In the sailing teams' first official races of the spring season, they won the Central Series regatta at Harvard and a race in the Veitor Trophy at Salve Regina.
At the Harvard Central Series on March 21, co-captain Doria Cole '09 skippered in the A division with crew Erin Taylor '09. Co-captain Pete Wadden '09, with crew Audrey Hatch '10, skipped for the B division.
"Doria and Erin were awesome because they led up to a first-place combined score in the central series," Hatch said.
The Polar Bears edged out Tufts by one point to win the regatta.
One week later at Salve Regina, Viktor Bolmgren '11 skippered with crew Coco Sprague '11 in A division. They finished in third place in their division with 43 points, just one point behind the first- and second-place teams.
Alex Takata '12 skippered in B division with Jeff Goodrich '12 as crew. They finished first in their division by a significant margin, leading the Polar Bears to a win in the Veitor Trophy.
With several sailors abroad for the semester, the spring sailing team is smaller than usual—though they've made the addition of Mark Dinneen '08 as assistant coach. Despite the loss of a number of teammates, the team's recent successes show promise for the rest of the season.
Over the break, the sailing team traveled to Texas to take advantage of the warmer weather, sailing out of the Austin Yacht Club.
"It felt really good to open the season with two wins because we felt like all our hard work in Texas over Spring Break paid off," Wadden said.
Before the official races began, the team got some practice in at a race event hosted by Roger Williams.
The teams of DJ Hatch '11 and Leah Hughes '11, Billy Rohman '11 and Jeff Goodrich '12, and Audrey Hatch with Bolmgren and Sam Duchin '10 sailed through two days of good weather to kick off the spring season.
The sailing team will travel to Providence, R.I., this weekend for an invitational regatta.