Cliffe Sailing Team Misses Nationals; Harvard Fares Poorly in Tufts Regatta

It was a disappointing weekend for sailors from Harvard University. The Radcliffe team failed to qualify for the Nationals, which it won the past three years, and the Harvard team was third in a major regatta at Tufts.

Harvard did temper its poor performance by winning the Ivy League Championships this weekend on the Charles, but the regatta is considered a relatively insignificant event in intercollegiate sailing.

Radcliffe could only manage a fourth in the competition for the Jerry Reed Trophy, which determines the three New England representatives in the Nationals. The Crimson was 39 points behind first-place M.I.T. B.U. and Newton College also finished ahead of Radcliffe.

In the Friis Trophy on Saturday and Sunday at Tufts. M.I.T. and the University of Rhode Island tied for first place, ten points above Harvard, who was defending the trophy. The Engineers took the trophy on the tie break.

Robbie Doyle, with Rich Wilson as crew, skippered for the Crimson in Division "A" and was third in the 12-team field. Doyle took three first in the 11 races, but in the final one he fouled out to give the Crimson 12 points. Going into the final race the Crimson was only two points out of first place, and the foul-out cost Harvard the regatta.

In Division "B" the Crimson fared slightly better as Abbott Reeve and Phil DeNormandie took only one first, but ended up second in the division. The Crimson might have put its strongest skippers in the Friis Trophy, but the sailors who competed in the Mosbacher Trophy-the Ivy League Championship-ripped apart their opposition and took only half as many points as the second-place team.

Charlie Koch, with George Putnam, won Division "A" with a mere 14 points, as he took three first and four seconds in the eight races.

The Division "B" entry for Harvard was just as impressive as it collected six firsts on the way to a 12-point total and first place. Joe Worth, Dave Little, and Doug Libby alternated in the boat for the Crimson.

Harvard finished with 26 points, ahead of Penn and Cornell. Last year's champion, Yale, only brought half a team because of the Prom at New Haven, and the Elis finished last with 105 points.

The Friis Trophy is considered a tune-up for next week's New England championships which determine the two New England representatives to the Nationals. The New Englands are at Yale, giving the Elis the big home advantage. Yale and U.R.I. went to the Nationals last year.

In a dinghy invitational at Yale, Harvard placed fourth in the seven-team field. Co-captains John Bowers and Rud Istvan were fourth in Division "A" despite two firsts, while Doug Allen and Steve Glovinsky took third in Division "B."