Sailing Takes First at Dinghy Cup

As students trudged home from Logan this weekend, the Harvard co-ed sailing team was busy wrapping up a first place finish in the Boston Dinghy Cup, held Saturday and Sunday at MIT.

Taking the cup in a field of fifteen competitive teams, the Crimson excelled in all four divisions, capitalizing on their "home field advantage" in favorable winds.

"It was great to win the Boston Dinghy Cup," senior Christian Taubman said. "There are still several regattas left in the season, but this weekend we showed that for now we are the top team in New England."

Led by seasoned seniors Taubman and Sarah Levin in the A division, Harvard finished in the top four of all divisions.

The sophomore trio of Margaret Gill, Susan Bonney, and Matt Ocweija took the C division.

The traditionally successful pairing of sophomore captain Sean Doyle and freshman Margaret Yu was also assisted by Bonney as they finished second in B division, ahead of fourteen other teams.

Senior skipper Jason Carroll and sophomore Natalie McLean took home a respectable fourth place overall in the D division.

It was busy break for Harvard sailing, as the teams competed in several regattas and managed to fit in some solid training days. The women's team was in action this past weekend as they competed for the Joseph R. Duplin Trophy at Tufts University and finished ninth in a field of thirteen.

The weekend of March 25 and 26 saw another impressive finish for the coed team in the Southern New England Team Race held at Connecticut College.

After a full weekend of racing, Harvard was tied with Dartmouth for first place, but Dartmouth snatched the victory in a sail off late Sunday.

"Spring break was unbelievably constructive for us," Bonney said. "It was as much a team building week as a skill building one. And we had a lot of fun on the side."

Look for Harvard to break back into the nation's top 5 this weekend as the squads travel to four Massachusetts regattas. The women will race for the Emily Wick Trophy at MIT and the Sloop Shrew Trophy at Radcliffe, while the coed team will try to repeat their first place Dinghy Cup finish at the Friis Trophy Team Race at Tufts and the Admiral Alymars Trophy at Massachusetts Maritime.