Just a week after the coed sailing team launched itself into the national top-20 rankings, Dartmouth's sailors posted several more strong finishes last weekend, racking up one third- and one fifth-place finish while facing tough competition.
Twenty-two sailors from the New England area competed at the Men's New England Singlehanded Championship at Roger Williams University, in Bristol, R.I. The race was far different than what the Big Green is accustomed to, as singlehanded sailing requires just one sailor on board as opposed to the usual two.
Bo McClatchy '13 racked up a 14th-place finish in the race, while Charlie Knape '10 and Tim Scanlon '12 finished 18th and 22nd, respectively.
Although the Big Green's sailors failed to qualify for singlehanded nationals, the team fared well against the tough competition including one sailor who competed in the Beijing Summer Olympics in 2008.
This weekend also saw Big Green sailors travel to the Storm Trysail Intercollegiate Big Boat Regatta in Larchmont, N.Y., where Dartmouth finished third out of six teams.
LJ Sconzo '12 and Bernie Roesler '12 were two of the nine Dartmouth sailors who manned the King 40 "American Girl," a 40-foot boat.
"Every guy on board had a blast sailing," Sconzo said. "Racing in 30 knots of breeze is a thrill, especially when there are guys on board who know how to take the boat to the finish line first."
Roesler noted both the added excitement and added challenges that come with sailing on such a large and fast boat.
"I had a great time trimming the mainsail for the weekend and really learned a lot about big boat sailing," Roesler said. "Because we were sailing the fastest boat in our division, we had to beat everyone else by a large time margin to actually win the race, which is way harder to do than just crossing the line first."
The United States Naval Academy claimed first place in the race, handily defeating second-place finisher Georgetown University.
The team also competed at the Hobart and William Smith Colleges' Fall Intersectional on Seneca Lake in Ithaca, N.Y. over the weekend. The team ended with an overall finish of fifth place a result that Sam Williams '12 said is a testament to the team's growth.
"This is an event we placed eighth overall at last year, so to place fifth this year shows that we are still on the rise," he said.
Williams, Peter Hughes '11 and Madi Gamble '13 finished eighth in A Division, while Matty Cohen '10 and Steph Gagnon '10 finished second in B Division.
"[Cohen] had an excellent performance this weekend, as evidenced by his second-place finish in B Division," Williams said. "[Cohen] consistently had very good finishes across all 14 races this weekend, which shows he is a talented leader and sailor."
Navy came away with the victory in this race, though the Big Green was not far behind.
"The fleet had very close racing this weekend," Williams said. "We were probably good enough to be second overall, but we'll definitely take a fifth."
The Big Green will look to build on these strong performances this weekend, as some Big Green sailors remain at Dartmouth to host the Captain Hurst Bowl, while the rest of the team travels to the Great Herring Pond Open, hosted by Massachusetts Maritime Academy in Buzzards Bay, Mass.
The women's team will compete at the Yale's Women Intersectional in New Haven, Conn.
"We're looking forward to the major New England coed intersectional, the Captain Hurst Bowl," Williams said. "Being at home on Lake Mascoma this coming weekend will surely have its benefits. With some hard work this week and some local advantage, we can come out on top this weekend."
