Oct. 9, 2009
With strong current and light winds for most of the weekend, 20 teams competed at the Nevin's Trophy held at the US Merchant Marine Aacademy at King's Point. Stanford was led by junior and team captain, Cole Hatton, who finished 5th in c-division (Lasers) to help lead the Cardinal to a 9th place finish. Hatton had only one double-digit finish all weekend, and attributes his success to "smart decisions at the crowded mark roundings."
Sailing B-division for Stanford was sophomore Nick Dugdale and junior Hannah Burroughs. Dugdale and Burroughs had a strong, consistent Saturday afternoon, when the breeze picked up into the 8-10kt range, and on that strength they finished 9th in their division. In a stacked A-division fleet, senior Peter Stemler and freshman Eliza Richartz finished 16th.
Stanford also sent a team to the 3-division Hatch Brown Intersectional hosted by MIT in Boston, MA. Representing Stanford at the Hatch Brown were sophomore Oliver Riihiluoma and freshman Rebecca King in A-division, sophomore Justin Doane and junior Alex Dunlap in B-division, and senior Megan Grove and freshman Katie Lund in C-division. The team found the conditions on the Charles River challenging and extremely different from our home waters, but showed steady improvement and poise throughout the weekend to finish 17th.
New assistant coach, Frank Ustach, had this to say about the teams first weekend: "Unlike us, most teams have been practicing for a few weeks now, and while this weekend shows we still have a lot to work on, we are confident that with the leadership from our returners and the strength of our underclassmen we'll be a national competitor come spring time."