March 2, 2008
WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Bulldogs started off the spring team race season with an impressive win at the John Jackson Memorial Team Race hosted by Georgetown. The Elis, who went 7-0 in the final round on Sunday, are used to success at the event, having also won the team race in 2007.
Skippering in the event were senior Zachary Brown, sophomore John Kempton and sophomore captain Thomas Barrows. A critical component in the Bulldogs' success was the ability to utilize different crews in response to the varying wind strengths. Crewing for the Bulldogs were senior Abigail Coplin, juniors Grace Becton, Adriane Levin and Jane Macky and sophomores Marla Menninger and Michael Hession.
The John Jackson Team Race featured strong, unpredictable winds on Saturday, while Sunday was characterized by light wind, which the Bulldogs thrived in. The event featured a selection of the top teams in college sailing as the final round of competition on Sunday included the top four finishers from the first day of the John Jackson Team Race and the top four finishers from the first day of the Graham Hall Team Race hosted by the Naval Academy.
While the first day of the team race had some tough spots in the unpredictable winds of 15-25 knots, Brown was pleased overall with the team's performance and improvement over the regatta.
"We did well in the light air and learned lots of things," Brown said. "We were much more resilient on Sunday than Saturday and handled bad situations and worked through our problems well."
Barrows, the Eli captain, was similarly impressed with the team's performance.
"We improved a lot as the weekend went on," Barrows said. "It was a little hard as it was our first time racing together in a regatta, but overall, it was a successful weekend."
The Bulldogs also competed at the Sharpe Trophy Team Race hosted by Brown, where they placed sixth. The Elis, who braved variable winds that were strong at times and a short hail storm, were led by skippers senior Jason Rabinovitch, junior Caleb Dorfman and freshmen Andrew Kurzrok. The Bulldog crews were seniors Harriet Thayer and David Mixter, junior Emmet Smith, sophomore Susanna Jeurling and freshman Audrey Huntington.
The Elis, currently ranked third nationally, look to continue their success on March 8th and 9th at the 42nd Admiral Moore Team Race hosted by SUNY Maritime and the Wood Trophy hosted by Salve Regina.
Report filed by Caleb Dorfman '09, Yale Sports Publicity