This weekend the coed team finished 2nd at the Staake, sailing in  heavy breeze and chop. This second place finish qualifies them to compete next weekend at the Fowle Trophy Team Race Championships at MIT! The Womens team started the weekend strong at the Reed Trophy, but was not among the top 7 teams who qualifed. However, at this event, the Skipper crew team of Kaylee Schwitzer’15 and Ayaka Okawa’14 were named second team all NEISA and Head Coach Frank Pizzo was named Coach of the Year!

Two big events marked last weekend for the Polar Bears: the Co-ed New England Dingy Championship at Harvard and the women’s Wick Trophy-a competitive intersectional regatta- at Coast Guard. The co-ed team finished 14th, an improvement from last year’s 15th place. The women’s team finished 9th, and are currently gearing up and practicing hard for their championship event this coming weekend at Boston College.

This weekend, the lady polar bears traveled to Boston for the President’s Cup at BU. Kaylee Schwitzer’15 and Ayaka Okawa’14 won A division at the competitive intersectional, and have been named women sailors of the week by NEISA. Congratulations are also in hand, of course, for Lizzie Hamilton’15 and Isabel Low’13 whose very strong finish in B fleet (5th/13) helped the team finish 3rd in the event. The women’s team is currently ranked 11th in the nation.

A young Bowdoin womens team put in an impressive showing at the highly competative Dellenbaugh Trophy hosted by Brown University. Kaylee Schwitzer’15, Lizzy Hamilton’15, Ayaka Okawa’14, Kim Dempsey’14, and Isabel Low’13 finished 8th of 18 boats at this intersectional event. The coed team sailed in the Mystic Lake Team Race Invitational and the BU Trophy. In the Tufts larks at Mystic Lake, the team finished 7th, missing the gold round by 1 place. At BU, Jeff Goodrich’12, Clare Henry’12, Michael Croteau’15 and Emily McNeil’14 came in 6th of 18 teams.

The Polar Bears are buckling down in these final weeks to prepare for the upcoming coed, womens and team race qualifiers and championships.

Last weekend, the team traveled to BU for the BU Bridge Invitational, Salve Regina for a Southern series event, and Tufts for a women’s team race. At BU, Bowdoin sailed two teams, the “Polar Bears” and the “Pines” to respective 4th and 9th place overall finishes. At Salve, the team finished 11th.

This weekend the Polar Bears traveled to Annapolis and New London. The women’s team competing against a competitive fleet at the Navy Women’s finished in 11th place. Katie Doble’13 and Kim Dempsey’14 in A division came in 17th while Kaylee Schwitzer’15, Ayaka Okawa’14, Isabel Low’13, and Emily McNeil’14 finished in 2nd among 20 boats. Sailing combined divisions at the Wood Trophy the coed team of Jeffery Goodrich’12, Clare Henry’12 Pete Edmunds’14 and Mae Speight’13 came in 7th overall. Next weekend the Polar Bears sail at MIT and Cost Guard, then head down to Florida for spring training.

A slew of polar bears traveled to Conn College this past weekend to sail a team race event on the Thames. Bowdoin sailed two full teams in the event, whose records after 2 round robins were, respectively, 7-3 and 5-5. The two Bowdoin teams faced off twice during the event, each taking one victory. Tie-breaker in practice, anyone?

In case you are not on our mailing list, the Fall 2011 newsletter can be found here sailing-newsletter-fall-2011.pdf.

If you would like to be included on our Friends of Bowdoin Sailing email list, please contact Frank Pizzo at fpizzo2@bowdoin.edu.  A big thanks goes out to Mae Speight ‘13 and Alex Brown ‘13 for putting this newsletter together.  Go U Bears!

The Polar Bears closed the season with the coed team sailing at the ACTs hosted by Jacksonville University, and the womens team competing for the first time ever in the ACCs at Suny Maritime. In Florida, the coeds succeeded in finishing 2nd with good racing on Saturday, but there was not enough breeze to sail on Sunday. The A division boat of Pete Edmunds and Mae Speight secured 3rd place while the B division boat of Jeff Goodrich and Clare Henry finished the season with a 14 point regatta and 1st place in B. At Suny Maritime heavy breeze on Saturday brought out the strong crews. The womens team of Kaylee Schwitzer, Isabel Low, Emily Mcneil, Ayaka Okawa, Katie Doble, and Kim Dempsey finished the regatta in 14th with Doble and Dempsey pulling off an impressive 9th place finish.

It was a good end to what has been a great season. Both the coed and womens team put up impressive numbers, culminating in the women earning the first ever berth at the ACCs. With new talent emerging and seasoned veterans returning, the Polar Bears eagerly await the coming spring season.

Bowdoin sailed in four very different events this past weekend in preparation for the upcoming championship events on November 12 and 13. At Harvard the team competed in the Horn Trophy–a team racing event in which the Polar Bears lost the third place match, finishing fourth. Down at Salve Regina, the team sailed 420s to a ninth place finish out of 18 teams. Home at Bethel Point, Polar Bear’s freshman team of Michael Croteau, Lizzy Hamilton, Elise Engquist and Charlotte Williamson finished fifth in the Freshman Intersectional. But it was the team of crews at Boston University with the best finish of the weekend as Isabel Low, Katharine O’Brien, Phil Koch and Madison Rex sailed into third place at the annual Crews Regatta.