April 13, 2008
New England Dinghy Championships Results
NEW HAVEN, Conn. - The No. 2 Bulldogs overcame a variety of undesirable and tricky weather conditions to place fourth at the New England Dinghy Championships for the Coast Guard Alumni Bowl on Saturday and Sunday. By virtue of their performance, the team qualified for the 2008 National Coed Dinghy Championship Semifinals to be held on Apr. 26 and 27. The Elis also triumphed in intersectional competition, placing third at the Moody Trophy intersectional, and competed at the Oberg Trophy hosted by Harvard.
The New England Dinghy Championships were characterized by bad weather, inconsistent performances and a low number of races. On Saturday, the weather varied between rain and overcast skies. Racing was interrupted twice in the first four hours of competition. The first interuption was for fog that was so thick that a race had to be abandoned because the competitors were unable to see other boats or the course. Sailing then resumed, only to be postponed for hours more due to driving rain and thunderstorms that made competing dangerous. The wind on Saturday varied from 8 to 12 knots with puffs up to 15 knots. Due to the adverse conditions, only four races in each division were completed, with the last race of the day ending as it began to get dark at 7:45 p.m.
Sunday featured better visibility and only infrequent light rain showers. The breeze was lighter, varying from six to 10 knots, but the water was very choppy and the current was strong in portions of the course, making it a tough decision for the competitors of whether to seek current relief near the land or greater breeze that was frequently in the middle of the course. Additionally, unpredictable shifts and irregularly set courses made a complete race strategy tough to execute. The skewed courses and finish lines resulted in races that frequently had large, random lead changes.
The team, however, was still able to achieve its goal of moving on to the next step in the qualifying process for the national dinghy championships, the Coed Dinghy Championship Semifinals. The top nine teams from the 18 at the event qualified for the competition, with the team's fourth place, 159-point effort guaranteeing the Bulldogs a place in the West Semifinal hosted by USC in Long Beach, Calif. The regatta was a tense one for the team, as only 10 races were completed over the two days, meaning every bad race was a critical loss of points for the team. While the team was at times outside of qualifying position due to a number of poor finishes early on the second day of racing, it eventually placed fourth, only seven points out of second and 18 points out of tenth place, with only the top nine teams qualifying for the Semifinals. The event was won by No. 3 Boston College with 127 points.
In A Division, senior skipper Zachary Brown and junior crew Grace Becton put in a strong 81-point performance good for sixth in their division. Brown and Becton only placed outside of the top 10 boats twice and won one race.
In B Division, sophomore captain skipper Thomas Barrows and senior crew Abigail Coplin placed fifth with 78 points over the 10 races. The pair placed in the top half of the competitors in all except for three of the races.
Brown was glad that the team performed well, but felt that the conditions made a strong performance tough to achieve.
"We had difficulties in the racing due to the race management, which sometimes resulted in skewed courses and difficultly placed finish lines," Brown said. "We would sometimes make a small mistake in our sailing that we could normally recover well from and due to the courses and tough conditions, we would lose a lot of boats on legs that we normally would not. It was great to have the support of our teammates at the event. Even though Michael Hession and Caleb Dorfman didn't get the opportunity to sail at the event, it helped us to have them cheering us on."
The Bulldogs continue on their mission to qualify for the ICSA/Gill Coed Dinghy Nationals by racing 18 of the top teams in the nation at USC on Apr. 26 and 27. The top nine teams at the event will qualify for the national championships in Newport, R.I.
The team also triumphed at the Moody Trophy intersectional sailed in FJ's, placing third out of 16 teams with 162 points, losing to No. 1 St. Mary's on a tie breaker. The team achieved consistent finishes over the weekend despite sailing in a light to medium wind that shifted throughout the event, especially on Sunday. The event was the second time that members of the women's sailing team competed for the coed team this spring and helped the team achieve strong finishes. The team's third-place finish was its highest at the event since 2005, when it also placed third.
In A Division, junior skipper Jane Macky and sophomore crew Marla Menninger placed third in A Division with 80 points. Macky and Menninger placed in the top three boats in seven of the 14 races, including three wins.
In B Division, junior captain skipper Kate Hagemann and freshman crew Elizabeth Brim placed fifth with 82 points. Hagemann and Brim finished in the top six places nine times and only finished outside of the top half of competitors twice over the regatta.
Macky was pleased with the team's performance.
"I feel like we sailed pretty consistently throughout the regatta, especially on Saturday," Macky said. "On Sunday, the wind got trickier with light patches when the winds shifted to between the islands and we had a few rough spots, but we sailed well overall. It was fun to race against different people and different sailing styles as we normally sail in women's competition. Everyone was very friendly and sportsmanlike on the course."
The team also competed at the Oberg Trophy hosted by Harvard in FJ's on Saturday and Sunday. The Bulldogs ended the regatta in eight place with 147 points. In B Division, senior Jason Rabinovitch and senior Katherine Williams place second with 41 points over 10 races. In A division freshman Andrew Kurzrok and senior Lynn McGregor placed 11th with 106 points.
The Bulldogs will next compete at the Admiral's Cup hosted by King's Point in 420's, FJ's and Lasers and the Thompson Trophy hosted by Connecticut College in FJ's on Saturday and Sunday.
Report filed by Caleb Dorfman '09, Yale Sports Publicity