The team qualified for nationals for the second consecutive year following an impressive performance at the ICSA National Championship semifinals, hosted by Old Dominion University last weekend. The team finished fourth in the Eastern Division, just three points behind third-place Roger Williams University. Dartmouth's A and B-teams performed incredibly well, each notching at least eight top-six finishes in the 13 race events.
"We weren't perfect out there, but we sailed a very good, consistent event and did the best we could," Matt Wefer '14 said. "If we'd gotten a few more lucky bounces, we could have done even better, but hopefully we'll be able to save some of that luck for nationals."
Wefer and Avery Plough '14 sailed A-division at the semifinals, while Scott Houck '15 and Molly Wilson '13 sailed B-division. Two breezy days made for great conditions on the water, allowing the team to show its mettle.
"There were really champagne conditions the whole weekend," Wefer said. "The breeze was building the whole time over the two days, so even though it started out pretty light it was definitely good sailing weather. The wind probably peaked at 10-12 knots on Saturday and 15-18 knots on Sunday."
The women's sailing squad earned a spot in the national semifinals, finishing fourth out of 16 teams in the women's New England Championship. The Big Green tied the host, Tufts University, for the standing, but leapfrogged them after a head-to-head tiebreaker. The top nine teams in the field advanced to the ICSA semifinals.
The opening day of sailing was quite calm, but that did not deter the Big Green as they ranked in second by the end of the day. Sunday's races were much different, as shifting winds contributed to more unpredictability on the water. Dartmouth's A-division squad of Deirdre Lambert '15 and Carissa Crawford '14 did especially well, finishing in second place behind only Boston College. This is the second straight year that the women's team has qualified for the ICSA semifinals.
The Big Green also competed at home, taking two of the top three spots in the first annual Brian Doyle Open on Mascoma Lake. Doyle coached the team for 12 years, leading the Big Green to two national titles.
"Racing at home definitely gave us an advantage," Caroline Gray '16 said. "We know the patterns of the wind a lot better since we practice on the lake here. On Saturday, the wind was coming from the north a little bit and we knew exactly what to do with it."
Dartmouth sent two squads to the regatta, with the first team winning the event and the other squad placing third behind Boston University. The winning squad dominated thoroughly, with the A-division team of Hunter Johnstone '16, Evan Read '16 and Victor Hollenberg '14 completing a perfect regatta by winning all six of their races over the weekend. The B-division team of Gray and Sarah Williams '16 also won their division, beating the Terriers in a tiebreaker.
"The conditions were pretty abysmal on Saturday," Gray said. "There was no wind at all and racing got suspended after a couple of hours waiting for something to change. The wind was a little better on Sunday, but not much. We've been having good winds recently so it was tough to make the adjustment to a lightwind strategy. We tried to adapt by focusing on really having good clean starts."
At the George Morris Trophy race at BU, the Big Green finished in seventh place, beating Tufts on a tiebreaker and finishing just three points behind the sixth-place Harvard University team. The Charles River proved shifty as ever, with four Boston teams parlaying their knowledge of the conditions into top-six finishes. Dartmouth's A and B-division teams won one of their races, but were not able to seriously contend for the trophy.
"All in all, we had a really successful weekend," Emily Petno '16 said. "From here on out, we've just got to focus on making the most of our practices and working hard every day, so that we can try and keep this going for the rest of the spring."
