Coach Pizzo's Report - October 16
The Polar Bears competed in two regattas this weekend including the Captain Hurst at Dartmouth and the Match Race New England Championship hosted by MIT at the Corinthian Yacht Club in Marblehead.
Only one race was completed at the Captain Hurst on Saturday. On Sunday, nine races were completed in each division. The Polar Bears had a decent Sunday and finished 9th of the 18 teams. Matt Kaplan and Emily Gonzalez sailed A-division, Christian Filter and Louisa Lindgren sailed B-division, and Alex Vasiliou and Jake Griffin competed in C-division for the Polar Bears.
The sailing conditions were great at the Match Race New England Champs. The Polar Bears finished the initial round robin with a 5-2 record, earning the 2nd seed. The team faced MIT in the quarter finals. The Polar Bears split the first two races with MIT. In the third and deciding race, the Polar Bears had a penalty at the windward mark. On the final run, Bowdoin had a great spinnaker set and was able to build up enough of a lead to complete a penalty turn and finish right before MIT.
Bowdoin faced Connecticut College in the semifinals. After taking the first race in the first to three wins, Bowdoin lost two races in a row. The team did a great job of regrouping and won the final two races in a come from behind fashion to defeat the Camels.
Bowdoin faced the top seed Boston College in the finals. The first race was a tight loss to BC. Bowdoin was able to get a penalty on BC in the pre-start of the second race and was able to hold off a hard charging BC team for a win in the second race. In the final race of the regatta, BC was able to get a pre-start penalty on Bowdoin and held on to win the regatta. The Polar Bears finished second overall and qualified for the Match Race National Championship to be hosted by the College of Charleston November 10-12. This is the first time Bowdoin has qualified for this championship. Harrison Hawk, Matt Safford, Marie Bergsund, and Alden Grimes competed for Bowdoin.
