The coed sailing team expects positive results when it heads to the New England Team Racing Championships this weekend, hosted at the Coast Guard Academy. Only the top two teams will qualify for a trip to the National competition, hosted at the University of Hawaii in May and June.
Tufts will send three boats to race against several other colleges in this weekend's competition. Juniors Pete Levesque and Caroline Hall will comprise the first boat, senior John Birkett and sophomore Katie Shuman will comprise a second, while juniors JR Maxwell and Deane Madsen will make up the third boat. Unlike fleet racing, which involves one boat representing each university, the six sailors will tackle the competition in team racing; all three Tufts boats will sail against three boats from a competing school, seeking the top three out of six finishes.
Levesque maintains confidence in the team's ability to qualify. "We definitely have a good shot at making nationals," he said. "Only the top two teams make it, and we have been in the top two this season."
Among the best in team racing, the Jumbos reportedly expect the strongest competition to come from Beantown rival Harvard. Levesque did note that Harvard is "a clear favorite" to win the competition, and has been Tufts' main source of competition this season in team racing. Both Tufts and Harvard have pulled away from the rest of the competition this year, consistently taking the top two spots in team racing regattas while the Tufts coed team has yet to beat Harvard this season.
"[Harvard is] number one in the nation right now and they keep winning," coach Ken Legler said.
The last time that Tufts and Harvard met in team racing was at the Friis Trophy Regatta, on April 6 and 7.
"Every race we had with other teams, we ran away," Levesque said. "But the races with Harvard were really close. We're going to have to make sure we communicate as a team."
Nevertheless, the coed team remains confident that it will not only qualify for Nationals, but also possibly beat Harvard.
"We're not going into New Englands to take second place," Levesque said. "We're going there to win. Winning will require a smart race. We're going to sail conservatively against the rest of the teams because we don't want to lose any easy races."
"Our goal outright is to win New Englands," Legler agreed. "If you set the goal of just qualifying, you have less of a chance of doing so than if you set the goal to win."
The team has worked steadily on perfecting the art of team racing this year by attending weekly meetings during winter training to discuss winning strategies.
"We've been working on our team starts, and our team covering strategy: being in a winning combination and staying in that winning combination," Levesque said.
The team noted that weather will have a considerable effect on the final results of the regatta. "Harvard is better when there is no breeze because they're more kinetic," Levesque said. "As soon as there is a light to medium breeze, we're better because we're faster. But Harvard has better boat handling in heavy wind."
Legler agreed that weather will affect the final results, and maintained a positive attitude after checking out this weekend's weather report. "The wind looks pretty light this weekend, so I think we have a good chance," he said. "We're happier if it's not real windy. We're looking to use our speed."
The co-ed team hopes to see the same success that the women's team did this past weekend, when it placed fourth in the New England Championships, hosted at the University of Rhode Island. Sophomores AJ Crane, Liz Bancroft, and Kristen Tysell placed fifth in the A division, while Juniors Clare Dooley, Marjorie Affel and Caroline Hall took fifth place in the B division. The final results allowed the team to qualify for Nationals, which will take place at the end of May.
The coed team practiced its fleet racing skills and earned a seventh-place finish last weekend in the Thompson Trophy Regatta, hosted at Connecticut College. Senior John Birkett and Katie Shuman took seventh place in the A division, while Maxwell and Madsen took tenth place in the B division.
