Catching Up with the Farrell Alumni

Photo courtesy of Choate Rosemary Hall

Dylan Farrell’s boat comes in 5th of 79 in the 2016 North American Championships last August.

Harvard University sailing prodigy Dylan Farrell ’14

Last week I talked to Dylan Farrell ’14, who sailed on Choate’s team during his time here and is now pursuing his passion at Harvard. We discussed his history with the sport as well as his experience transitioning between high school and collegiate sailing.

Joseph Coyne ’19: How did you first get involved with sailing, since it’s not a conventional sport?

Dylan Farrell ’14: When I was six, my parents enrolled my brother and me in Madison Beach Club’s Boating 101 course, which was a two-week program designed to give young kids experience on different types of sailboats and motorboats. We enjoyed it so much that we enrolled in the Junior Sailing Program the next summer. I picked up the basics of sailing fairly quickly and soon realized that I loved the combination of mental and physical activity that’s required to sail and race effectively. I started off sailing Optis and then transitioned into skippering Club 420s as I grew older. I also sailed Lightnings on the weekends with many of the club’s adult sailors, first as a crew and then increasingly as a skipper for members who owned boats but did not like to skipper themselves.

A lot of people who have never raced small sailboats before have this image of sailing as just sitting around and leisurely sun-tanning on a yacht, but it is actually very mentally and physically demanding. You have to be constantly observing everything around you, whether it’s the wind, the waves, the current, the other boats, or your own sails. And then you need to use all of that constantly-changing input to determine the course of action with the highest probability of success — then execute that game plan effectively.

JC: How big of a gap was there between sailing in high school and then college?

DF: There was a huge gap between high school and college sailing. The biggest discrepancy is that, in college sailing, the difference in ability between skippers and between crews at the top regattas is very, very small. So doing well in college sailing requires being incredibly consistent and always making the high-percentage play. At last year’s coed Nationals, you would have been able to win a division if you averaged 5th each race. This was because the fleet was so competitive and the same boat that came in first one race could be at the back of the fleet the next race. This is very different from high-school regattas, where the top couple boats are in the top five almost every race. Another big difference is that the level of boat handling is significantly higher in college sailing. The skipper and crew are much more physical with the boat and use their weight to work the boat through all of the maneuvers over the course of the race. Yet another difference, with regard to team racing, is that in high school, you often come across teams that do not always make what would be widely viewed as the “correct” team racing play, and so you can beat teams simply by having a better game plan for each situation that comes up in the race. In college, however, almost everyone follows the same game plan and basic team racing principles, so winning a race becomes more about being able to execute your strategy more efficiently than the other team.

JC: What are your best memories of sailing?

DF: My best sailing memory before I got to Harvard was winning the Connecticut State Championship in fleet racing at the Coast Guard Academy my senior year at Choate. No one expected us to do well, since it was only the second year of Choate having the Varsity Sailing Program, and we had not done very well the year before. But then we won both the A and B divisions by a wide margin, upsetting Hotchkiss, which is a perennial powerhouse and had won the year before. So that was a great feeling and is something I will never forget.

Another great sailing memory was coming in 5th out of 79 boats at Lightning North Americans in Rochester, N.Y. this past August. I sailed with Nick Sertl, who is another skipper on the Harvard sailing team, and with Haley McMahon, who sails for the University of Vermont.  It was an incredible experience, and it was awesome to compete against and even beat boats that had several former world champions and Olympians on board. We were the top under-21 boat at the regatta and qualified for Lightning Worlds, which are this November in Ecuador.

My best sailing-related memory at Harvard was being elected Captain last November. Entering the team as a walk-on with significantly less experience competing at a regional or national level than the other skippers, I never could have dreamed of ultimately becoming Captain. I have the goal of influencing team culture in a positive way and making sure that every sailor feels good about the experience and their contributions to the team. For me, there is no greater honor than having the respect of one’s peers, so it was truly surreal to know that my teammates were placing their trust in me to lead to team.

Joseph Coyne ’19

Georgetown soccer star Caitlin Farrell ’15

Photo courtesy of Justin Weekes/The Record Journal

Caitlin Farrell dribbles during a 2014 match against Kingswood Oxford, in which she ultimately scored two goals.

It had been 102 minutes before anything notable had happened at the soccer match in Bridgeport, West Virginia, but suddenly Georgetown whipped a shot to the post — scoring a goal that won their game in double overtime. Georgetown forward and Choate alumna Caitlin Farrell ’15 was one of the players who was ecstatic about the win. Georgetown University, ranked 18th nationally in soccer at the time, had scored an upset against West Virginia University, a school that ranked third. This was just another win that added to Georgetown’s stunning 8-1 record so far this year.

Farrell, who was a captain of Girls’ Varsity Soccer and Girls’ Varsity Lacrosse, graduated from Choate in 2015. She moved on to play Division I Women’s College Soccer at Georgetown University. When asked about her transition to college, she said, “I think it was kind of nerve-wracking at first because everyone always tells you that college game is so different from high school, and that people are just so much stronger and quicker and more technical at that level. But once you get used to it, you get in the flow of things. Everything starts to work itself out.”

One of the few difficulties Farrell faces as a Division I athlete is balancing school and soccer. She pointed out: “It’s definitely a little bit harder than Choate, since you have to travel to other states so frequently — I think we took eight flights last year. But I think Choate definitely helped with adjusting to the college life and learning to balance everything.”

As far as Farrell’s performance in her games, she has been nothing but stellar. “I think I was playing about half of each game, every game,” said Farrell in regards to her playing time two seasons ago. In 2015, she racked up a total of six points for her team and was also a Big East Academic All-Star. The next season, Farrell started every game and picked up six points, with one goal and four assists.

In regards to her goals for the team and herself, she said, “I just want to help my team as much as possible, and for me that means scoring goals and assisting.” Her major goal for each year is to win the Big East Championship.

Farrell advises all incoming student-athletes as well as other students to “take every opportunity you have and make the most of it. Don’t forget to have fun, and don’t get brought down by anything too much.” Needless to say, Farrell is striving in college and is one to watch in the future.

Cecilia Curran ’20

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