After qualifying to the ICSA College Sailing National Championships last year, the sailing team had a disappointing finish. This year's squad will look to improve upon last year with a berth to the Atlantic Coast Championship

The Harvard co-ed sailing team begins its year-long season this weekend with four regattas taking place, two of which will take place on home waters.

According to Sailing World’s April 2014 rankings, the Crimson's co-ed crew is ranked 13th nationally. No. 2 Yale will be hosting the Harry Anderson Trophy. No. 6 Tufts will be hosting the Central Series 1 Regatta and MIT, tabbed one seed below Harvard, will be hosting the Toni Deutsch Trophy.

Last year at the Harry Anderson Trophy down in New Haven, the Crimson finished in second place to start off the 2013-2014 season.

“We have been prepping for this week’s regattas by being on the water and in the weight room as much as possible since being back on campus,” junior captain Sydney Karnovsky said. “Hopefully we will be able to repeat or improve on our performance at this regatta.”

This weekend will bring with it Harvard’s first of three home regattas in the fall.

“We are excited to get our season going this weekend,” Karnovsky said. “We are coming into this year a bit older and more experienced than we have been the last two years, and we are looking forward to having a strong season.”  

Last spring, the Crimson ended the season with an appearance at the ICSA college sailing nationals after failing to qualify for the Atlantic Coast Championship in the fall.

“We ended last year by qualifying for [nationals] and, unfortunately, finish[ed] in 18th (out of the 18 that qualified),” Karnovsky said. “Making nationals was a big step forward for us last year, but this year we are looking forward to up our game even more, and hopefully achieve consistent top 10 finishes in our regattas.”

This time last year, Harvard’s roster comprised of mostly freshmen and sophomores. With those sailors one year older, the Crimson is hoping that the added experience will work in its favor as the team hits the water again this weekend. Additionally, a major challenge that arose last spring was the series of unpredictable and harsh weather conditions that kept the squad off the water longer than its competition after winter break, and therefore left Harvard with a greater deficit in exposure compared to its competition when it came to regattas.

Last season, several Harvard sailors believed their biggest weakness on the water came with their starts in regattas.

The late summer sunshine has allowed ample practice time already for this challenge to be tackled.

Returning this year are a few sailors who had standout performances last season. Jacob Bradt '16 was named an All-American crew in the spring, and he will continue to sail with his regular partner, Brian Drumm '15, who was named an All-NEISA Second Team Skipper in the spring.

“A big part of what is going to go into [this season] is to produce continuous self-assessment and critique without overloading ourselves with too much pressure if a couple of races don't go our way,” Drumm said. "This is what will keep [Bradt] and I focused as we continue building upon our skills to outdo the competition.”

Last year, as a freshman, Juan Perdomo took second place in the country in the men’s singlehanded national championship regatta that will take place again in the fall.

With these challenges in the past, focus recharged for the future, and the leadership of a few stand-out returners, Harvard gears up for the new season with new goals.

“This fall, our hope is to qualify for the Atlantic Coast Championships and perform well there,” Karnovksy said. “I think that one major goal we will work on to help us qualify for ACCs is consistency. On any given day, we can perform as well as just about any other team in college sailing, but we have struggled a lot with consistent performances across the board.”

—Staff writer Tanner Skenderian can be reached at tskenderian@college.harvard.edu.