After a shaky start to the spring season, including a dip below the top 10 in the national rankings for the first time this school year, the sailing team got back on track with quality finishes at this past weekend's regattas.
The biggest regatta of the weekend was the Southern New England Team Race (SNETR) Intersectional at Conn. College and the Coast Guard Academy. Historically, team racing has been one of the Jumbos' strengths, and that held true this past weekend. Tufts' three boats finished fifth out of a field of 18 that included some of the best teams in the nation, such as St. Mary's, Boston College, Yale and Charleston. More importantly, the Jumbos finished third in their conference, the New England Intercollegiate Sailing Association (NEISA).
While there is clearly plenty of room for improvement, the Jumbos see the regatta as a litmus test for the upcoming season - one that yielded promising results considering their lack of personnel and time on the water.
"[The fifth-place finish] was pretty awesome because we're young, with two of our three skippers being sophomores, while the other teams had juniors and seniors who were at their peak," sophomore skipper Andrew Criezis said. "It was great to compete with these teams. [Our three boats] hadn't practiced together at all; one of our best skippers was hurt and another was at a different regatta. I'd say we were the underdogs."
Team racing, a style dramatically different from fleet racing, involves two teams consisting of three boats each sailing head to head. Criezis and sophomore Tomas Hornos were the two sophomore skippers for the Jumbos, while the third was veteran senior Michael Easton. The Jumbos brought five crews: seniors Katie Greenlee and Chryssa Rask, junior Dan Hurwit and sophomores Nate Rosenberg and Jennifer Watkins. These crews occasionally switched between the three boats due to changing conditions and needs.
"Our performance was good," Easton said. "It was definitely a step up from our performance in the previous weekend, but that was mainly due to exhaustion. Fifth-place is definitely positive, but there is still room for improvement."
Three of the top four finishers of the event were the top three ranked teams in the nation: No. 1 St. Mary's, who finished first; No. 2 Yale, who finished fourth; No. 3 Boston College, who finished second; and No. 6 College of Charleston, who finished third.
The Jumbos, who spent their spring recess at St. Mary's training with the nation's top-ranked team, acknowledge that the Gaels' collegiate sailing domination is a function of their unparalleled amount of time on the water.
"They've been doing it longer," Criezis said. "They practice really hard - harder than most. They have a really fun time together, building teamwork and camaraderie."
"They also just seem to get the most naturally gifted sailors," Criezis added. "They're really fast on the water naturally, and then they come to school, and with some training they become almost unbeatable. But they're not - they're not unbeatable."
One element to the Jumbos' success that they will be able to build on in the future is their depth. With a strong group of young sailors, steady improvement seems almost inevitable.
"This team has a lot of depth, considering we can still achieve really good results without our top sailors," Easton said. "[Criezis] and [Hornos] are sophomores becoming quite experienced at team racing. The team is growing. Our top boats are pretty evenly matched."
"The regatta answered some questions," Criezis added. "Like how deep our team is and how we compare against the best. We've got pretty good depth, so we'll be around for at least four more good years with the people we've got."
The fifth-place finish at the SNETR was not the highest of the weekend for the co-eds, as the Jumbos also reeled in a fourth-place finish at the Southern Series three-regatta at Salve Regina. However, considering the scope of talent and teams at the team race, fifth-place was certainly impressive.
The nationally ranked No. 6 women's squad also had a hugely successful outing this weekend with a third-place finish at the Dellenbaugh Women's Trophy, one that consisted of the same schools as the SNETR. Senior tri-captain Kaity Storck set the tone for the Jumbos with the low score of 57 points, which was good enough for first place in the A division of the regatta, beating out fierce competition including the second-place boat from St. Mary's with 58 points.
Above all, the Jumbos are focused on Nationals at the end of the season. With more performances like this past weekend's coupled with steady improvement, a national title may not be out of reach.
"We're psyched about the future," Criezis said.
