Despite having lost significant upperclassman talent to study abroad this season, the sailing team is making waves in its division. After placing first out of nineteen teams at the Dartmouth Intersectional on September 19, the women’s team is seeded sixth, an impressive feat for a team with a lot of young talent.
“It’s a younger team, and I think it shows a lot of promise,” said Captain Maggie Shea ’11. With nine freshmen on this year’s crew, Shea is “happily surprised” that the team is performing so well.
Shea also attributes Conn’s success thus far to the attitude shift she has felt within her crew. “It seems like everyone is willing to work hard and put in the time,” she says.
This team certainly does work hard. The crew spends four days per week practicing on the Thames River, where Shea and fellow captain Mike Marshall ’12 work to create as competitive an atmosphere as possible to simulate upcoming events.
For Gabe Salk ’14, a newcomer to the team, the aggressive atmosphere of college sailing is his favorite aspect of the sport.
“The whole team is so competitive with each other that if you aren’t on the ball that one day, you’ll get your ass kicked,” said Salk, who, along with skipper Katie Andril ’13, placed third overall in the B Division at the URI Salt Pond Invitational.
For Atlantic Brugman ’13, the best part about sailing is the drive to improve.
“The good thing about sailing is you never stop learning,” says Brugman. “It’s not a sport where you think, ‘I can’t do any better.’”
Beverlene Elmer ’14 shares Brugman’s mentality.
“Getting better is definitely the most rewarding thing,” Elmer says. “There’s something about the feeling of being able to work the boat and make it the fastest boat on the water that is absolutely incomparable to anything else.”
For Elmer and Brugman, this attitude has undoubtedly paid off. At the Dartmouth Intersectional, Elmer teamed up with Shea to win the B Division and gained the Camels 37 points. Brugman and Katrina Salk ’11 placed third for the A Division, contributing 47 points to the team’s victory at the event.
Last weekend, Conn attended the New England Championship for keelboats—a bigger boat with space for four crewmembers. The regatta was a match-racing format in which only two teams compete during each race. Coming in fourth place in the co-ed races were Shea, Marshall, Kevin Lau-Hansen ’11 and Tim Clark ’13.
Connecticut College and Mitchell College hosted their own regatta on the Thames this past weekend. In addition, the top women’s sailors from a handful of schools all over New England will have competed for five spots at Nationals at the regatta taking place on the Sound. Shea narrowly missed out on placing last season and hopes to qualify this year.
