Sailing captures 1st place at Hood Trophy, participates in 7 regattas across Northeast

The Tufts sailing team deployed its talented sailors all over New England last Saturday and Sunday. Competing in a total of seven regattas, the Jumbos endured a jam-packed weekend on top of their rising academic workload. Despite the fact that autumn officially began on Monday, the temperatures across New England soared into the low- to mid-80s this weekend, giving the sailors one last taste of summer. The winds across all eight matches varied in speed and direction, and this was a key factor the Jumbos paid close attention to in their high performances.

On Sunday, the co-ed team sent out two boats, divisions A and B, and won a decisive victory at the Hood Trophy on Mystic Lake, where the Jumbos usually practice.Sophomore Sam Merson skippered on the division A boat whilesenior Emily Calandrella was on crew. On the division B boat, sophomore Alex Fasolo skippered while senior Duke Saunders was on crew. Both division A and B boats scored under 50 points, which is no easy feat in sailing. While Boston University and Yale University tied in secondsecond place with a total of 162 points among their two boats, Tufts scored just 91 points.The winds picked up speed as the regatta progressed, and Tufts managed to use those winds to its advantage while its opponents began to accumulate points.

Calandrella wrote in an email to the Daily about her boat's and team's performance.

"I thought we sailed well overall," Calandrella said. "We were frustrated with our boat handling at times and we had a couple bad starts but we were generally able to come back from them."

Calandrella also offered some insight on how competing at Mystic Lake gave the team an advantage.

"Sailing our own boats and being on the lake where we're used to the wind shifts definitely helped," Calandrella said.

Concurrently on the Charles River, the co-ed team also raced in the Harvard Invitational. The breeze was variable and ranged from five to 12 knots.  The sailors at this regatta were also organized into two divisions, divisions A and B. All divisions raced six times. Skippering on the division A boat was sophomore George Sidamon-Eristoff while sophomore Jessica Friedman was on crew.  During the fifth race, their boat broke down, and they were given four breakdown points. Nevertheless, the division A crew made up for its mistakes, averaging just four points per race.First-year Patrick Mulcahy skippered on the division B dinghy while sophomore Dorothy Waskow was on crew. Both boats placed third in their divisions, finishing in third place overall with just 50 points.

Down in New London, Conn., the co-ed team raced on the Thames River in the New England Inter-Collegiate Sailing Association (NEISA) Showcase qualifier hosted by NESCAC rival Conn. College.On Saturday, sailors raced eight times with a couple breaks due to shifty winds. McGill University protested during the sixth race, resulting in a disqualification. On Sunday, the teams raced six more times. Tufts junior Jacob Whitney and sophomore Connor Sheridan sailed on the division B boat, while junior Austen Freda and junior Lindsay Powers commanded the division A boat. Both boats had a slow start, tallying 66 points in just three races.  However, the Jumbos improved and averaged just under 10 points per boat per race.  Tufts finished in 11th place overall with 266 points. 

Whitney wrote an email to the Daily about his perspective of the NEISA qualifier.

"The NEISA showcase qualifier event was held at Connecticut College, whose venue can be tricky to sail on. This, in addition to the level of competition, made for quite the tough weekend for the ‘Bos at Conn.," Whitney said. "My skipper [Sheridan], while obviously not thrilled with his performance, was glad to have the practice and experience of sailing at a moderately high level event. He and I have been sailing together for our third season now and were glad to have the opportunity to sail in such a competitive fleet."

He also noted that the team's 11th place finish in the NEISA qualifier did not mean much to them.

"The 11th place finish didn’t mean much for Tufts: we had already 'scheduled into' the showcase finals, meaning we had done well enough last year to have already guaranteed ourselves a spot regardless of our performance of the qualifier," Whitney said. "We would’ve liked to have done better, of course, especially within our own division. This being said, the event, while not much of a qualifier for our team specifically, still represented a competitive environment for us to improve."

At the Edgewood Yacht Club in Cranston, R.I., the Tufts co-ed team participated at the Sherman Hoyt Trophy hosted by Brown University on Saturday and Sunday. At 1 p.m. on Saturday, the regatta began as the southerly winds picked up to five to eight knots; eight races were sailed in each division on W4 courses with division A in FJ boats and division B in Z420 dinghies.On Sunday, the winds picked up to around 12 knots, and the sailors raced eight more times.The sailors on each team were organized into the standard two divisions, division A and division B. Representing division A for the Jumbos were sophomore Charlie Hibben as skipper and senior Emma Clutterbuck, who was on crew for 13 races, and junior Wells Drayton, who was on crew for the last three races. Racing in the division B for the Jumbos were sophomore Ansgar Jordan on skipper and junior Hanna Brush on crew. Like many of the teams at the regatta, the Jumbos accumulated most of their points on Saturday when the winds were lighter, and they fared better on Sunday. Tufts amassed a total of 298 points, coming in 11th place.  

On Saturday, the co-ed team sent sailors to race in dinghies at the Salt Pond Invite hosted by the University of Rhode Island. The sailors raced in a southerly breeze at five to 10 knots that lasted throughout the day, allowing division A to race eight times and division B to race six times.Representing in division A were junior Mathew Galbraith and first-year Caroline Kelly,  and for division B were first-year duo Bryan Trammel and Cecilia Adams. Overall, Tufts was in the middle of the pack, finishing in seventh place with 183 points. With home advantage, Rhode Island won the regatta, tallying just 78 points.

Concurrently in Enfield, N.H., Tufts sent two boats and four women sailors to represent in the division A and B at the annual Mrs. Hurst Bowl, hosted by Dartmouth University. All teams at the regatta used the light and stiff Z420 dinghies. In division A, junior Talia Toland skippered while sophomore Ann Sheridan was on crew.First-year Annika Fedde skippered on the division B boat while junior Juliana Testa was on crew. Dartmouth finished in first place, accumulating just 47 points with Yale finishing at a close second with 52 points. Four of the six races in each division were done on Saturday, which saw winds at three to six knots before they died down and the racing was called off. Most of the teams, including the Jumbos, struggled with the tapering winds and accumulated their fair share of points. The next day, the sailors raced two more times, this time with the winds at three to six knots. The Jumbos fared better during these two races, accumulating less than 27 points in all.  However, due to the winds on Saturday, the ladies finished at a modest 10th place with 101 points. 

The co-ed team sent six sailors to compete at the Richard Ross College Bowl, hosted by Tufts. The sailors raced two times on Rhodes boats on the Boston Harbor. Tufts sailors were organized into three boats: Jumbos 1, Jumbos 2 and Jumbos 3.First-year Niall Sheridan skippered Jumbos 1 while first-year Sara Morrison was on crew.On Jumbos 2 were first-year Ege Ozgul and sophomore Mallory Hood, while junior Robert Bartlett and senior Anisha Jain raced on Jumbos 3. The first-year duo on Jumbos 1 placed sixth out of eight teams. Jumbos 2 and Jumbos 3 placed in second and third respectively, with the University of Massachusetts Boston Beacons capturing the win with three points.

After a busy weekend on the water, the sailors can throw the anchor down and recuperate their sailor hands and sea legs. Next weekend, the team will send the women's squad to the Women's Showcase One hosted by Brown, which will start at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday.