Following a great 3 day pre-season session on Salt Pond and outside the Harbor of Refuge with some of our new freshmen the team was immediately in action with 5 events over the September 10-11 weekend. Top priority was the Penobscot Bay Open which was a qualifier for the Danmark Trophy. All American Rachel Bryer and NEISA Crew of the Year Hannah Scanlon anchored A Division and won it handily with Dakota Northrup ’19 and Kate Nota ’19 solid in B. It was a Ram win and we look forward to the Danmark at Coast Guard next month.
The Pine Trophy in J/70s at Coast Guard was the qualifying event for the New England Match Racing Champs. Brendan Read ’19 had the tiller with Cam Tougas ’17, Fraser Mackechnie ’19, and Ian Nannig ’19 forward. The races were very short putting a huge premium on boat handling and starting. The Rams lack of experience in the J/70 showed and the Rams ended 6th in the 8 team field.
The Lady Rams were at MIT for the Toni Deutsch. Sarah Hermus ’18 and Marisa Decollibus ’17 were strong in A finishing 3rd. Freshman Delaney Bamford, yet another North Kingstown High School member of our team, sailing with Emma Dwinell ’19, got her first dose of the Charles and ended appropriately shattered by the experience. They will be excellent in the near future. The squad finished 10th. in the 13 team field.
The Rams were in two invitationals as well. The Mt. Hope Invite was sailed at Salve because Roger Williams didn’t have their new boats yet. A host of Rams competed and combined for a 10th in the 19 team field. Tufts also had an invite in Larks and another crop of Rams were introduced to Larks and the Mystical Lake, finishing 6th.
In the end we met our top goal of qualifying for the Danmark and got valuable experience for our young squad.
