Yale Finishes Second On the Charles
CAMBRIDGE, Mass.—The No. 9 Bulldogs took
to the Charles River with a vengeance and never looked back,
finishing second by beating out Coast Guard in the last race. The
regatta was hosted by MIT and was sailed in the MIT and Harvard
FJs, allowing for lots of racing, which was the perfect way to
launch the Bulldogs into the long season.
The regatta is in honor of Toni Deutsch, MIT class of 1958, who
was the first woman to receive a varsity letter at MIT. She sailed
all four years under the tutelage of Jack Wood and claimed two
national championships as well as finishing runner-up once. The
regatta report released by MIT called her "an outstanding athlete
who has devoted herself to providing opportunities for current MIT
students."
On Saturday, the breeze ranged from five to eight knots and
moved from northeast to south-southeast by the end of the day as
often occurs on the Charles River. While the Bulldogs faced some
ups and downs, they were able to stay remarkably consistent which
is crucial to doing well on the Charles. The great river Chuck can
make score lines look like someone just picked random numbers out
of a hat and recorded them as finishes. With fluky conditions, many
sailors struggle to establish a pattern of top finishes. However,
the Bulldogs battled through and stayed steady and patient
throughout the 12 races.
On Sunday, the breeze picked up a bit, ranging from eight to
twelve and oscillating from east-northeast to east-southeast.
Despite only requiring two races to finish the regatta, the sailors
opted on Saturday to sail four races in each division. As is often
the case at MIT, the courses got a bit creative with what was
deemed the "triple gate special." Besides the normal windward and
leeward gates, the sailors also had a midcourse gate on both the
upwind and downwind legs. This allowed for a greater display of
boat handling as well as lane management.
Sophomore Heather May said,
"The Charles never failed to surprise us this weekend. Auto-tacks
and multiple sudden shifts were prevalent in every race. However
Sunday, the wind grew a little more consistent and the wind picked
up by a few knots. Sunday definitely provided more opportunities to
make gains on the downwind legs, and also upwind if you were able
to find the pockets of pressure."
In A division, sophomores Claire Dennis and
May, rookies no longer, proved just that finishing third in a
competitive fleet. Their worst finish was eighth and they managed
to sail across the line in the top-five in nine of the 16 races.
They clinched the second place finish for the Bulldogs by just
beating out Coast Guard's A division in the last race of the
regatta. This solid finish is an excellent starting point for their
2010-2011 campaign.
In B division, juniors Genoa Warner and
Stephanie
Schuyler battled a bit of inconsistency in the first two sets
before settling into a pattern of superb finishes. They finished in
the top-five in 11 of 16 races and won the eighth race of the
regatta. Building on experience gained together in the spring as
well as this summer, the pair is primed to have an outstanding
season.
No. 2 Brown took the regatta with a decisive winning, proving
their strength to the college sailing world. No. 15 Coast Guard
finished third with No. 13 Eckerd, No. 7 Tufts, No. 11 Connecticut
College and No. 6 Harvard rounding out the top seven.
"All in all, this regatta was a great way to start off the
season, and all four of us are eager to see how the rest of the
season pans out. I think we are all excited about our 2nd place
finish and are motivated to keep working towards even better
finishes in the future," said May.
The Bulldogs will return to the water this coming weekend at the
Mrs. Hurst's Bowl hosted by Dartmouth. It will be the first
intersectional competition for the Bulldogs, which will allow them
to prove to the coaches across the ICSA that they deserve to have a
better ranking.
Full Results
Report filed by Margot Benedict
'12, Yale Sports Publicity
