An unusually warm winter has marked the beginning of the spring season for the Tufts sailing team. Pleasant conditions have enabled the team to take boats out in February, and thus the squad has been practicing on the water for the past three weeks.
The team has already had a chance to kick off its regatta schedule and sent its women's team to the Women's Intersectional Competition - one of the largest competitions of the season - hosted at the Naval Academy last weekend. Sophomores AJ Crane and Liz Bancroft placed tenth in the A division while freshmen Lindsay Shanholt and Sarah Affel took 12th in the B division. The competition was called off on the second day due to high winds.
The coed team was also busy last weekend at the Admiral Moore Trophy Competition hosted at the New York Maritime Academy. Junior Matt Cohen and sophomores Ariel Fromer and Paul Steinborn took control of the A boat, while seniors Sean Greely, Mallory Reider and Alex Conway sailed in the B boat division.
Team members consider the results of these early competitions a slow start to what they hope will be a more successful season. The women's team will work on establishing a national ranking as soon as possible; the coed team is currently ranked fourth in the nation.
With competitions underway, the team is already expecting big things and hopes to use success from the fall season as a foundation for the spring.
"After the fall, we're looking to improve our regatta results," junior women's captain Caroline Hall said. "The warm weather will allow us to prepare better during spring break."
"The fall was good, but we have some unfinished business to take care of this spring," senior coed captain John Birkett said.
Such unfinished business includes a successful finish at the New England championships in May. While the team hopes to place in the top four and thus qualify for nationals, it ultimately hopes to win the competition. Last year the women's team won New Englands, while the coed team placed sixth out of 18 teams.
More importantly, however, is the team's goal to earn first place at the National Championships, hosted at the University of Hawaii in Honolulu this June. Last year the women's team took fifth place at Nationals, while the coed team earned a first place finish. Head coach Ken Legler commented that maintaining the position of national champions is the team's main goal this season.
As for right now, concentrating on qualifying for nationals is crucial. Legler expects the coed team to qualify, and the only question is where they will place at the competition. The women's team, on the other hand, is currently in a rebuilding mode and will have to work hard to earn its spot at Nationals.
"The women will have an uphill battle just to qualify for nationals," Legler said. "But I think they can do it."
Although winning Nationals is the goal, Legler wants the team to go above and beyond what it did last year.
"You don't repeat as a champion if you only do as well as you did last year," Legler said. "You have to do something to surpass that win. We have to get up to where we were last year, and then we have to find a way to surpass that."
The team will spend time training for upcoming competitions during spring break, when the coed and women's team will travel to St. Mary's in Maryland to sail and camp for the vacation.
"We're looking to spend the majority of [spring break] practicing for team racing at New Englands," junior Pete Levesque said.
Ultimately, the team's goal to qualify for, and win, Nationals is not unrealistic. With past wins at Nationals under its belt, team members feel that a win this year is within reach. Undoubtedly, motivation to train will be aided by the prospect of enjoying the National competition in a popular vacation spot.
In the words of Birkett, "I want to go to Hawaii, where they have hot chicks in hula skirts."
