Sailors rebound against Rogers
Women take 7th in NE championships
BY STEVE SHEPPARD INDEPENDENT SPORTS EDITOR
After tough losses to Harwich and Martha's Vineyard, the NHS sailing team earned a 3-1 home victory Sunday over Rogers High School of Newport, R. I. The win was doubly sweet because Rogers had upset Nantucket earlier in the season.

ROB BENCHLEY/The Independent Nantucket's sailing team gets into formation during Friday's races against Martha's Vineyard. The team takes on Dennis-Yarmouth tomorrow afternoon off the Boat Basin. In the foreground above are Russell Bartlett (left) and Jessie Lang.

It seemed as if everything Nantucket couldn't do against the Vineyard on Friday was turned around by Sunday.

"I don't know if everybody had their minds on the prom, but the communication between boats wasn't quite as good as it needed to be," coach Nick Judson said of the races with the Vineyard. "But all of the things we were having problems with on Friday were strengths on Sunday. Skipper Brian Chitester did some great maneuvers to spring our team's boats into the lead, so it was a pretty good transformation."

Sailing with Chitester was Tiffany Lee. Other strong Nantucket boats were the teams of Russell Bartlett and Nellie Morley and Annie Sager and Maggie Andrews.

The Whalers faced Harwich again Monday afternoon and fell by the same frustratingly close score, 3-2, that marked last week's races. The teams flip-flopped victories, with Harwich taking the first and last events. "It was a difficult day," Judson said, "but our kids sailed really well. It was a frustrating loss for them. I think we deserved to win; we just had some back luck."

The New England Women's Sailing Championships were held on Nantucket Saturday afternoon, with five Whaler sailors taking part.

Sager, Lee, Morley, Alex Strohmeier and Sarah Erichsen led Nantucket to a seventh place overall finish.

Races were delayed for two hours because of strong winds blowing 20-to-25 knots, with gusts to 35. Although the winds diminished after the wait, the conditions remained a challenge for the 12 teams competing.

Sager, Lee and Strohmeier finished sixth overall in the A division, with Sager and Lee teaming for the first three races, and Sager and Strohmeier joining forces in the second set. "It was great to see the steady improvement" of the crews, Judson said. "They were right on the edge of the top three boats."

In the B division, Erichsen and Morley combined for the best single race finish by a Nantucket boat, placing third in their first race.

Judson was pleased with the performance of the Nantucket women. "It's probably our best result ever," he said.

The overall winner of the regatta was St. George's of Newport, R.I., propelled into first place after the two teams who finished the day in a tie, Tabor Academy and Manchester Essex, lodged protests against each other. Both protests were upheld, dropping Tabor to second place and Manchester Essex to third. Providence Country Day came in fourth.

Team sailing resumes tomorrow when Dennis- Yarmouth visits the island. The Whalers travel to Falmouth

Friday and to Tabor Academy on Saturday. I