The Dartmouth sailing team, ranked fifth nationally in both women's and coed teams, was represented at five regattas over the weekend. Despite challenging conditions across New England, the Big Green managed to snag two top-five finishes at Connecticut College and Bowdoin College.
The Big Green dominated at the Connecticut College Women's Invitational with a first-place finish, 47 points ahead of runner-up Brown University and seven other teams. Deirdre Lambert '15 and Carissa Crawford '14 represented Dartmouth in the A Division, finishing with 27 points, while Chandler Salisbury '13 and Madi Gamble '13 sailed in the B Division, turning in 20 points. Both squads finished first in their divisions.
Although Dartmouth did not face particularly tough competition from other teams at the regatta, the Big Green did have to struggle through harsh conditions throughout the weekend, with winds ranging from zero to six knots.
"There were pretty tricky conditions due to a combination of the current and wind shifts, made even worse by the fact that there was not a lot of wind in general," Lambert said.
The regatta's main importance to the Big Green women was the preparation it offered sailors for two more competitive regattas that Connecticut College will host later this season.
"It was a good tune-up regatta and a good way to get ready for more important regattas later this season," Lambert said. "We got to see how the wind works there, and that will definitely help us in future competitions."
Dartmouth also came out strong in the Hewitt Trophy hosted at Bowdoin, finishing third out of 15 teams. A Division sailors Kelsey Wheeler '14 and Sarah Peck '14 finished with 96 points, and Colin Murphy '15 and Perrin Hutcheson '16 finished in first place in the B Division with 35 points. Bowdoin won the regatta with 92 total points.
The conditions at Bowdoin proved particularly grim, with cold, wet weather on both days. Despite the setback, the Big Green managed to control its competition throughout the regatta.
"Most of the teams were not at all that high of a level," Murphy said. "The real competition was between the top five boats in each division."
Another Dartmouth contingent sailed at the Tufts Central Series Three, turning in a ninth-place finish behind champion Harvard University. The A squad of Tom Gallagher '16 and Caitlin Martin '15 finished in eighth place with 94 points, and B Division sailors Dylan Kavookjian '16 and Rachel Margolese '16 took ninth place with 86 points.
Like most sailors this weekend, the group at Tufts faced a light, variable breeze. They also took on the added challenge of sailing on larks boats that most Dartmouth sailors are unaccustomed to using in practices and in competitions.
A squad of Big Green sailors also traveled to the Coast Guard Academy for the Danmark Trophy, battling its way to an 11th-place finish behind Brown, which took the top spot. As an interconference regatta, the tournament was unique in its diverse competition, drawing 20 schools from across the East Coast and even schools as far away as Stanford University.
A Division sailors Matt Wefer '14 and Avery Plough '14 took 13th place (88 points), while B Division pair Scott Houck '15 and Molly Wilson '13 finished in 12th place with 100 points.
"We did OK, but we didn't really get the results we'd been getting during the past few weekends," Houck said. "Even so, we did a lot of things well, even if they weren't necessarily reflected in our results."
Throughout the weekend, the sailors faced cold, rainy conditions with a strong current.
"The conditions were pretty tough to deal with," Houck said. "There were a lot of things to think about when sailing, like balancing the current with the wind and figuring out which one was more important to pay attention to in any given situation."
The competition also provided the sailors with unique experience sailing on a river, something that they do not get to do on a regular basis.
Lastly, A Division sailors Ian Storck '15 and Lexi Krupp '15, and B Division sailors Sarah Williams '16 and Hope Wilson '16 participated in the Jesuit Open hosted by Fordham University. The squad suffered through changing wind directions and conditions so harsh that racing was canceled on Sunday. The team came out in seventh place with 53 points.
This weekend, the sailing team will continue its season with three regattas the Hobart and William Smith Fall Interconference Regatta, the Barnett Trophy at Bowdoin and the Moody Trophy, hosted by the University of Rhode Island.