The co−ed sailing team came into the year aspiring to reach the top five in the highly competitive New England Intercollegiate Sailing Association (NEISA) and at least the top 10 in the United States.
So far, the team is on track to achieve that goal.
Ranked No. 9 nationally, the Jumbos this past weekend dealt with difficult conditions and a setback involving a disqualification in the A division boat in one race, but then still managed to pull away with a solid finish.
The team fought and scrapped its way to an overall seventh place out of 18 in a field of the nation's top teams at the Hatch Brown Trophy Regatta on the Charles River. The Jumbos would have finished even higher if a disqualification in the A boat's fourth start hadn't led to a bloated score on that race. By rule, a disqualification is scored as a last−place finish plus one extra, or in this case, a 19th−place finish. Ultimately, the A boat, skippered by junior Massimo Soriano and crewed by senior Margaret Rew came in 13th with 73 points in its division, while the B division boat finished fifth with 49 points in its division.
Soriano's Saturday was a frustrating one because of the disqualification.
"I believed I had been fouled by the sailor from the Naval Academy," Soriano said. "In the protest hearing, I failed to convince the committee of that, which led to my getting a disqualification."
Still, the lowlight of the weekend for Soriano came on Sunday.
"More disappointing really than the frustrating Saturday in which we had some bad luck was the fact that we were not able to sail more than one race on Sunday," he said. "We had managed to put the bad day behind us and were psyched to string together some better results, but the weather didn't cooperate."
"The team could've done better this weekend, but conditions were light and shifty," senior Roisin Magee, who crewed for the B Division, added.
The total of 184 points that left the Jumbos in seventh place was not far off the pace of rival Boston University's 167 points and sixth−place finish.
But despite some of the team's inconsistency in the light breeze, the Jumbos have an optimistic outlook on future regattas in the same conditions, according to Magee. Her junior skipper, Nicolas Russo−Larsson, agreed.
"We are happy with our results," he said, "but there were some unlucky things in the A team that didn't go our way."
Nevertheless, the Jumbos are confident that the mishap will not affect their position in the national standings. Both Russo−Larsson and Magee agree that getting the rust off early in the season is important in gaining momentum for the middle and end of the season, during which the most important races will be held.
Seniors Sara Carnahan and Catherine Swanson, the latter of which made her co−ed sailing debut, sailed the C Division boat to a ninth−place finish with 62 points.
At the prior weekend's Harry Anderson Trophy, the Jumbos raced 420s to come in sixth out of 20. 420s are similar to the FJs that the team usually races but are more streamlined. Both boats hold two people and are used at various levels of competition.
The women's sailing team was also relatively successful this past weekend at the Mrs. Hurst Bowl hosted by Dartmouth, scoring 143 points in 16 races, good for ninth place out of 19 teams. The B division fared particularly well, scoring 48 points for a sixth place in the division despite a lack of wind on Sunday that caused a delay in the racing. The A division, on the other hand, struggled to 14th place with 95 points in eight races.
As for the co−ed Jumbos, it was unfamiliar winds and miscommunication that held them back this past weekend. The coming weekend promises a more familiar race for the squad. The Hood Trophy, hosted by Tufts at Upper Mystic Lake, will provide Jumbo sailors with more familiar boats in the Larks, a lighter, faster boat better designed for lake sailing than 420s. The team sails Larks every day at practice.
Above all, familiar waters and scenery means more comfort, better teamwork and more fun.
"We're at home next weekend and we know our boats better, and it'll be really fun," Magee said.
