Murphy, who has had a very good first season so far, was "easily incorporated into the boat," said Beardsley. With the strong standing from this race, the team qualified for the fall NEISA Sloop Semifinals, which will be in September at Coast Guard. Of the 10 teams that make it to the semifinals, five will go on to the New England Sloop Championship.
The next race for Amherst was the O'Toole Trophy on April 8, at Roger Williams University. Amherst sent an A-boat with Beardsley and Bian Yu '02, and a B-boat manned by Nadine Krupinsky '03 and Joann Nguyen '03. Despite little practice time, due to too much ice on Lake Arcadia, both teams did well, although they were somewhat inconsistent.
While half of the team was sailing at Roger Williams, the other half was at Connecticut College for a race that was supposed to be at Amherst, but had to be moved due to ice. The A-boat was sailed by Harris and Eunjoe Ahn '04, while the B-boat consisted of freshmen Graham Dumas and Ann Solomon. Neither team had ever sailed together, but each had successful races that day. Ahn commented that, "although it was a difficult race because we went in cold, I am optimistic for the rest of the season."
Amherst will be hosting two regattas this next weekend on Lake Arcadia in Belchertown. The Western Massachusetts Championship will be on Saturday and the first Western Series will be on Sunday at the same time. The team also anticipates placing well in its next regatta at Brown University on Saturday, although they are faced with the disadvantage of limited practice time due to the thawing Lake Arcadia ice.