The Yale sailing team was victorious at several competitions this weekend. The Bulldogs secured first place at the Hatch Brown Memorial Trophy with 266 points, first overall at the Nicholas Barnett Trophy with 148 points, and first overall at the one-day Lark Invite with 28 points. First year skippers Nicholas Davies and Petru Neagu also placed seventh and 11th respectively at the NEISA Men's Single Handed Championship.
 
Hatch Brown Memorial Trophy – MIT: 1st (266 points)
A: Shawn Harvey / Graceann Nicolosi (3rd, 93 points)
B: Chrissie Klingler / Sonia Lingos-Utley (3rd, 92 points)
C: Luke Arnone / Claudia Loiacono (1st, 81 points)

Nicholas Barnett Trophy – Bowdoin: 1st (148 points)
A: Nicholas Marwell / Catherine Webb (races 1-10) / Helena Ware (races 11-16) (2nd, 79 points)
B: Teddy Nicolosi / Helena Ware (races 1-10) / Catherine Webb (races 11-16) (1st, 69 points)
Alt: Katherine Clulo
 
Lark Invite – Tufts 
Yale Team 1: 1st (28 points)
A: Sam Tobin / Meredith Ryan (3rd, 22 points)
B: Christophe Chaumont / Becca Rose (1st, 6 points)
Yale Team 2: 14th (118 points)
A: Adam Wolnikowski / Allison Rice (13th, 62 points)
B: Jacob Asher / Kathleen Wells (13th, 56 points)

NEISA Men's Single-Handed Championship – Niantic Bay Yacht Club
Nicholas Davies (7th, 105 points)
Petru Neagu (11th, 160 points)
 
The Hatch Brown Memorial Trophy was a three division regatta raced at the MIT Sailing Pavilion on FJs and Fireflies. Saturday was dominated by tricky 5 - 12 knot southerly that required expert shift management by sailors, while Sunday opened with a light northwest breeze that built to more stable pressure from the west throughout the day as the temperatures rose. Senior skipper Chrissie Klinger, who nabbed third in B division with junior crew Sonia Lingos-Utley, recounted, "Sailing on the Charles is always pretty mentally demanding because of the large wind shifts. Sonia and I worked to maximize our time lifted and in pressure and try to be as consistent as possible." First year skipper Luke Arnone, who secured first in C division with junior crew Claudia Loiacono, reiterated Klinger's emphasis on the "tricky conditions on the Charles," elaborating that the "shifty and puffy [conditions] meant that it was important to keep our heads out of the boats," praising Loiacono's skilled fleet management capabilities.
 
The Nicholas Barnett Trophy was raced out of Bowdoin's facilities at the Coastal Studies Center on the Harpswell Sound. 16 races in each division were sailed over the course of two days. Saturday's breeze fluctuated from 5 - 15 knots from the south, but Sunday proved even more unwieldy with light southerlies that eventually filled in but oscillated directions constantly. Junior skipper Nicholas Marwell, who sailed in A division, positively reflected on the "great sailing conditions in a variety of wind velocities," attributing one aspect of his second place divisional finish to his fellow competitors "forgetting to consider current for their laylines, so there was a lot to be gained there." Sophomore crew Helena Ware, who sailed with first year skipper Teddy Nicolosi in A division on Saturday and with long-time partner Marwell in B division on Sunday, echoes Marwell's comments on the wind, saying "We saw pretty much all conditions over the course of the weekend." She notes that "remembering to notice when [the wind] switched during the day was key for calling laylines and sailing the fastest part of the course." Ware also pointed out that "if [a boat was] bow out and fast off the line and sailed the lifts [they] would round in the top 5."
 
Two Yale teams traveled to Tufts to sail the Lark Invite on the venue's signature Turbo Larks, which feature a bespoke-design specifically to accommodate Mystic Lake's geographic light wind conditions. The Bulldogs faced everything from full out hiking conditions to a two knot whisper over the course of the one-day regatta. Sophomore crew Meredith Ryan, who placed third in B division for the Bulldog 1 boat with sophomore skipper Sam Tobin, explained that "because it was so shifty and puffy [one] could gain a bunch on one leg and just as easily lose it on the next." Much like her teammates at other venues, Ryan and her skipper "kept our heads out of the boat and made sure to catch every shift we could." Junior crew Becca Rose, who clinched first place in B division for the Bulldog 1 team with sophomore skipper Christophe Chaumont, likewise emphasized the need to focus on shifts, but states that her boat's success was due to their consistency, "We started boat middle and played the shifts up the right side of course every race, focusing on tactical boathandling to maintain advantages on the downwind and heavily favoring the course right gate to sail into the initial pressure." Chaumont and Rose scored 6 points over the course of 5 races, a little over a fourth of the points accumulated by the second place team. The Bulldogs 2 team finished 14th overall, an impressive score considering the team's sailors had little to no experience navigating the shifts of Mystic Lake or boathandling on the unique Turbo Larks.
 
First years Nicholas Davies and Petru Neagu sailed in the highly competitive NEISA Men's Single-Handed Championships at Niantic Yacht Club. Both sailors held their own in the experienced fleet and finished seventh and 11th respectively. Although neither Bulldog qualified for the national championship, the regatta provided them with their first introductions to the New England's competitive laser cohort and valuable learning experiences from a week of practicing with senior Louisa Nordstrom, whose podium finish at the NEISA Women's Single-Handed Championship earned her a berth at nationals for the third time,
 
 
Scores for the Hatch Brown Memorial Trophy can be found at https://scores.collegesailing.org/f19/hatch-brown/
Scores for the Nicholas Barnett Trophy can be found at https://scores.collegesailing.org/f19/nicholas-barnett/
Scores for the Lark Invite can be found at https://scores.collegesailing.org/f19/ken-legler/
Scores for the NEISA Men's Single-Handed Championship can be found at https://scores.collegesailing.org/f19/neisa-men-single-handed/