Sailors Breeze By Tufts Sails

The weekend Harvard sailors captured the McMillan cup by a narrow one point margin over Tufts. The victory returns the cup, symbolic of East Coast big boat supremacy, to the Crimson for the first time since 1944. Sailing in 44-foot yawis at the U.S. Naval Academy, skipper Charlie Koch led the five race series with outstanding crew work by co-captains John Bowers and Rud Istvan, George Putnam, Dave Brownlee, Rick White, Oivind Lorentzen, and Andy Burns.

Light winds prevailed on Saturday, allowing completion of only one of the three planned races. The Crimson saw a seemingly secure second place evaporate in the thin air to a dismal seventh. Yale's Pat Seaver dropped anchor to sip beer until the changing tide carried the bull-dogs across the finish line in first place.

On Sunday the wind blew fairer and increased throughout the day. With a fourth, first, and second over the next three races, Harvard held a two point edge over Tufts and Navy going into the last race. Faced with the dilemma of which of the two teams to cover, Koch decided to sail his own race and hope for the best. The Crimson was forced to play catch up as Tufts got off to a perfect start. Relying throughout on sound tactics and flawless crew work, Koch worked his way his way up among the fleet leaders to finish third and preserve the cup victory. Tufts, Yale and Navy finished behind the Crimson.

The last Harvard sailor to win the McMillan cup was George O'Day '45 who went on to win an Olympic Gold Medal. Before him, John F. Kennedy won the trophy in 1940 for Harvard. The continued success of both Harvard and Radcliffe's sailing teams this year underscores the necessity of improved facilities that the new boat house will provide once completed for the Spring season.