For a squad that predicates its success on the depth of its roster, the sailing team's results this weekend were a little more mixed than it had hoped.
The nationally-ranked No. 5 Jumbos sent out teams to five different regattas, taking in a wide spectrum of finishes.
At the Women's Stu Nelson regatta at Conn. College, the women's team compiled a mediocre performance, finishing 17th out of 18 teams and only recording a top-10 finish twice in 16 races.
But much of this disappointment can be attributed to junior Peggy Tautz' incurring an injury that prevented her from sailing in four races. In each of these races, the team received a score of 19, or the number of boats in the fleet plus one. These high scores were certainly detrimental to any hopes of a better finish.
"In general, the not-as-ideal performance was due to an accidental injury from another school's team inflicted upon Peggy Tautz," senior tri-captain Lara Hwa said. "She was unable to sail and unable to start, which contributed to the [high] scores. If she had been able to be in good health, I'm sure the scores would have been a little better."
The results at the Sherman Hoyt Trophy regatta at Brown weren't much of an improvement, as the team finished in 12th place out of 18. An eighth-place finish out of 13 teams at the Wellehan Trophy at the University of Southern Maine rounded out the weaker finishes on the weekend.
Two of the brighter spots came at the Rudolph Oberg Trophy on the Charles, hosted by Northeastern and MIT, as well as the Central Series Six races at Boston College.
The Jumbos managed a fourth-place finish out of 17 boats at the Oberg Trophy with strong performances from their three captains: Hwa, who sailed with junior Tomas Hornos in the A division; senior tri-captain Baker Potts, who sailed with senior Christina Kelly in the B division; and senior tri-captain Dan Altreuter, who sailed with sophomore Sara Carnahan in the C division.
Midway through the races, the A- and B-division teams were subbed out for new sailors. Freshman Henrietta Bright took over for Hwa in the A division boat and senior Hans Tiefenthaler and sophomore Roisin Magee teamed up in the B division boat. An interesting move to begin with, the substitution didn't change much at all in the A division; however, the B division saw a significant slide in the quality of finishes.
"Our coach [Ken Legler] wanted to let some of our other skippers compete against the higher competition and let our A team, like Baker and Christina and myself, to have a day off to catch up on our studies before a rigorous upcoming few weekends," Hwa said. "However, Tomas wanted to sail both days even when given the day off."
Meanwhile, at the Central Series Six, the Jumbos sent out two senior-less boats, which ultimately had very little effect on the ability of the team to finish strong. The Jumbos took home a third-place finish out of 18 teams, garnering 83 points in 16 races and finishing just behind second-place Boston College, which finished with 80.
"We were able to be consistent in both divisions, which meant at the end of the [first] day our score was the lowest and we were in first," said junior Sid Richardson, who sailed in the B division. "We were able to remain consistent despite the wind getting heavier, while some of the other teams couldn't keep the boat flat."
Junior Reeve Dunne sailed the A-division boat for the first six races and freshman Nicolas Russo-Larsson for the final two, with a combination of junior Nereus Patel, junior Denise Feirstein and stand-out freshman Adam Weisman as crew. As a whole, this combination of sailors won the A division outright, notching only 30 points, four better than second-place Boston College's 34.
The B-division boat fared well also, finishing fifth in its division. Richardson sailed the boat for the first four races and freshman Andrew Foster for the final four. The crew position was split by sophomore Sally Levinson and freshman Renee Gagne. While the substitution in the A Division had a negligible effect on the results, the B division saw a clear drop-off. In the first four races, Tufts' B boat finished third, first, fifth and first, respectively, whereas the final four races saw the team finishing in third, 10th, 16th and 14th.
"We just have a very big team, and we want to give everyone a chance to sail," Richardson said. "They sailed well on Sunday, but it's pretty hard to stay consistent ... They sailed really well, they just got unlucky and had one or two bad races at the very end, so the kids that were behind us passed us by a bit."
The Jumbos will look to clinch a spot in the Atlantic Coast Championship regatta, to be held on Nov. 15-16.
"We hoped that this past weekend sailing on the Charles we would be able to practice for this important upcoming weekend where we will hopefully qualify for the ACCs," Hwa said. "We are definitely hoping to qualify since we are ranked very high among other teams who have already qualified ... There's still a lot of pressure on us for this upcoming weekend."
