Only a few miles down the road
from the College at Lake Mascoma,
the Dartmouth sailing team is in
the midst of cultivating a new team.
Under the tutelage of new coach
John Pearce and returning coach
John Storck, the team looks to recreate
much of the success it had last
year. This task may be a difficult one
as the team lost its top sailor, Erik
Storck '07, to graduation. Erik is now
coaching at Stanford University and
training for an Olympic bid with his
brother John. The team is hoping
that a few incoming freshmen can
step up and fill in the void left by the
graduating seniors.
Early in this fall season, the Big
Green sailing team has already
sent some of its athletes to regattas
around the northeast. At a Northern
Series regatta held at Dartmouth, the
Big Green was able to place second,
behind the University of Vermont.
The highlight of the race came with
the first place finish by Matthew
Cohen '10 and Christina Clark '10.
However, the season has not been
completely successful. Dartmouth
was only able to finish thirteenth in
the Loder trophy race at the University
of New Hampshire last weekend.
Dartmouth sent its freshmen sailors
to this UNH competition, many of
whom are still learning the ropes
of competitive collegiate sailing.
That same weekend, the more
experienced Dartmouth sailors traveled
to Tufts to compete in the Hood
Trophy. With an overall place of 14th,
Dartmouth was able to finish right
in the middle of the pack. In the 15
races for the A division, skipper Ben
Sampson '08 and crew Betsy Bryant
'08 were able to finish strongly at
ninth place, only five points back of
Harvard's squad. A stout Tufts team
was able to take the victory at their
home regatta.
The New England Sloop championships
were held at Brown University
on the weekend of Sept. 22.
Senior skipper Luke Hathaway '08
and his experienced crew of Andrew
Geffken '08 and Ben Bier '10 were
able to pilot their boat through shifting
winds in Newport Rhode Island
to a solid fifth place finish. Finally,
Dartmouth sent Kendall Reilley '09
to Roger Williams University to compete
in the New England Women's
Singlehanded Championships. Reilley
was able to bring home a ninth
place finish out of 25 competitors.
Reilley was two spots behind Tufts'
Kaity Storck, sister to Coach John
and Erik.
This weekend, the sailing team
again competed in three regattas.
The Big Green sent competitors to
MIT, the United States Coast Guard
Academy and Boston University.
Results were not yet available at
press time.
"This fall season is a good starting
point for us. We knew we were
going to have to step up to fill in for
the loss of [Erik] Storck this year.
Our teams have been competitive,
giving us a good starting point. With
our fall training, things are looking
pretty good this season," Hathaway
said.
Dartmouth sailing veterans like
Hathaway know how important
their fall training will be. With long
winters, Mascoma Lake tends not
to thaw until just before the start of
the all-important spring season. With
the women's team ranked ninth this
preseason and the coed team ranked
16th, there is certainly some room
for improvement. At the moment,
however, Big Green sailors are just
glad to be training and competing
again.
