Competing against top-ranked teams in three different events at Dartmouth, Yale and Salve Regina, Bowdoin’s sailing team had a busy and tough weekend.
At Dartmouth on Saturday, the Bears competed in the Captain Hurst Bowl, a co-ed interconference regatta. Julia Rew ’16, Matt Lyons ’17, Jade Willey ’17, Nora Cullen ’18, Alex Vasiliou ’18, Jake Griffin ’18, Matt Kaplan ’19, and Jack Fullerton ’19 competed in the event, while alumni coach Peter Edmunds ’14 stepped in and coached the team. The Polar Bears were challenged by the cold and windy conditions but were still able to finish in 12th place out of 18 teams.
On Saturday, the temperature was in the 50s and there was a breeze from 5 to 15 knots. On Sunday, the conditions worsened, with temperatures falling below freezing and snow falling throughout the day. Despite the conditions, Bowdoin kept focus.
“There were long, oscillating shifts, and all of our teams were working on staying disciplined on the starting line and staying in phase [on the favored tack to the mark] throughout the race,” Rew said.
While not finishing in one of the top slots, the Bears were satisfied with their performance in such a competitive intersectional race. The Bears also left Dartmouth with a better understanding of where they stood and where they wanted to go.
“There were a lot of learning opportunities sailing against such a competitive fleet,” Rew said. “We were able to really work on our starting and making smart tactical decisions.”
The Yale Women’s Trophy, also this weekend, featured all of the top-tier teams in the country. Representing the Polar Bears were Erin Mullins ’16 and Olivia Diserio ’16 in the A Division and Mimi Paz ’17, Martie Ogle ’18 and Emily Salitan ’16 in the B Division. Despite the wavy and windy conditions and the high level of competition, the Bears finished strong. Mullins and Diserio finished 8th in their division, and in the B division, Paz, Ogle and Salitan finished 14th. Overall, the team placed thirteenth out of the eighteen competing teams.
For their third event, the Polar Bears traveled to Salve Regina in Newport, Rhode Island, to compete in the New England Sloop Championships in match racing. This is the first time the Bears have qualified for this championship since 2004. Despite the windy conditions, which seemed to be a consistent obstacle throughout all three events, and stiff competition, the Bears came out strong and finished in fourth place.
“This was the first time that we have qualified for the Sloop New England’s sailed at Salve, and we ended up 4th which was an amazing score in a highly competitive event,” Rew said.
Although Bowdoin had a rough beginning on Saturday, where they went 1-6 in their events, on Sunday going into the knockout round against the top seeded team, Brown, the Bears were able to overcome obstacles such as losing the first race and having a crewmember fall overboard in the second. In the third race, the Polar Bears were able to draw a penalty against Brown in the pre-start, and then again in the final run, which led to Bowdoin’s victory and a spot in the semifinals. Despite losing to Dartmouth 2-0 in the semifinals and then again to Yale 2-1 in the Petit Finals, the Power Bears nevertheless solidified their image as a tough team to be reckoned with among high-ranking competitors.
“These regattas gave us motivation to work even harder during practice and really push towards the end of the season,” Rew said. “We have been really focusing on the process and improving every practice, and I think that will pay off as we head into the championship season.”
The Polar Bears are back on the water this weekend, with races at Harvard, MIT and Boston College.