While most of the Tufts campus will be sprawled out on the presidents lawn listening to the sounds of Guster and Jurassic 5 this Saturday, the coed sailing team will be vying for a berth to the 2001 Team Race College Sailing Nationals in early June.
A very successful group of Jumbo sailors will take to the water this weekend for two days of competitive sailing on the Charles River at the 2001 team race New England's. Coach Ken Legler's squad is looking to earn one of the two bids available for the national sailing championship.
But to do so, Tufts must out-sail numerous New England teams, most notably the competitive squads from Dartmouth and Harvard.
"There are two spots for team racing nationals, and there are three teams that I think have a legitimate shot: Dartmouth, Harvard, and us," senior captain Adam Deermount said.
Fellow senior Lisa Keith echoed her teammate's sentiments about the expected competition. "We have a really good chance at qualifying, but there are going to be two other very difficult teams, so it will be difficult," she said.
Taking on Harvard and Dartmouth will be a seasoned and skilled Jumbo squad. Three experienced pairs, who have led Tufts to another successful season, will represent the Jumbos on the water. Sophomore Pete Levesque will skipper one of the boats for Tufts, while Deermount and junior John Birkett will take the helm of the other two boats. They will be joined by crews of sophomores Caroline Hall and Lisa Keith, and freshman Katie Shuman. Preparing for the possibly windy conditions on the Charles, the heavier crews Jen Provan, Matt Cohen, and Rob Pascal will also make the trip to Cambridge.
The Jumbo squad has been preparing for the team racing over the last few of weeks, and even brought in several alumni sailors to help ready the crew for Saturday. This past weekend, Tufts did not sail in any scheduled regattas, instead traveling to Rhode Island for two days of non-stop preparation.
"The weekend went very well," Deermount said. "The first day we sailed against our own B team, and the second day we sailed against some alumni as well. It was really good and we were able to hang with some of the alumni, some of which will be sailing at the World sailing championships."
As for this week, the Jumbos have stuck to a regular scheduled week of practicing. "We are practicing as best as we can," Shuman said. "Its pretty normal except that we are doing a bit more team racing than usual."
"It's really just a regular week for us," Deermount said. "We have been practicing for team racing for awhile. It's a process that takes a while and you can't just cram. We hoped to just fix some mistakes and fine tune our sailing during this week."
Whether or not the practicing will pay off won't be clear until the weekend, but the Jumbos know what they must do to earn one of the bids to nationals.
"I think if we sail to our potential we will qualify," Deermount said. "There is a lot that can go wrong, but I think we have a very good chance of qualifying. It will be important for us to get good starts and get out ahead, and use our good boat speed to our advantage.
Keith stressed the need for the Jumbos to sail to their potential this weekend. "I think it's a combo of sailing well and of performing well as a team. I think the camaraderie of the team will also have a big affect on how we do this weekend."
In the past few years the Jumbos have performed well at the New England's and earned numerous national championship berths. But in 2000, the squad failed to qualify for nationals. Now, Tufts seems focused on the upcoming weekend.
Despite a successful spring, each member of the team knows that the season won't be complete without a chance to compete for the national championship in early June.
