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Taking a Different Tack
When a sports season is over, most teams can point to a single moment that defined their journey. It could be a goal that cemented a championship legacy, a halftime speech by a coach, or a heart-breaking defeat that left the team just short of qualifying for its ultimate goal.
The Brown sailing team unfortunately fell into the final category last spring, missing a spot in the national semifinals by one place. But the moment that defined the program actually came the morning after the team's ninth-place finish at the New England Dinghy Championships.
After winning their two previous races in the regatta, B-Division skipper Jeff Knowles '10 and crew Sally Evans '11 knew that if they beat Tufts in their final race, Brown would finish in the top eight and advance to the national semifinals.
"We had a mediocre start and we ended up rounding the first buoy one boat behind Tufts," said Knowles. "They realized (that if they beat us, they would advance to nationals ahead of us), and we just couldn't get by them. We knew we hadn't qualified the second we crossed the finish line."
What Knowles and the rest of the Brown sailing fleet didn't know was that the Connecticut College coach had input incorrect numbers for some of his sailors in the regatta. The resulting penalty moved the Camels from third place to ninth, bumping Brown up into the top eight and giving the team a spot in the national semifinals, if they chose to take advantage of the opportunity. Head coach John Mollicone was informed the next day, and only had about two hours to decide Connecticut College's fate.
The decision was a difficult one. Brown is part of the most competitive region in college sailing, and in any other region, the team almost certainly would have advanced to the national semifinals. The two points separating Brown from an earned bid were even harder to take considering the Bears were in the top eight in both A- and B-Division (seventh and fourth, respectively).
After considering his options, and without time to consult with his team, Mollicone passed on the spot. Taking advantage of an error that didn't affect what had happened on the water just isn't what Brown sailing is all about.
"It was the right thing to do," said All-American A-Division skipper Fred Strammer '11. "His choice reflected the team's attitude."
"I would have loved to have sailed at nationals, but that's not how I wanted to get there," said Evans. "I think it would have been pretty unfair to take that away from a team that outsailed us and made a clerical error."
The incident turned out to be a chance for Brown's sailors to reassess what it means to be part of the program.
"You can focus on using the wind to go as fast as you can and beat the boats around you, or you can use the rules as a weapon," said Knowles. "In the long run, I don't think going to nationals this year would have made a big difference in my life one way or another. But this experience reinforced how I plan to live my life. It's really important to maintain your relationships with your friends, peers and competitors. The more times that you can have good interactions with the people around you, the better your future is going to be."
After coming so close they could practically taste it last year, the Brown coed sailing team hopes that the immediate future holds a trip to nationals for the squad this year.