The Big Green took fourth in the Lake Champlain Open and fifth in both the Boston Harbor Invitational and Nevins Trophy in Great Neck, N.Y. Additionally, Dartmouth sailors finished eighth in both the Mrs. Hurst Bowl on Mascoma Lake and the Hatch Brown Trophy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
The Boston Harbor Invitational was especially exciting for a pair of Big Green rookies, as Hunter Johnstone '16 and Caroline Gray '16 sailed to a dominant first place finish (42 points) in the A Division sailing in club 420s, edging a formidable Tufts University boat (45 points).
Johnstone and Gray overcame wind conditions that troubled the majority of the fleet all weekend.
"It was anywhere from no wind to heavy winds in any given race and was very shifty, generally coming from the northwest," Johnstone said.
Johnstone said his ability to remain calm in the tough conditions led to his boat's success.
"It was frustrating when you couldn't see changes in the breeze coming out on the water, which led to huge swings in our position in the race," Johnstone said. "A lot of it for us was making sure to keep a level head and making rational decisions during the races even when things didn't seem to be going our way."
Johnstone said he and Gray understood how they needed to sail to win and executed their strategy flawlessly.
"Staying in the breeze and maintaining leverage over the fleet were the two biggest goals of ours on the course," he said. "This way, we could make the tough conditions work to our advantage where possible. By sailing conservatively, we minimized losses where [the rest of the fleet] didn't."
Trace Smith '15 and Valentina Semenova '13 finished eighth in the B Division. Overall, the Big Green lost the fourth-place head-to-head tiebreaker against Harvard University to take fifth.
Dartmouth also looked strong at the Nevins Trophy, taking fifth overall (401 points). Matt Wefer '14 and Avery Plough '14 finished third in the A Division, while Scott Houck '15 and Molly Wilson '13 sailed to a second-place finish in the B Division. Georgetown University and the College of Charleston dominated the competition.
Saturday brought a strong breeze and some waves, while Sunday proved gentler. The Kings Point trapezoid courses on both days made the racing tricky.
"The keys to our success were good starts and keeping an eye on where other boats were around us," Wefer said. "Because Kings Point has a lot of current, it was very important to protect the area of the course that was most favored by the current and also to stay in the moment and adjust to the race as time elapsed."
The Dartmouth women's team sailed in Flying Juniors at the Mrs. Hurst Bowl on Mascoma Lake, turning in an eighth-place effort behind champion Yale University. The A squad of Chandler Salisbury '13 and Madi Gamble '13 took 12th (136 points), while the B group of Kelsey Wheeler '14 and Lizzie Guynn '16 claimed fifth (93 points).
"Saturday was really windy, with a sustained breeze of 15 to 18 knots and some puffs as big as 25 knots," Wheeler said. "Sunday wasn't as breezy, but both days were shifty and puffy, so fitness definitely came into play in terms of wrestling with the wind."
The Big Green also sent a small group of sailors to the Lake Champlain Open in Burlington, Vt., where they were met by strong winds on Saturday; Sunday proved much calmer. With 93 points, Dartmouth finished fourth behind overall champion Tufts (69). The A Division pair of Evan Read '16 and Charlotte Snow '15 finished eighth (60), while the B group of Colin Murphy '15 and Emily Petno '16 impressed with a second-place finish (33).
"It was really important to keep ourselves focused in the moment and keep an eye out for the next band of breeze to come down the course," Murphy said. "Downwind tacks were the best time to catch boats as generally people don't look at that leg as a good opportunity to pass people."
Finally, Dartmouth sailed at MIT for the Hatch Brown Trophy, battling to an eighth-place overall finish.
Chris Price '14 and Matt Habig '13 sailing together for the first time sailed the A boat to an eighth-place finish.
"The sailing was pretty common for the Charles [River]," Price said. "It blew from zero to 15 knots and it was gusty and shifty the entire time. At one point, the wind blew in a single pocket of the course which really set us back behind a few boats."
Dartmouth's B and C each took sixth, while Tufts won the regatta.
Next weekend, the Big Green's regatta schedule becomes even more hectic. Six regattas along the Eastern seaboard the St. Mary's Fall Interconference Regatta in Maryland, the Chris Loder Trophy at the University of New Hampshire, the Hood Trophy hosted by Tufts, the Salt Pond Invite at the University of Rhode Island, the Regis Bowl at Boston University and the Mascoma Invite at Dartmouth will feature Dartmouth sailors.
"I expect the team to continue improving and giving their all during practice," Colin Murphy '15 said. "Our team is really special as it is an incredibly talented group of sailors, and often our practices are at a much higher level in skill than many of these regattas. Being competitive in practices will translate to success when it matters."
