Despite high winds and rough waters, the sailing team's weekend was highlighted by a third place finish at the Chris Loder Trophy.
Skipper Jeff Goodrich '12, along with crew Ben Berg '12, skipper Pete Edmunds '14 and crew Kim Dempsey '14 traveled to the Loder Trophy, hosted at Dartmouth by the University of New Hampshire Wildcats. The team enjoyed great conditions, with good wind and sunny skies.
"The team has been working hard on starts and sailing good first beats and our sailors did this well this weekend," said coach Frank Pizzo. He particularly lauded Edmunds and Dempsey, who "showed great confidence and speed for first years."
In 16 races, the team placed third, only three points behind Dartmouth.
"The Loder result is a big one because it qualifies us for the Captain Hurst Bowl," Pizzo said. The team will compete at the event on October 16 and 17.
Farther south, the team enjoyed warm weather on Saturday while competing in three events in the Boston area. At MIT, James Rohman '13, Madison Rex '14, Sarah Fiske '13 and Alex Brown '13 sailed to a sixth-place finish out of 18 schools at the Commonwealth Invitational. The regatta featured FJs, a common college boat and Tech Dinghies, a single-sailed boat unique to MIT. Despite having never sailed a Tech Dinghy before, Fiske and Brown posted three first-place finishes and were fourth in B-division with a total of 96 points.
"The weekend showed that Sarah and I know that we can both hang in the top three in our division," said Rohman, adding that it gave the team confidence that they could win a regatta of that caliber in the future.
Just up the river, the women's team sailed in the Regis Bowl at BU. Coco Sprague '11 and Isabel Low '13 sailed A-division while Emily McNeil '14 and Katharine O'Brien '12 sailed B-division, nabbing third place in their seventh race. The team placed 10th overall at the event, which was particularly competitive because no other women's events were taking place in the conference.
"It was difficult because there was more breeze than we had been accustomed to [in practice]," said Low, "but we pushed through."
The most competitive event of the weekend was the Professor Steadman Hood Trophy, held on Mystic Lake by Tufts University in Larks, a boat Bowdoin had sailed up until this year. Billy Rohman '11 sailed A-division with Mae Speight '13, and DJ Hatch '11 sailed B-division with Clare Henry '12. The Polar Bears placed 13th out of 20 schools at the intersectional regatta, which drew teams from as far away as Pennsylvania and Florida. All of the sailors proved they could hang with the fleet, with Rohman and Speight sailing to 2nd place in race 6A and Hatch and Henry winning race 12B.
Next weekend, the team will return to MIT for the Smith Trophy, the largest event of the season with 29 teams registered. Bowdoin will also host the Hewitt Trophy at their sailing site on Bethel Point next weekend. The team hopes to use the home water advantage to score well and continue to climb in the performance rankings. The Mystic Lake Invitational at Tufts and the Charles River Invitational at Harvard round out the Polar Bears' competitive slate.