The Harvard co-ed sailing team appears to have finally found its stride, as the squad earned a pair of fifth-place finishes over the weekend, the Crimson’s best showings of its young fall campaign. While the women’s team took the weekend off from competition to sail an alumni event, the co-ed squad’s top sailors placed fifth at the Hood Trophy regatta hosted by Tufts University. Some less experienced team members also competed this past weekend and collected a fifth-place effort at the Central Series Three regatta at Boston University.

“We had some solid results this weekend,” junior Teddy Himler said. “While they could have been a bit better, it was a definite improvement over our last couple of weekends.”

HOOD TROPHY

Harvard’s top co-ed sailors made the short trip to Medford, Mass. to compete on Mystic Lake for the two-day Hood Trophy regatta. The local venue provided a challenging sailing setting, as the Crimson squad had to battle shifty wind conditions and gernally trying weather on its way to a fifth-place team finish.

“The nickname for Mystic Lake is Mystery Lake for its unexpected wind conditions,” Himler said. “Wind puffs come in from out of nowhere, which really makes the sailing difficult and the results unpredictable.”

The tough venue, however, did not seem to bother Himler much, as he and sophomore crew Alexandra Jumper led the Harvard effort at the regatta with a fourth-place finish out of 24 teams in the B division.

The duo finished in the top 10 in nine of its 10 races with four top-three efforts, including a victory in the third contest of the weekend.

“Teddy and I don’t normally sail together, so this weekend we were able to get acquainted to each other’s styles,” Jumper said. “We sailed smart and conservative races and were able to recognize our mistakes and learn from them.”

Himler also commented on the learning experience this weekend’s regatta provided.

“Tufts uses the Lark dinghy for its competitions,” Himler said. “This type of boat is a bit different, as it is a long boat that accelerates quickly. We were a bit disadvantaged in sailing these boats because we don’t practice on them.”

In the A division, junior captain skipper Alan Palmer and fellow third-year crew Grace Charles placed ninth. The pair collected four top-six finishes and finished in the top three in two contests.

Harvard totaled 164 points on the weekend—15 points back of its rival Yale for fourth place. Roger Williams took home the team title with a final tally of 112 points.

“Sailing in New England is an unparalleled experience,” Himler said. “We compete against the top competition in the country every weekend. The season is a real grind, but we put in a lot of time in order to perform well and achieve the best results possible.”

CENTRAL SERIES FOUR

Some of the Crimson’s less experienced co-ed sailors made an even shorter trek over to Boston University to compete in the Central Series Three regatta on the Charles River.

The Harvard co-ed team collected a fifth-place finish at the local two-day event, totaling 143 points on the weekend.

Junior Colin Santangelo skippered the A-division boat to a third-place finish out of 17 schools, aided by the efforts of freshman crew Sarah McCuskee. The duo finished in the top five in seven of its 12 races, with two victories in its final three contests.

Freshman skipper Ryan Byrne and crew Alma Lafler took home sixth place in the B division of racing, with a total of 76 points on the weekend.

—Staff writer Thomas D. Hutchison can be reached at tdhutch@fas.harvard.edu.