The Rams had 5 events including the McMillan at Navy, so we were stretched. The Mrs. Hurst, a major Interconference women’s event at Harvard, the Hoyt Interconference at Brown, the three division Berg at MIT, and a Southern Series at Roger Williams rounded out the schedule. Whew! 26 Rams in action not counting substitutions.
This was our first trip to the McMillan in many years, but we had a strong team with lots of big boat experience. Senior Matt Coughlin was driving with captain Matt Wordell as tactician. It was a light air event, but conditions were better than in New England. The racing was super close and the Rams were in the hunt for the win going into the last beat of the final race. Unfortunately the shift went against them and they had to settle for 3rd, but it was a terrific performance.
The Lady Rams were at determined to beat the “Curse of the Charles” and build on their strong performance at Yale the week before. After a windless and raceless Saturday all the chips were on the table on Sunday. Conditions were WNW 4-12 with huge shifts and no warning puffs landing without warning. Difficult. Rachel and Hannah were good, but not great and ended the event 4th in A, but Sarah and Marisa had one of their best performances finishing 3rd in B, securing an overall 3rd for the Lady Rams. After the regatta Rachel and Hannah had a council and vowed to turn in a winning performance on the Charles the next weekend at the Victorian Coffee Urn.
The Hoyt at Brown drew a great field of top teams. With Matt at Navy and Rachel at Harvard, the skipper assignments went to freshman Brendan Read in A and Peter Girard in B. Saturday was nearly windless, but a few races were sailed, but everything was up for grabs on Sunday. The Rams struggled and had to settle for 16th. We were not fast in the Z420s, which made smart elusive. Despite the rough finish, it was a valuable learning experience for our young skippers and crews.
The Berg at MIT had a much tougher field than usual as many teams sent their top teams to MIT to get some time on the Charles in preparation for the Schell the next weekend. The Rams, represented by Pat Isherwood- Jack Hurley, Dakota Northrup, Lauren Oliveira, Matt Gibbs and Haley Cedarholm. They were a bit over matched, finishing 14th. Our coed squad is young and a bit short on experience, but these events, combined with our practice, are giving them the stuff they need to make moves going forward.