Harvard Sailors Drop Debut

Harvard's North American champion sailing team, minus the two All-American skippers it boasted last season, ran into some rough waters in its debut at the Coast Guard Academy in New London, Conn., this past weekend.

A quartet of Crimson "A" division sailors placed fourth in a field of six boats in the second elimination round of the New England Intercollegiate sloop championships Saturday.

Third

In the Hap Moore Trophy competition Sunday, Harvard's four-boat team finished third in overall scoring against six other schools.

This year's New England powerhouse, Tufts, won the team event, followed by Yale, Harvard and the University of Rhode Island. Co-captain Tim Blac, in dinghy competition, and Tom Reps, in knockabout, both turned in impressive performances.

But "shifty winds" and lack of preparation spoiled the reigning national champions' opener, coach Mike Horn said.

Missing Sorely

Harvard, winner of the Greater Boston, Atlantic Coast, and North American team and individual championships last spring, sorely missed last year's All-Americans, Chris Middendorf and Terry Neff. Middendorf graduated and junior Neff, junior national champion in 1973, is taking the year off.

Harvard's dinghy division skippers, however, won at home Saturday against seven other entries.

Radcliffe's sailing squad, number three in the country last season, did not enter the New England single-handed championships at MIT Sunday because of missing team members.

A Division

Senior Marie Roehm, the team's "A" Division skipper, will sail in Radcliffe's first boat. Junior Sarah Herrick and sophomore Anne Johnson are in the running for command of the second vessel.

Radcliffe, national champion in four of the last seven years, won six of seven events last season, but fell to crews from Princeton and the University of California at San Diego in the national finals at Newport Harbor, Calif., in June.