NEW LONDON, Conn. – This weekend, the No. 2 Yale coed sailing team placed first at the New England Team Race Championship, earning a berth for the ICSA Team Race National Championship. The nationals will take place in San Diego, Calif., late May. This is the first time the Bulldogs have won the championship in the last five years and marks the end of the regular team race season.

Representing the Bulldogs were skippers juniors Ian Barrows, junior captain Mitchell Kiss and sophomore Malcolm Lamphere with crews senior Charlotte Belling and juniors Natalya Doris, Chandler Gregoire, Meredith Megarry and Clara Robertson.

At the U.S. Coast Guard Academy, the Bulldogs sailed a total of 11 races. Coaches Zack Leonard '89, McNay Family Director of Yale Sailing, and Graham Landy '15, former coed captain and 2014 College Sailor of the Year, shared with the Bulldogs their extensive team race knowledge and expertise to help them minimize errors and continue the progress they made throughout the spring season.

The Bulldogs were undefeated after six races on Saturday, when the breeze was light and variable out of the south and current was strong. On Sunday, they saw a variety of conditions, with the breeze shifting from the northeast to the southwest throughout the day. They lost only one race all day, even winning three races of a final round of five which did not count in the final scoring as the race committee was unable to finish the round before the cut-off time of 4:30 p.m.

This is the second win of the season for the Yale team, who have consistently improved results throughout the season – they finished fourth at the opening regatta, the Bob Bavier and first at the Marchinado just last weekend.

With the regular team race season concluded, the Bulldogs will spend the next two weekends fleet racing in preparation for the New England Dinghy Championship, the qualifier for the ICSA Fleet Race Nationals.

Next weekend, the Bulldogs will return to New London, Conn., for the Thompson Trophy, a three-division fleet race. They will also be looking to defend the Ivy Championship for the Owen, Mosbacher and Knapp Trophies at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y. The Bulldogs have placed first at this event every year since 2012.

For full results for this weekend, visit http://scores.collegesailing.org/s16/.

Report filed by Natalya Doris '17, Yale Sports Publicity