Sailors Cop NCAA Bid; Nab New England Title

The Harvard varsity sailing team captured first place in the New England Championships at MIT over the weekend, to be one of four teams to qualify for the NCAA finals to be held May 20 through 23 in King's Point, N.Y.

The sailors finished with 147 points to out-distance 15 other schools in the two-day competition. Connecticut College (154 points), Yale (160) and Tufts (167) nabbed the next three places to gain berths in the national tourney. The win earned Harvard its first New England title since 1959, and the team's only New England championship under retiring Coach Mike Horn.

At the conclusion of the first day of racing, Harvard's closest competitor was Yale, which trailed the Crimson by three points.

During day two, Connecticut College briefly flirted with the lead, but Harvard surged to take the title.

Gordon Burns took top honors among the skippers, with Peter Wagner finishing ninth. Peter Schumann and Jeff Kurland finished in a fifth-place tie in the top crew listing.

Burns and Schumann sailed in the "A" Division, and Wagner, Deb Dubin and Scott Nathan sailed together in the "B" Division, as did Kurland and John Pernick.