The Big Green accumulated a two-division total of 191 points, seven points behind Brown University, which claimed seventh place. Georgetown University won the regatta, finishing with 120 points overall and leading throughout most of the weekend. The victory marked the Hoyas' fourth first-place finish in the event's five-year history.
Dartmouth's first boat consisted of Sam Williams '12 and Matt Habig '13, who finished 10th in the A division with 127 points, nine behind ninth-place finisher Boston University. Both Williams and Habig were selected for the All-New England Intercollegiate Sailing Association second team, with Williams also taking home the peer-voted Sportsman of the Year award. They were replaced by Bernie Roesler '12 and Raquel Merchant '12, who finished the regatta for the Big Green.
It was the second boat, however, that led the Dartmouth team to its strong finish, finishing third in the B division. The boat sailed by Matt Wefer '14 and Avery Plough '14 accumulated 64 points, falling just four points short of second-place Stanford University.
Wefer, who was also chosen for the All-NEISA second team, said that one of the major factors for the team's success was its "focus not as much on results but on going to practice, improving every day and focusing on the small details and the hard work it takes to get there."
The third-place finish by the second boat highlighted one of the hallmarks of this year's Dartmouth team its strong depth as they had three different skippers compete over the weekend.
"We have quite a deep team in comparison to some schools," Wefer said. "It just shows how far our program has come to improve and to be able to compete at this level."
Earlier this season, the Big Green sailors competed at Annapolis during their spring training trip, but this was not particularly helpful as the conditions on the water were noticeably different this time around, according to Habig.
"Over spring break, the wind was very light, and we had mostly flat water," he said. "This past weekend, there was more breeze, and the dominating factor on the water was a lot of wave action and chop, which made for much different sailing."
Wefer also noted the conditions the team faced this weekend were very different from traditional New England sailing conditions.
"Wind was not very shifty," he said. "A lot of the success was based on how fast you could make the boat go instead of how you could judge the wind, which made the racing much more competitive."
The New England division is considered one of the strongest sailing conferences in the country, which prepared the Big Green well for its national competition after the fierce competition the team faced during the regular season.
"The New England division has a very high median skill level, and everybody is very tight," Habig said. "Getting to this regatta from our conference is generally seen as the biggest hurdle. This weekend, there was a much bigger spread in the quality of competition."
Habig said that the team's eighth-place finish was a "vindicating moment" for many of the sailors.
"We've spent more time in the gym, had more productive practices and a more coherent team focus," Habig said. "Everyone is getting behind the idea of focusing on the process and not on our results, which has allowed us to unify our goals as a team."
The team will join 17 other teams at the National Championship held at the Austin Yacht Club near Austin, Texas from June 6-8.
"We feel great because of the depth that we've been able to create this year," Wefer said. "We saw results in the fall, which showed us how hard we had worked, and we used that momentum to get ahead in the spring season."
