An up-and-down spring season for the sailing team ended in disappointment, as two of the three Jumbo squads, both co-ed and team racing, failed to advance to the national regatta in their respective events.
The lone team to keep the sailing season alive was the nationally ranked No. 5 women's team, which sailed to a second-place spot in the New England Intercollegiate Sailing Association (NEISA) Championships on April 19-20, earning them one of five NEISA slots in the National Championships to be held in Newport from May 26-28.
Tufts' A and B division boats reeled in 138 combined points, leaving them 20 short of the winning team from Boston College. The A division was led by senior tri-captain Kaity Storck along with classmate Lyndsey Gibbons-Neff as crew.
The Storck/Gibbons-Neff duo has established itself over the past year as one of the best one-two tandems in the country, posting consistently high finishes all year long. They are the predominant reason for the Jumbos' success and rise in the national rankings.
In stark contrast to the women's team, the co-ed and team racing squads were not so successful in their postseason endeavors. Despite promising finishes leading up to the national qualifying regattas, the Jumbos failed to reach either regatta for the second year in a row.
"We were unprepared for the regatta," sophomore Tomas Hornos said. "We hadn't practiced in those boats. I guess we couldn't handle the pressure of having to do well to make it to Nationals."
Hornos and senior Michael Easton split time skippering the Jumbos' A division boat at the National Championship Eastern Semifinal on April 26-27, while seniors Chryssa Rask and Katie Greenlee shared time as crew. In the B division boat, all three of the team's tri-captains - Storck, junior Baker Potts and senior Meredith Ginley - got involved.
"We've sailed well all season and been one of the top 10 teams in the country for most of the season," Easton said. "It was disappointing to have a bad regatta when it really counts, but I wouldn't say the whole season is a failure."
Unfortunately, the leadership and experience these veterans brought to the table wasn't enough to put the Jumbos in contention for the national championship. A total of 159 points in 16 races between both divisions left the Jumbos in an uncharacteristically poor 12th place out of 18 boats.
"We didn't get any good breaks," Hornos said. "Not many things went well for us. The regatta was also really short, with only eight races [per division], so it wasn't a full representation of how we sailed."
Although the Jumbos consider it a failure not to advance to Nationals, their accomplishments during the season cannot be overlooked. Despite finishing the season ranked No. 15 in the nation, the Jumbos rose as high as No. 7 in the Sailing World collegiate rankings in early April. More importantly, the Jumbos sailed well when they needed to, qualifying for the semifinals by making a stand in their home waters at the Friis Trophy Regatta at Tufts. A third-place finish put the Jumbos into the national semifinals.
"We all had good regattas and high points in the season," Hornos said. "But it was disappointing the way we finished. In a way it was bittersweet, because we didn't get it done this year but we know we have a lot of potential coming back next year. We've just got to keep our heads high and move on. Things didn't go our way - but hey, that's sailing."
In the team racing squad's quest for a bid to the Nationals, it all boiled down to the final race of the qualifying regatta. In the end, it was the Harvard Crimson who out-sailed the Jumbos to the third and final bid from the NEISA to the team racing championships.
With a select few great performances peppered in among a large volume of mediocre finishes, the Jumbos' spring season was neither particularly extraordinary nor as successful as their fall outing.
"I think the season as a whole actually went quite well," Easton said. "We focused a lot on team racing, and I think that was reflected pretty well in our results. Of course, we're disappointed we didn't make team racing Nationals. But people had written us off as not really being that good after our regatta the weekend before ... We showed that we can come back and that we are in fact good."
With a strong core of returning sailors, including Potts, the Jumbos promise to come back with a vengeance in the fall.
"This spring, the up-and-coming sailors improved a lot," Easton said. "If they keep learning, practicing and sailing as much as possible, there's a very positive outlook for next year."
