With six events on the schedule in Week Three. the team was a bit stretched, but this created opportunities for many.
The coed team hit the road for the A level St. Mary’s Interconference. Rachel Bryer, with Hannah Scanlon and Marisa Decollibus, sailed A division with Matt Coughlin and Kate Nota in B. The Rams were hanging tough between 3rd and 5th for most of the event, but faltered a bit in the final set to drop to 8th, only 9 points out of 5th. Rachel, Hannah and Marisa were terrific in A finishing 3rd. This was Rachel’s first start in A division in an A level coed event. Very impressive. The ride home featured a full eclipse of the moon, viewed from New York City to New Haven.
The Rams were also in the A level Hood Trophy at Tufts. Peter Girard and Sarah Morin were in A with Pat Isherwood and Jack Hurley in B. The Mystic Lake was not kind to the Rams and they had to settle for a 17th in the 20 team field.
The Loder Trophy, normally held at UNH, was moved to MIT due to low water on the UNH lakefront. This event was a first big test for freshman skippers Brendan Read and Dakota Northrup and their first trip to the Charles River. Junior Fiona Christie and freshman Lauren Oliveira handled the jib sheets. The young Rams turned in a very solid performance finishing 6th in the 17 team field and just missing on qualifying the team for the Captain Hurst.
The Regis Trophy at BU is a B level women’s event. With Rachel at St. Mary’s, Sarah Hermus off for the weekend and Kim Morecraft and Julia Elson both injured the skippering assignments went to Courtney Bombardier and Sophie Podlich. It was an unfair task and the Rams finished well back.
The Salt Pond Invite was our first home event of the season. Four skippers split the two divisions with and equal number of crews getting valuable experience. The Rams finished 6th in the 15 team field.
The Men’s Singlehanded Champs were also held in a BYO affair in Niantic, CT. Max Rohr and Benton Croop begged and borrowed to come up with a pair of veteran Lasers. The inability to practice took its till and the pair finished deep in the fleet.
Altogether, a very solid week 3 with very significant contributions by the frosh.
Week Four, otherwise known as Hurricane Joaquin weekend, was largely blown out, but two events did come off. The 3 division Hewitt at Dartmouth was far enough inland and had moderate conditions. Matt Coughlin and Kate Nota were 3rd in A and Brendan and Sarah Morin in C. They posted 3rd and 4th place results in their divisions, but Sarah Hermus and Marisa Decollibus, coming off a very good performances at the Toni Deutsch and Stu Nelson, were thrown for a loss, finishing last in B. The team ended up 7th.
The Smith Trophy at MIT was closer to the Joaquin action and had lots of breeze. Sailed in Techs and Fireflies, the Smith is a unique mix these days as the Techs are rarely used. Peter Girard and Matt Gibbs skippered A and B respectively finishing 6th and 8th for a team 6th. Garrett Connelly was the Tech crew for both divisions with Johnny Gieseke and Jack Hurley handling the Firefly jibs.
