Sailing team just misses out on Nationals

The sailing team had a busy weekend competing in regattas down the East Coast. Although sailors represented the Jumbos in numerous competitions, two of the regattas featured some of the top competition in the sailing world: the New England Sloop Championship at Salve Regina University and the Moody Trophy, hosted by the University of Rhode Island. The New England Sloop Championship was a Conference Championship Regatta, with the top two teams qualifying for the Match Racing Nationals in Oyster Bay, N.Y. on Nov. 14-16.

The Jumbos finished third at Salve Regina, narrowly missing out on qualifying. Following Tufts was Dartmouth, Roger Williams, Boston University, MIT and the host, Salve Regina. The two teams that did qualify and advance to Match Racing Nationals were eighth-seeded Yale, which came from behind to pull the upset, and Boston College, which finished in second place. The conditions on Saturday were significantly different than those on Sunday; Saturday’s weather featured strong winds and, at times, heavy rain. The teams competed in the seeding round robin in these unfavorable conditions, and Tufts finished the day with the fourth seed and a record of 4-3.

“On Saturday it was cold and raining, with a medium breeze of 10-15 knots and slightly shifty,” senior Duncan Swain said. “This, in combination with the high tidal current at the venue, made many opportunities for teams to come from behind and kept everyone on their toes as we all tried to factor all the variables into our racing strategies, resulting in races that were fun and challenging even with the cold and rainy conditions.”

The second day of the regatta proved to be even more exciting than the first. The conditions were near perfect for sailing, with beautiful clear skies and a 16 knot northerly wind that moved eastward before slowly fading throughout the day. The teams began with a best-of-three series in the quarterfinals. The fourth-seeded Jumbos faced off against the fifth-seeded Terriers of Boston University. Tufts advanced to the semi-finals with a 2-1 victory, but waiting for the Jumbos were the Yale Bulldogs, which had beaten number one seed Roger Williams in the quarterfinals. The semifinals were a best-of-five series, and Yale edged Tufts by a race score of 3-2 after a valiant effort from the Jumbos to even the score at 2-2.

“Some challenges on Sunday that we faced were the dying wind conditions as we found that we were generally faster in the higher wind conditions,” Swain said. “We struggled a bit trying to power up the boat for the lower velocity conditions.”

Although Tufts just missed out on qualifying at the New England Sloop Championship, the team also competed at the University of Rhode Island in the Moody Trophy. The highlight performance of this regatta came from the B Division dinghy, which came in fourth place out of eighteen teams. The boat was powered by the sophomore pair of skipper Scott Barbano and crew Sadie Woolf. They finished in the top 10 in every race, including third place in the first and last races. Their compiled score was 66, finishing only behind Boston College, Dartmouth and Roger Williams.

“This is a great result for the overall performance of our team, as it shows that it is not only the seniors and upperclassmen who have talent on our team, but that the talent and skills run deep,” Swain said. “It is that depth of skills that has enabled us to maintain our competitive edge this year.”

In the A Division, senior skipper tri-captain Dan Nickerson and senior crew Jamie Maffeo compiled a score of 112, which put them in 13th place. Despite the final result, they came in fourth place in both the fourth and fifth races. Tufts finished overall with a total score of 178, which was good for 10th place in a highly competitive regatta.

This weekend, the Jumbos will compete at the Navy Fall Invitational in Annapolis, Md., where they will have another chance to showcase their strengths to other teams on the East Coast.

“We hope as a team to have good performances ... and get as much training in as we can,” Swain said.