Volume CXXXII, Number 3 September 27, 2002 f

Sweet winds boost sailors
MELANIE KEENE
STAFF WRITER

An idyllic setting: Skipper and crew work together to uphold the "sail fast" motto of the team. Strong, early season performances place sailors in the position to set Polar Bear records in 2002. (Hans Law, Bowdoin Orient)

The Bowdoin Sailing team racked up yet another fast weekend of sailing throughout New England. Bowdoin hosted its first home regatta of the season, The Casco Bay Open, in which Pieter Scheerlink '05 skippered A-division with crew Becca Bartlett '05 and Eddie Briganti '05 skippered B division with crew Amy Titcomb '04.

It was a great start to the season for the Briganti/Titcomb team as they averaged a third place finish in the last six races to bring Bowdoin up two places to finish seventh overall for the event.

As coach Tom Sitzmann stated, "Their determination and smart sailing against very good competition gave the Polar Bears a shot in the arm when we needed it and, with Scheerlinck/Bartlett, they combined to move up two places on Sunday... and this should provide momentum for us and inspiration for our younger players."

The younger players did receive the inspiration and sailed well at the Eastern Series III at USM on Sunday. Frank Pizzo '06 skippered with crew Sabrina Hall-Little '06 and Justin Berger '05 skippered with crew Lisa Bonjour '06.

The regatta was a great learning experience; as Berger remarked, great improvements were made upon learning how to use the ago-old sailing tactic of heavy-air sailing: "ease, hike, trim!"

The women had a great regatta at Dartmouth's Mrs. Hurst Bowl. Because the wind was so light and shifty, they sailed only 12 races overall but made each race count.

Laura Windecker '03 with crew Caitlin Moore '06 sailed A-division and Allison Binkowski '03 with crew Jackie Haskell '05 sailed B-division.They had yet another top ten finish, placing seventh overall out of 17 at a highly competitive varsity intersectional.

In addition, skipper Tyler Dunphy '03 with crew Melanie Keene '03 and Ryan Cauley '03 with crew Elliot Wright '04 represented the coed team at Hatch Brown Trophy at MIT this weekend. They sailed even faster than they previously thought humanly posssibly, and had their best finish yet this fall.

Skipper Cauley put in his strongest showing to date, and the team is counting on him to continue his fast streak at the coed's Hood Trophy at Tufts this coming weekend.
Led by their stellar coach Tom Sitzmann and new assistant coach Ed Mayo, the team continues to sail faster each weekend. Due to their success, the team as a whole has an opportunity to set record finishes this season.

Skipper Binkowski, who is aiming to qualify once again for the Women's Atlantic Coast Championship, said, "With all the depth we have this year coming from a strong freshman class and great senior leadership we are looking to compete with the best teams out there. We had a blast this weekend and as soon as we get all the pieces together we are going to be a force to be reckoned with."