The women's sailing team will head to the University of Rhode Island this weekend for the New England championships, with the opportunity for a trip to Nationals on the line. That competition would come in May, at the University of Hawaii.
Approximately 15 to 18 schools are expected at this weekend's competition. Only the top five, though, will make the cut to qualify for Nationals.
For Tufts, a top five finish is no sure thing. But team members are optimistic that with enough focus, the goal remains within reach.
Sophomores A.J. Crane and Liz Bancroft will lead the team in the A boat. Junior Clare Dooley will make a return to the women's team after a semester off and will be joined by Marjorie Affel in the B boat, while freshmen Lindsay Shanholt and Sarah Affel will make up the alternate B boat.
"I think that if AJ and Clare both sail smartly, we can beat any of these teams, without a doubt," Shanholt said. "It will be tough though, because there are only 5 spots, and at least 10 very good teams - so it's really hard to tell who will get those spots."
Bancroft was slightly more optimistic. She said the team has a good chance, "especially after how well, we did this past weekend. We were consistently finishing in the top of the fleet in a variety of different weather conditions and in competition against many of the same teams that will be at New Englands this weekend."
Last weekend's success came at the Dellenbaugh Women's Trophy, hosted by Brown University, where the women finished fifth out of 17 teams. Though many of the teams competing at New Englands were in attendance, some were noticeably absent.
"Connecticut College, Brown, Harvard and Boston College didn't send their best women's teams to the regatta this past weekend," Bancroft said. "But they will all be at New Englands next weekend and that will definitely raise the level of competition."
Some of the teams have reportedly begun to bring back their women's skippers from coed regattas to participate in the women's division. "Dartmouth, in particular, brought back their top woman skipper, and it helped them tremendously," Dooley said.
The sailors say their performance at this weekend's regatta will depend on how well they keep their cool. "I think that I've sailed better (than last weekend) but that I was psyched out; going into the regatta, I was very nervous and I think that that was obvious with my scores," Dooley said.
Furthermore, the women will face the task of sailing in FJ's, a type of boat different from the Larks sailed out of the Tufts Boathouse.
"New Englands will be raced in FJ's," Bancroft said. "However, we spent all of spring break practicing in FJ's and hopefully that experience will help us to perform well in their boats."
Despite the squad's relatively young composition, team members remained determined.
"[The women's team] is pretty young, which is both a strength and a weakness," Shanolt said. "We have two freshmen, two sophomores, and two juniors, which means that we have time to improve together. On the other hand, this is the year to qualify, because we want to go to Hawaii."
"We need to keep focused; we know we have the skill to qualify," Dooley said. "If everything we've worked on all year comes together then we'll be successful."
Last weekend, the co-ed sailing team was also successful, finishing first at the Freshman Gibb. Also over the weekend, the co-ed team finished fifth out of 20 at the Admiral's cup, and fourth out of 13 at the Boston University Trophy.
