In two regattas held not-so-close to home over Homecoming Weekend, the Tufts sailing team raced its way to notable finishes in both.
The Jumbos finished first this weekend at the Penobscot Bay Open, held at Maine Maritime Academy. At the Danmark Trophy Regatta, held simultaneously at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy in Connecticut, the team sailed to a fifth place finish and a qualifying spot at the Atlantic Coast Championships, held later this season.
Fifteen teams were present for the Penobscot Bay Open, but Tufts eked out a win, beating Boston University by one point. The A team sailors, sophomore Peter Fallon and freshman Meredith Ginley, sailed well, finishing in third place in their division.
The B division's sophomore duo of Jimmy Praley and Michaela Brady-Lederer also sailed well in their 13 races, resulting in a second place finish in the division, somewhat expected for them.
"I've sailed in regattas on a similar level so I knew our competition," Praley said of the team's success. "We didn't expect to come out on top but we expected to do pretty well."
Consistency was Tufts' greatest attribute at the Penobscot Bay Open.
"Most of our races were in the top five," Praley said. "Consistency pays off."
The team's toughest competitors were the close runner up, Boston University, along with the fourth place finishing Dartmouth team.
At the U.S. Coast Guard Regatta, Tufts placed fifth behind St. Mary's College and Yale, who finished first and second respectively. St Mary's College has a notoriously strong sailing program, as displayed by its number four national ranking as of September 21, and it was the distinct favorite entering the race.
Junior Dave Siegal and sophomore Anna Martin, as well as sophomore alternate Duncan Kopp, took home a third place finish in the A division. Junior Jeff Cruise, freshman Chryssa Rask, and alternate sophomore Stephen Cox ended up finishing in the middle of their division, at seventh place.
According to Siegal, the Coast Guard event is one of the most competitive regattas of the fall. Due to difficult conditions, race results ranged from second to fifteenth, but the better finishes outweighed the worse ones.
Like Praley, Siegal emphasized the importance of consistency this past weekend. "Consistency is really, really important," Siegal explained. "Overall I think we were a little bit more consistent then everyone else."
Siegal and his crew were quite surprised with their fifth place finish, given some bad finishes in Saturday's races.
On Sunday, the team raced with heavier crews due to 18-20 knot winds.
"We have to go heavy when it is windy just to keep the boat flat," Siegal said.
This was the rationale behind Anna Martin trading places with Duncan Kopp in the A division in order to make the boat more stable.
The conditions proved difficult for all teams, and the Jumbos were able to beat out 13 other squads for the fifth place finish.
Also at Coast Guard this weekend, the Jumbos qualified for the Atlantic Coast Championships. Seven teams from New England qualify for the ACC's, along with seven from the Mid-Atlantic region and approximately five from the South Atlantic region. In the spring, the winners from all coasts compete in the National championships, rather than ACC's.
The top four New England teams at the Danmark Trophy Regatta this past weekend were qualifiers. The Tufts team, despite placing fifth, was able to qualify since two of the teams finishing above the Jumbos were from the Mid-Atlantic region.
The ACC regatta will be the last regatta of the fall, held on the Charles River at MIT on the weekend of Nov. 13 and 14.
This coming weekend, the Jumbos will put forth their best sailors at the New England Single-handed Championships at Roger Williams, as well as the Hap Moore Trophy, held at the Coast Guard Academy.
