Home race gives women a boost

This past weekend the women's sailing team bounced back from a disappointing seventh place finish the previous week to take third place in their first home race of the spring at the Women's Duplin Trophy at Mystic Lake.

The regatta consisted of fleet races where two divisions raced, each with a two-member crew. Having the regatta on their familiar lake with faster boats fit for their style, the women were able to finish ahead of 11 other teams, including Harvard and Boston College.

"Ever since I've been at Tufts we've won this event," junior AJ Crane said. "I would have liked to have raced better, but our final results were still good."

Crane headed up the A-team, with Kristen Tysell and Lindsay Shanholf splitting time based on the wind conditions during the 14 races over the weekend. The A-team finished second and the B-team--skippered by Clare Dooley--finished third.

The Jumbos finished fifth after the first day of sailing but came on strong on Sunday to finish third overall. Tufts finished with 135 points, only seven behind second place Dartmouth College. St. Mary's College continued its strong season by taking first at the regatta with 102 points.

This coming weekend the Women's team will stay in Boston, competing in events hosted by MIT -- the Emily Wick Trophy -- and Harvard -- the Sloop Shrew Trophy.

The co-ed team was split up between two regattas this past weekend. It finished second in both of its competitions, the Boston Dinghy Club Cup and the Veitor Trophy held in Connecticut.

Harvard took first in the Boston Dinghy, an event it co-hosted with MIT. The event is unique in that it consists of four divisions which each race a total of four different boats.

The Jumbos were led by freshman Dave Siegal who won the C division. This was the first time Siegal won his division.

"But it will not be his last," senior captain Pete Levesque said.

The Crimson finished ahead of Tufts for the second time in two weeks.

"I had a great weekend and was thrilled with winning my division," Siegal said. "We all performed really well and are gunning for Harvard in the coming races."

In the weekend's other regatta, the Jumbos finished second at Connecticut College, a race which the host team won. Like the women's competition, this regatta was also a fleet racing event. Rob Pascal and Liz Haddad comprised the A-team and finished third, while Brendan Shattuck and Zoe Bolestra placed first in the B division.

Pascal, a senior, said he was "pleased with the weekend's results. We started out a little sloppy, but finished strong on Sunday."

With the B-team having more of its races on Sunday rather than on Saturday, it was able to capitalize on the strong finish. Next weekend the co-ed Jumbos host the Friis Trophy on Mystic Lake, a team regatta. This event draws some of the best competition because schools treat it as a warm-up for the New England Championships, which take place three weeks later.

The Tufts team is looking forward to the event, since performing at home always provides a boost to team spirit. The Jumbos also look to capitalize on the use of the lighter, faster boats used in this event, as the women were able to do last weekend.

The Jumbos will also be sending competitors to other regattas hosted by Yale and the Massachusetts Maritime Institute. The full slate of events should provide the team's many members with valuable racing experience.