The Dartmouth sailing team competed in four regattas over the weekend, finishing in the top five in three of them, including a second-place finish in the Nicholas Barnett Trophy hosted by Bowdoin College.
The conference regatta featured 12 teams, and Dartmouth entered boats in the A and B divisions. Robert Floyd '17 and Sophie Kerr '17 sailed the A-division boat to three victories in 11 races and finished fifth overall. Mia Steck '17 and Charles Lalumiere '17 helmed the B-division boat to four wins and six other top five finishes in 11 races.
While Saturday saw relatively good sailing conditions, Sunday brought a calm that delayed the competition's start.
Their 33 points earned the team second overall, falling just one point short of Boston College. Host Bowdoin finished in third, just one point behind the Big Green. Cornell University, the only other Ivy League school in the regatta, finished fifth overall, 24 points behind the Big Green.
"We really focus more on the process, and not as much on the results," Steck said. "I think this focus on the process really did show in the results this weekend."
Dartmouth finished third in the 12-team field at the Hobart and William Smith Fall Intersectional after falling in an head-to-head tiebreaker to St. Mary's College of Maryland. The A-division boat for the Big Green was sailed by Evan Read '16 and Abigail Rohman '16. The sophomore duo tied for fourth with 36 points courtesy of top six finishes in all nine races over the weekend. In the B-division, Ian Storck '15 and Madeleine Cooney '17 tied for second in their heat. They won two races and finished in the top four six other times.
This regatta was also marred by variable weather. Saturday was calm, while a strong wind of 10 to 18 knots on Sunday brought large waves on the open water course.
The host Hobart and Willam Smith Colleges won the regatta by nine points. Cornell, again the only other Ivy League to participate, finished tenth overall, 90 points behind the Big Green.
The Big Green finished fifth out of 17 teams at the Moody Intersectional Regatta hosted by the University of Rhode Island. The regatta took place on a lake with a large island in the middle, known to competitors as "Survivor Island."
"It is a miserable place to be for a day," Julia McKown '17 said.
The A-division boat was sailed by Scott Houck '15 and McKown, who finished 11th overall. The real triumph of the weekend for Dartmouth in this particular regatta came courtesy of the B-division boat, helmed by Deirdre Lambert '15 and Hope Wilson '16. With 47 points over 10 races, the duo finished first in the B-division. A strong wind made the regatta difficult for all teams entered.
In the fourth regatta, Dartmouth finished ninth out of 16 teams at the Southern Series 4 hosted by Roger Williams University. The team totaled 161 points, falling 74 points short of the victorious University Rhode Island Rams. The two teams from Brown University, the only other Ivy school to compete, finished in seventh and eighth with 136 and 146 points.
The A-division boat was sailed by Nate Greason '17 and Victor Hollenberg '14, while the B-division boat was sailed by Caitlin Martin '15 and Emily Petno '16.
"Throughout the regatta we worked on improving our boat speed in chop and reading the current," Petno said.
Saturday brought winds around 15 to 20 knots and the competition was called off early that day due to the windy conditions. There were several capsized boats and one injury that resulted in a trip to the hospital. The competition recommenced on Sunday in choppy conditions that Petno described as "frustrating." The Big Green returns to the water this coming weekend with two regattas, one of which the Big Green will host at home. The Captain Hurst bowl will be hosted by Dartmouth, and the team hopes to build on some strong finishes this past weekend to notch a home victory. Yale University will host a regatta in New Haven, Conn.
