The Polar Bears headed to Connecticut this past weekend to sail in two of its most competitive events of the season, with promising results.
Competing at the Wick-Shrew hosted by the Coast Guard Academy, Charlotte Williams '10 and Mae Speight '12 sailed in the A-division and Katie Doble '12 and Coco Sprague '11 sailed in the B-division. The team finished 10th overall in the competitive 16-boat fleet.
The women battled through difficult sailing conditions throughout the weekend, including a particularly strong current on the Thames River and variable wind directions.
Despite the challenges on the race course, the team posted multiple top-10 finishes, with Doble and Sprague placing second in two of the 13 races.
The Wick-Shrew "featured many of the top teams in the country that are all gearing up for their conference championships, which will be this upcoming weekend. Seven teams will be able to qualify for a national championship so the Polar Bears will be in the hunt," said Head Coach Frank Pizzo.
"Overall, we were happy with our results at Coast Guard and are hoping that we'll be in the running for qualifying next weekend," added Doble.
Just up the Thames River, the coed squad competed at the New England Championship hosted by Connecticut College.
Alex Takata '12, Laura Heyl '10, Jeff Goodrich '12 and Caitlin Beach '10 sailed in the A-division and Billy Rohman '11 sailed with Ben Berg '12 in the B-division, finishing 16th overall.
The team confronted many of the same challenges as the women did on their course.
"It's a really tricky venue because there's a submarine channel in half of the river," said Rohman. "It added an interesting element to the racing and understanding the course was a really big part of the event."
Rohman and Berg proved their ability to do so by winning race 14 B; the team also placed second in the first race of the event.
Back in Boston, Tom Charpentier '10, Katharine O'Brien '12, Sarah Fiske '10 and Clare Henry '12 fought rain, light air and crew races on the Charles at the Oberg Trophy. The team finished 12th overall at the event hosted by Boston University.
This weekend will be a busy one for the sailing team. While the women are looking to qualify for Nationals at the Reed Trophy hosted by Brown, the co-ed team will be competing at the Staake, a team race event at Roger Williams.
Rounding out the schedule is the Priddy Trophy, which is the Freshman Championship, and a Central Series at MIT.