May 2, 2008

NEW HAVEN, Conn. - The No. 5 Bulldog sailors are back in team racing action at the New England Team Racing Championships this Saturday and Sunday at No. 7 Brown. At stake are the Fowle Trophy and the opportunity to represent New England at the ICSA/APS National Team Race Championships. Twelve teams will be at this weekend's New England Championships, with the top three schools moving on to the nationals in Newport, R.I., May 30-June 1.

The Eli squad is very talented at team racing, having won both the John Jackson/Graham Hall and Friis/Marchiando Team Races this year. The Bulldogs placed second at the New England Team Race Championships in 2007 before going on to place second at the national championships.

While the Bulldogs have already qualified for fleet racing nationals, team racing includes a very different set of skills. In team racing, two college teams race each other at a time, with each team comprised of three boats of two people each. The three boats from each school aim to help their teammates get around the course as fast as possible while slowing the competition's boats. The winning team at the end of each race is the team whose combined score over the three boats is lowest. With first place counting as one point, second as two points and so forth, the winning team will always have 10 points or fewer.

Racing will be conducted in 420's over the Collegiate Digital N course, which includes an upwind leg, a reach leg, a downwind leg and a final upwind leg. The Collegiate Digital N, the standard team racing course in college, provides the greatest opportunity for close team racing action.

The Bulldogs return five of the six competitors from their second-place squad at the 2007 New England Team Race Championship. All-Americans sophomore captain Thomas Barrows, senior Zachary Brown, senior Abigail Coplin and junior Grace Becton were on the team in 2007 along with junior Adriane Levin. While Philip Stemler '07 graduated from the 2007 squad, sophomore John Kempton has been a successful replacement for the Bulldogs and has helped the team to victory twice this season. Kempton also has the advantage of sailing with Levin, who crewed for Stemler in 2007.

Twelve teams will compete at the New England Championships. Racing will begin in two evenly matched groups of six teams, with the Bulldogs competing against Coast Guard, Connecticut College, No. 14 MIT, No. 10 Roger Williams and No. 15 Tufts. The top four teams from each round-robin will then move on to an eight-team Gold Fleet double round-robin. The top six teams from the Gold Fleet Round-Robin then move on to a six-team Championship Round-Robin. The top three teams from the Championship Round-Robin qualify for nationals.

Report filed by Caleb Dorfman '09, Yale Sports Publicity