Encountering strange weather for a September weekend in the Northeast, the Harvard sailing team faced problems launching off from the docks due to lack of wind and minor breezes and struggled to emulate the success of its strong opening weekend.

The coed squad competed at nearby MIT in the Hatch Brown Trophy regatta on the Charles River, finishing in the middle of the pack in ninth place. The women’s team traveled up to Dartmouth to race in the Mrs. Hurst Bowl intersectional, ending the weekend in 17th place.

“Conditions were really tricky,” co-captain Brendan Kopp said. “Usually we feel like we have a home field advantage on the Charles River, but the conditions were so wacky this weekend.”

The Crimson had to deal with unusual circumstances all weekend, first by sending out three boats to compete in an uncommon three-division format for the Hatch Brown Trophy.  In the Mrs. Hurst Bowl, the weather only permitted Harvard to finish four races in the two-day event, less than half the racing done in a typical regatta. Still, the Crimson gained experience in dealing with light winds and shaky weather.

“The wind was shifty and really up and down,” Kopp said. “The velocity was behaving in a way that was atypical, and this confused us, as it did all of the other teams.”

HATCH BROWN TROPHY

At the Hatch Brown Trophy, Harvard finished in ninth in the 18-team field.  While Kopp said the weather conditions could have been better, he and sophomore Sarah Pierson still managed to take home 11 top-10 finishes, ending the weekend in fifth place in the A-division.

“Kopp and Pierson continued to really solidify themselves as a really great combination for the team,” sophomore Caitlin Watson said. “They had a very solid weekend.”

In addition to Kopp and Pierson’s effort, the B-division trio of senior skipper Emily Lambert, freshman skipper Reid Bergsund, and senior crew Alexandra Jumper also notched 11 top-10 finishes, ending the weekend in 12th place.

Competing in C-division was the rookie pairing of freshmen Gram Slattery and Brian Drumm.  This regatta marked the first intersectional competition for both freshmen.

“These freshmen had only done college sailing for two weeks, and they did well,” Kopp said.

Recording eight top-10 finishes and ending the weekend with 162 points, Slattery and Drumm showed the young potential of the squad.

“We’re a young team right now because we graduated a lot of seniors last year,” Kopp said. “We are trying to put the newer kids in to sail against the best competition to allow them to improve the fastest.”

The Crimson finished the Hatch Brown Trophy regatta with 437 points, while the Cougars of the College of Charleston took first place with 297 points.

“Everyone did better on Sunday than on Saturday so that was a good trend,” Kopp said. “We have a big regatta next weekend for the co-ed team.”