To compound Harvard’s difficulties, the wind died on Sunday—but the transfer of Johnson and Porter signaled that the race was not the team’s top priority.
“It would normally be considered an important race, but it wasn’t for us because we didn’t have our top team there,” Tulloch said.
The regatta foreshadowed the New England Team Race championships, for which the Crimson won’t divide skippers with another regatta.
“Normally, we don’t sail 420s and we don’t sail on open water,” Devlin said. “It was important to get in some quality 420 time at the site, but it took some adjusting.”
METRO DIVISON SERIES 3
A regatta-packed weekend lent Harvard the chance delve into its roster, and the Crimson seventh of 12 on home waters.
Knowles and sophomore Samantha Fink finished second in the A-division, with one win. Freshmen Max Chalfin and Alicia Harley took ninth in the B-division, retiring from one race after the finish.
Tufts won the regatta, as its B-division won six of eight races.
PRESIDENT’S WOMEN’S TROPHY
The effects of shifts in the co-ed team’s lineup rippled into the No. 9 women’s team, which finished eighth of 12 teams in a weekend regatta on the Charles’ Lower Basin.
“We didn’t sail our absolute best,” senior Daphne Lyman said. “Some of the other teams—the top four or five—sent their best women’s skippers. I think we did okay, for the level of sailor that we sent.”
With Devlin and Tulloch gone, the Crimson put junior Jess Baker and freshman Elyse Dolbec at skipper and Lyman and sophomore Cassandra Niemi at crew.
Dolbec’s and Niemi’s B-division finished seventh, placing in the top nine in all but one race. The A-division finished tenth overall, as Dartmouth won the regatta overall.
The women’s team’s critical test will come in the New England Championships in two weekends, warming up with the Dellenbaugh Women’s Trophy at Brown on Saturday.
“We definitely think we can win it,” Lyman said. “There’s not really any doubt. There’s no need to prove ourselves.”
—Staff writer Samuel C. Scott can be reached at sscott@fas.harvard.edu.