Courtesy of Joel Furtek ’90

On Saturday, Gilder Boathouse housed two home crews, with the women racing Radcliffe and Northeastern and heavyweights competing against Princeton and Cornell. Meanwhile, the lightweight crew team traveled to Hanover to face Dartmouth. 

At home, the No. 3 women’s team swept all five races against Radcliffe and Northeastern and secured the Case Cup for the ninth straight season. In Hanover, the lightweight crew swept all three races against Dartmouth and brought home the Durand Cup for the 10th consecutive year. The No. 1 heavyweights came first in all five races, but a steering error disqualified the first varsity and resulted in Yale’s disqualification in the event and Princeton taking home the Carnegie Cup. After going undefeated this season, all three teams find themselves in the top three crews in the latest collegiate rowing polls.

“There was a bit of a mistake going around the corner,” said Fergus Hamilton ’23, who rowed in the first varsity eight. “I don’t think anyone on the boat really noticed until we were off the water. We were down to what we were doing to the rhythm and the stroke and did not notice until the end. Obviously that resulted in the disqualification, but we were still happy with the performance we put down because that’s what we go out there to do, just row the best you can row.” 

Hamilton explained that when the crew missed the buoy it went on the inside of the course instead of the outside — shortening the length of the race. Princeton’s head coach protested the error, which led to the disqualification of Yale’s first varsity eight. Even though the Bulldogs finished at 5:25.3, nearly seven seconds ahead of Princeton, heavyweight head coach Steve Gladstone handed the trophy to the Tigers. 

In their last competition before the Eastern Sprints, all of the other heavyweight varsity boats clocked in impressive victories. The second and third varsity eights championed with similar times — 5:31.9 and 5:31.7, respectively. The fourth varsity eight defeated Princeton with a nine-second victory. Lastly, the fifth varsity eight culminated its race with an impressive 30-second victory over Princeton. 

In its last regatta before the Ivy League Championships, the women’s crew swept all five races. The first varsity eight defeated Radcliffe by nearly 15 seconds and secured the Case Cup. The second varsity eight won with another 15-second margin, clocking in a 6:17.10 victory over Radcliffe’s 6:32.37. With a similar margin of victory, the varsity four defeated Northeastern by 16 seconds. Two Yale boats competed in the second varsity four against Northeastern — finishing first and second. The third varsity eight clocked in an impressive 23-second victory over Radcliffe.   

“The Yale-Harvard rivalry is the best in sports,” women’s head coach Will Porter said in a Yale Athletics press release.  “It brings out the best in every athlete. Adding Northeastern to the mix just adds to the competitive racing. It was a good day for YWC.”

The men’s lightweight team defeated Dartmouth, sweeping all three races and securing the Durand Cup. 

In the first race of the morning, the third varsity clocked in a 22-second victory, coming in at 5:42.7 to Dartmouth’s 6:05.6. In another impressive victory, the second varsity defeated their opponent with a 12-second lead. In the last race of the day, the first varsity finished at 5:30.7, coming in eight seconds before Dartmouth and securing the Durand Cup. 

“We had a great weekend of racing at Dartmouth,” senior captain Geoff Skelly ’22 wrote to the News. “All of our boats performed really well and came away with wins. The Dartmouth course is beautiful and the conditions were great for racing.”

Next weekend, lightweights will travel to New Jersey for the conclusion of their regular season where they will compete against Harvard and Princeton for the Goldthwait and Vogel Cups. The women and heavyweights are preparing for their next races on May 15 at the Ivy League Championships in Camden, NJ and the Eastern Sprints in Worcester, MA, respectively.