Sailing Teams Cruise at Early-Season Regattas

Early Saturday morning, members of the Harvard sailing team shoved off to a number of local Regattas for their first competitions of the season.

Over the weekend days of competition, Harvard posted an impressive sixth-place team finish in the Nevin's Trophy Cup at King's Point Rhode Island, while individual sailors senior Pete Strotham and freshman Shawn Doyle shined at the Coast Guard single-handed eliminations at the Naval academy in New London, Conn.

Coached by Mike O'Connor and Bern Noac, Harvard sailors excelled at Nevin's on Saturday. Junior Christian Taubman, who manned a double-handed boat in the Division A racing, finished fourth overall in the 10-race event. Freshman Margaret Gile, affectionately known as "Sea Bass" by her teammates, finished an impressive eighth place in the Division B race.

In his Division C single-handed event, freshman phenom Shawn Doyle cruised to a sixth place finished, and he solidified sixth overall for the team.

Along with the Nevin's Trophy team event was the Coast Guard eliminations, a regatta geared towards individual finishes. In a ladder-draw-style event, captain Pete Strothman, an All-America selection, took first in his single-handed eight-race event. Strothman won the event handily, justifying his billing as a national contender.

By placing in the top five at the eliminations, Strothman will advance to the New England Championships later on in the season. The top four qualifiers from that event will move on to the Nationals in the spring.

Yesterday at the Coast Guard event, freshman Shawn Doyle, a Florida native, boldly established himself in intercollegiate sailing by finishing fourth overall in his single-handed eliminator. He too will compete at New Englands along with his captain Strothman.

"It was really exciting to be representing Harvard as the only freshman," Doyle said.

With such impressive finishes from underclassmen, the sailing team has reason to be optimistic, despite graduating two All-American sailors last year.

"We definitely have the potential to win the National Championships in the spring," Strothman said.

"This weekend gave exposure to our younger sailors; they stepped up and showed some real potential," said Strothman of the performances by Doyle and Gile. --JOSH DIENSTAG