Windless Sunday Hinders Bulldogs

NEW HAVEN, Conn.—The No. 3 Bulldogs spread across New England this weekend, sailing in Cambridge, Mass., Providence, R.I., and at home in Branford, Conn. at the McNay Family Sailing Center. The Bulldogs faced difficult conditions at all the venues leading to some uncharacteristic finishes.

The Bulldogs finished 13^th at the Sherman Hoyt trophy hosted by Brown on the Narragansett Bay in Providence, R.I. On Saturday, the Bulldogs were faced with extremely puffy and shifty conditions of seven to 20 knots, which made the sailing exasperating despite the sunshine.

As the breeze picked up, the Bulldogs had to shuffle their crews. Junior Joseph Morris skippered the A division boat to a 13^th place finish. Morris began the regatta with freshman Amanda Salvesen. However, after only two races the breeze rose so sophomore Claire Dennis was subbed in.

In B division, sophomore skipper Cam Cullman finished 14^th, also with a combined crew effort. Senior Blair Belling began the regatta, but Salvesen was transferred from Morris to Cullman after two races.

The wind refused to come out to play on Sunday so the regatta was simply decided on Saturday's eight A division races and six B division races. It was an extremely frustrating weekend for the Bulldogs as they did not even get the chance to fight back after a tough day on Saturday.

The Bulldogs faced a similar challenge on the Charles River at the Oberg Trophy hosted by MIT in Cambridge, Mass. Saturday was a great day of sailing with breeze from 8 to twelve knots and 10 races in all three divisions. Sunday however, was as the regatta report said, "a great day for rowing crew shells" which is never good for sailing. The regatta was called at 12:30 p.m.

Juniors Rob Struckett and Isabel Elliman finished 11^th in A division while freshmen Max Nickbarg and Anna Han finished 9^th in B division. Seniors Nathan Stevens and Tatyana Camejo finished 15^th in C division.  The Oberg is one of the few regattas with three divisions as MIT utilizes both their FJs and Tech Dinghies.

Five Bulldogs also got the chance to sail at home at the Sound Invitational, a Southern Series regatta. With only nine teams, the divisions were combined which allowed for the completion of 13 races. Freshman skipper Nace Cohen finished 12^th with crews freshman Madeline Yozwiak (races one through nine) and senior Alexa Chu (races 10 through 13). Sophomore Zachary Foreman finished 14^th with crews Chu (races one through three), Yozwiak (race 13) and sophomore Katherine Eshel (races four through twelve).

The Long Island Sound offered breezes of eight to 14 knots with one puff of 16 knots. The waves built all day offering some exciting surfing at the end of the day. Two members of the class of 2009, Emmet Smith and Caleb Dorfman, returned to Yale to run the efficient and well-documented regatta. The Bulldogs are very thankful to have such great alumni.

Next weekend the Bulldogs hope to return to form at the Schell Trophy hosted by MIT. The top-eight finishers will qualify for the Atlantic Coast Championships that will be hosted by Navy Nov. 13 and 14.

Report filed by Margot Benedict '12, Yale Sports Publicity