Bad weather, slow starts, a lack of practice, and a cold, wet skipper. Just about everything went wrong for Tufts' co-ed and women's sailing teams this past weekend.
The co-ed team finished sixth out of 18 at the Admiral Moore Regatta, held at New York Maritime and the women placed tenth out of 16 teams at the NAVY Spring Women's Intersectional, held in Annapolis, Maryland at the Naval Academy last weekend.
"I'd like to do better," coach Ken Legler said. "But we really haven't had a chance to practice much. We haven't been out yet."
The team has had trouble training recently due to inclement weather.
Sailing at the Admiral Moore Regatta was limited by inclement weather as winds allowed the sailors to get in just nine races.
Legler said that the regatta is known for having bad weather, but that he was happy just to have the opportunity to sail.
"They got some racing in, I'm pleased about that," Legler said. "They needed that practice. Really, I look at it as a practice regatta."
Sailing in 420's, Tufts finished sixth in both the A and B divisions. The A boat, skippered by senior captain Joel Hanneman and crewed by junior Elizabeth Haddad, finished with 58 points.
The B boat of junior Sebastian Reeve and sophomore Katie Mims had 67 points. Legler said that Reeve was hampered by "bad starts."
Brown won the event with an overall lowest score of 80 points.
The women's finish was disappointing for a team that won Nationals last year and began the spring season ranked fourth in the country.
Despite the poor showing, Legler was not discouraged by the regatta.
"I think we're about the same we were at this time last year," he said. "We were ranked as high as fourth going into the season. Now we'll probably drop to about tenth, but I think we'll climb up to fifth, sixth, seventh. That's where we were last year at Nationals."
At the NAVY Spring Women's Intersectional, senior co-captain A.J. Crane, an All American last year, skippered the A division boat. She was crewed by senior Kristin Tysell and sophomore Gretchen Curtis.
The trio finished with 138 points.
The B boat, skippered by junior Lindsey Shanholt and crewed by Tysell and junior Sarah Woodworth, finished with 167 points.
Shanholt had a rough day from the start. She forgot her dry suit when packing for the trip, and an early capsize left her cold and wet for the rest of the race.
The inauspicious circumstances was followed by another capsize and a few fouls of other boats.
"They definitely struggled," Legler said. "But there were some signs of the speed that we know we have. Early in the regatta they were running in third. They'll do better next weekend. I expect them to finish in the top five."
The regattas next weekend are much more important events for both the co-ed and women's teams.
The co-ed team will be racing at the Trum Umstead at the Naval Academy -- an event Legler described it as "one of the biggest events of the year."
The women's team will be St. Mary's women's Intersectional.
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