It was a weekend of mixed results for the Tufts sailing team in its first full schedule of the fall season.
The Jumbos planned to send boats to 12 regattas across New England, looking to kickstart their year in the most competitive sailing region in the nation. But poor wind conditions across the region cancelled several events and forced others to be abbreviated.
The Captain Hurst Bowl at Dartmouth saw the nationally seventh-ranked Jumbos finish a disappointing 13th out of 24 schools in a weather-shortened competition. The normally two-day regatta was cut to just four Sunday races due to lack of wind on Saturday. The sailors waited unsuccessfully for wind for seven hours on the first day before calling it quits until Sunday.
"[Coach] Ken [Legler] warned us there would be no breeze on Saturday, so we were fully aware of the conditions going in," junior Zoe Bolesta said. "13th is definitely not impressive for Tufts, but it was to be expected [given the conditions]."
Sunday's competition saw Bolesta and senior skipper Brendan Shattuck run 15th in A Division, hampered by their weight in the light winds. The pair had sailed well in practice late last week, when the after-effects of Hurricane Frances sent some decent winds across Boston.
Sunday was a different story, with the A boat finishing fifth in one of its races, but 12th or lower in the other three, ending the day one point behind Boston College, 51-52. Combined, the pair weighs approximately 300 pounds, while the optimal weight is between 250 and 280.
"Brendan and I were a little heavy," Bolesta said. "We kicked butt in the breeze, but in the five to seven knot winds on Sunday, we were too heavy."
The more suitably weighted boat of second semester sophomore Zander Kirkland and junior Katie Mims fared slightly better in B competition in its opening three races before experiencing technical complications in its finale, pushing the boat to last place and an overall finish of 15th. Harvard topped the field in both divisions to win the event.
"[The B boat] passed the start line before the [starting] siren and were told to go back," Bolesta said. "They did, but didn't realize they had to go around the starting boat so they were penalized for that."
The Coast Guard-hosted Pine Trophy saw the Jumbo trio of junior skipper Ian Beam and sophomores Duncan Kopp and Stephen Cox sail sixth out of 10 in another wind-shortened regatta. Seven races were held in Saturday's sloop event before the Sunday schedule was scrapped due to a lack of breeze.
"We did okay," Legler said. "Our top sloop skipper [junior Dave Siegal] was out of town so we didn't have our best team in there."
Tufts placed fifth or above in five of the races, tying Hobart with 37 points, but gaining sixth place overall based on head-to-head results. The College of Charleston (South Carolina), Coast Guard and Kings Point topped the field.
Siegal had good reason to miss the event - he was in Detroit competing in the U.S. Team Racing Championships, an event featuring 16 teams, with 19 former Tufts sailors on eight of those squads. Siegal was the only undergrad to compete in the event, which is a qualifier for next year's Team Racing World Champs in Newport, Rhode Island.
The Jumbos did see some promising signs of what's to come from their newly installed freshman fleet, who rode four boats in the Freshman Series opener, which was also at Coast Guard.
Sailing under the "Tufts" name, Michael Easton and Katie Greenlee - the team's top freshman boat - along with Katy Storck and Lyndsey Gibbons-Neff finished second overall out of nine underclassman squads with 71 points, one point ahead of Brown and seven back of winner Connecticut College.
Tufts' second team, racing under the title "Jumbos," was not so fortunate. The foursome of Jason Majane, Chloe Rossen, Jack Wittpenn and Faith Davis placed seventh with 167 points, well off the sixth place CG Bears, who finished with 100 points.
But Legler was encouraged by the results of his top freshmen in their collegiate debuts.
"We have two really good freshman boats," Legler said. "It kind of drops off after that. But Easton and Storck have international experience, and Katie Greenlee is one of the best crews we have [on any level]."
Sunday action also saw Tufts lay claim to the Team Race Series One crown on the Charles River at Harvard. The Jumbos finished a perfect 3-0 in the round robin competition against BC (2-1), Harvard (1-2) and Mass Maritime (0-3). Junior skippers Alex Singer and Reade Everett, along with sophomore skipper Jimmy Praley combined to demonstrate the depth that helps set Tufts apart from many other schools in the area.
"Other teams around here have gotten really good," Legler said. "But what this event did was show our level of depth, all the way down our [list of] skippers, which a lot of schools don't necessarily have."
