Washington College set the bar this weekend scoring 140 points at Yale’s annual season-opening collegiate regatta, the Harry Anderson Trophy. Both the A division and B division of Washington’s team finished second in their divisions, which gave them the edge over Tufts and Harvard, which placed second and third, respectively.Mike Buckley and Halle Ricker sailed in A division for Washington, moving up from fourth to second in their division with consistent sailing in the bigger breeze on Sunday afternoon. In the B division, Colin Robertson and Jen Hanley held on to second after leading their division on Saturday.Conditions each day were warm and sunny, with a light northerly breeze each morning that died out in the early afternoon, when the southwest sea breeze filled in at 8 to 12 knots. Sunday afternoon’s final sets saw some heavy crews in action, as the swells grew and the races moved further outside Yale’s cove in Branford, Conn.The standout performance of the weekend came from Harvard senior Cardwell Potts, who won A division with 37 points, 23 fewer than Buckley, who was second. Potts, who won B division at the coed Collegiate North Americans in June, proved that he has what it takes to finish consistently at the front of the pack in A division.Molly Carapiet, a sophomore from Yale, clinched the B division on Sunday afternoon with a steady performance in the bigger breeze. Carapiet, along with her crew Jenn Hoyle, will be stepping up to sail many coed intersectionals for Yale this fall.Among the other competitors were Andy Cornar, Sam Carter, Ian Martin, and Chris Martin, all collegiate sailors from Great Britain, who are currently “on tour” in the United States. They came by way of the biannual BUSA (British University Sailing Association) tour, which fosters an exchange between top American and British sailors. They will continue to face tough American competition in the upcoming weeks, with plans to attend practice at Harvard and Dartmouth, and entry in Dartmouth’s Captain Hurst Bowl next weekend. The Brits finished 15th overall out of a total 23 attending teams.The entire regatta consisted of 10 races in each division, which was considered above average by most of the competitors. “Last year we only managed to pull off 6 races in each division, so this year was an improvement,” said Yale captain Kate Littlefield. “It’s always a difficult time of year to host regattas here in Branford. It tends to be either extremely light and shifty, or extremely gusty with remnants of a hurricane hitting us. In either of those situations, it’s tough to pull off 10 races in each division, so we’re pleased with the weekend’s sailing.”For complete results, http://www.collegesailing.org/00intersx/f03/harrya.htm Amory Loring is a member of the Dartmouth College Sailing Team and will be filing regular reports for SailingWorld.com during the course of the school year. Individuals interested in contributing photos or writing on a regular basis for SailingWorld.com should email stuart.streuli@sailingworld.com
