Sailing Teams Brave Elements Perform Well

Under difficult conditions this past weekend the Harvard sailing teams met with mixed results.

Captain Pete Strothman and sophomore Jack Donahue placed third at the prestigious New England Sloop Championship and just missed qualifying for the national sloop tournament. The co-ed team placed 11th out of 20 at the Navy Fall Intersectional. And the women's sailing team placed ninth out of 16 at the Yale Women's Intersectional.

The regattas were two-day tournaments in which the teams sailed five races on Saturday and five more yesterday. The Crimson entered all three regattas with strikes against them--Saturday's light winds disadvantaged the Harvard teams, plus many Harvard members sailed in boats that they were unfamiliar with. Given these constraints, the team's performance was encouraging.

"Overall we sailed well this weekend," Strothman said. "Although we didn't perform as well as hoped, we overcame adversity and took a positive experience away from the tournaments."

The co-ed team was led by the performance of junior Chris Taubman and senior Brian Fox in Division A. They finished fifth at Navy in a national tournament that included teams such as Michigan and St. Mary's. The Division B team of junior Susan Bobie and freshman Rules Doyle placed ninth. Both junior Jason Carroll in Division C and freshman Gabe Dorfman in Division D placed 16th while sailing alone in boats in which they had never sailed before.

The women's team sailed against common foes as they placed ninth out of 16 at Yale. In Division A, seniors Becky Rosen and Carie Ermler finished eighth. Junior Lauren Toretta and freshman Mojo Gill alternated with each other and joined junior Kate Havers in Division B. Both teams struggled on Saturday but came back with strong sails yesterday.

"It was a very up and down performance," Rosen said. "We did not perform as well as we hoped."

At the New England Sloop Championships, Donahue and Strothman were just edged out by a very tough Tufts team for the final spot in the national championships. The Harvard team sailed the physically demanding sloop boat very well for the tournament. The sloop is new to collegiate competition, but usually requires a crew of 500 pounds to man.

The Harvard team weighed in at only a combined 350, but handled the boat well in the tournament. Strothman and Donahue continually improved inthe two-day tournament and entered the final racewith a chance to qualify. Despite leading at theturn, they were passed by the Tufts team for firstplace in the race and second-place for theregatta.

"Obviously we are disappointed to missqualifying by losing in such a close race, butoverall we are happy with our performance at thetournament," Strothman said.

The co-ed team will compete for the Hoyt Trophynext weekend, while the women's team competes atthe Coast Guard Academy for a chance to qualifyfor the Atlantic Coast Championship. The co-edteam already qualified for the tournament bywinning the Danmark Trophy two weekends ago

"Obviously we are disappointed to missqualifying by losing in such a close race, butoverall we are happy with our performance at thetournament," Strothman said.

The co-ed team will compete for the Hoyt Trophynext weekend, while the women's team competes atthe Coast Guard Academy for a chance to qualifyfor the Atlantic Coast Championship. The co-edteam already qualified for the tournament bywinning the Danmark Trophy two weekends ago