne Megargel '09.
While the highlights of the week came from the event at Cambridge, those certainly were not the only successes of the weekend. Dartmouth hosted a Northern Series regatta in which the Big Green also took top honors. The Big Green finished ahead of Tufts, Wellesley and Amherst. With its recent hot streak and a newly unfrozen lake, the Big Green sailing team is poised for a run at nationals.
