Inclement weather conditions could not prevent the Tufts sailing team from having a successful weekend. The squad placed in third place or above in four regattas held throughout New England.
The biggest race for Tufts this weekend was the New England Sloop Championship, and the Jumbos dominated. The team sailed a total of five races, with only one race being held on Saturday due to high winds.
Juniors Dave Siegal, Zander Kirkland and Coast Guard transfer Tom Leach sailed the three man boat and led Tufts to a one point victory over Yale as the Jumbos finished with 15 points in the five races. Only Tufts and Yale qualified in the upcoming ICSA Sloop Championships, held on November 19-21 in Newport Beach, California.
The team did not have much experience sailing in the three person boat together, but that didn't stop the individually qualified skippers from finding their groove.
"Zander and Tommy sailed really well," Siegal said. "Automatically we had a good rhythm as a team."
The Jumbos finished fifth or above in all five races, including a win in the third.
Siegal has high hopes for the upcoming championship in California, where they will be sailing a newly designed type of boat.
"We sailed well this weekend and I hope we will then, maybe taking first place," he said.
At the Casco Bay Open, held at Bowdoin, Tufts also demonstrated its skill by taking home a second place finish among ten schools. The team fell by nine points to Dartmouth, the three-year reigning champ in the event. Sophomore Peter Fallon and his crew of freshman Meredith Ginley piloted their boat to a second place result in the A division, with two wins in ten races.
But the B division proved even more dominating for the Jumbos. Sophomores Jimmy Praley and Michaela Brady-Lederer won their division, taking six first-place finishes out of the ten races.
The local Hatch Brown Regatta at Boston University had a rainy start, but the weather cleared up in time to allow for 16 races in each division. The Tufts team was surpassed by Yale and Dartmouth respectively, but held its own, coming in third out of the 18 teams present.
"We have a good team going," co-ed team captain Jeff Cruise said. "We were helping each other out between races, giving each other tips."
"We are getting accustomed to sailing together and we are improving quickly," added freshman Chryssa Rask, who crewed for Cruise in the A division. "I like sailing with him."
Juniors Brendan Shattuck and Zoe Bolesta joined Cruise and Rask, sailing to a third place result in B division, three points ahead of Dartmouth.
The Jumbos didn't meet with as much success in the all-female Mrs. Hurst Bowl regatta, held at Dartmouth.
The team of senior women's captain Lindsay Shanholt and freshman Chloe Starr in A division, along with sophomore Gretchen Curtis and freshman Anna Martin in the B boat, placed 15th out of 18 teams. Both the A and B teams placed in the lower half of their respective divisions.
"We still need to find something that is going to work with our women's teams," coach Ken Legler said. "The combos are not ready yet."
While the soggy weather conditions this weekend got the better of some of the Jumbo boats, overall the team put up some solid results across the co-ed schedule.
Concerning the rest of the fall season, Legler is excited about his freshman team, led by Michael Eastman and Katie Greenleaf, both of whom have substantial experience on the water.
"[Michael] is good, real good [as a skipper]," Legler said. "They sail together and they are [a fast crew]."
That should be good news for the Tufts team, which has tremendous freshman depth behind a sizable junior class of skippers.
"I see a lot of good things for the rest of this season," Cruise said.
