Sailing Earns Bid to National Championship

By JARED R. SMALL

CRIMSON STAFF WRITER

Looking for a new sport? Try this one.

“It’s similar to ‘cycling meets roller derby’, but on the water,” Harvard captain Sean Doyle said.

Indeed, there is perhaps no other collegiate sport that requires as much individual skill, team strategy, oneness with nature, and shear guts.

The sport is coed sailing—the team-racing version.

And judging from Harvard’s performance this past weekend at the New England Team Racing championships on the Charles River, there is no doubt that the Crimson skippers and crew have a firm grasp on each of these requisites.

After getting out to a rough start on Saturday with a loss to Boston College, Harvard blew past the rest of the field and qualified for the gold medal round on Sunday.

The format of each race ensures non-stop excitement. Teams square off head-to-head by fielding three boats, each consisting of a skipper and crew. One point is awarded to the first place boat, two for the second, and so on down until the sixth boat. The team with the least amount of points wins the race.

Skipper/crew pairings for the Crimson included Clay Bischoff/Lema Kikuchi, Margaret Gill/Susan Bonney, and Sean Doyle/Michelle Yu. Cardwell Potts, Laura Knoll, and Dan Litchfield were on deck, but did not sail because of the conditions.

“This accomplishment was a total team effort, as our ‘B’ team racers served as a very good sparring partner all spring,” Bischoff said.

With three All-Americans in Gill, Bonney, and Doyle, Harvard was well prepared for the rough conditions that awaited in the wind-tunnel that was the Charles Basin. Particularly when conditions are erratic, the work of the crew becomes essential for success. Kikuchi, Bonney, and Yu took nature’s challenge in full stride and guided Harvard with grace through yesterday’s six-team round robin.

After compiling a 15-5 record, Harvard won a crucial tiebreaker over a strong MIT contingent. The second-place finish ensured the Crimson the second of two spots in June’s National Team Racing Championships hosted by Harvard and MIT.

“We knew this weekend was going to be difficult because there are a lot of great teams in New England, but only two teams go to Nationals,” Doyle said. “While second is not winning it is enough to get us to Nationals and that’s what we needed to do.”

Rest assured that whatever work needs to be done between now and then, will be done.

“We didn’t take advantage of our chance to win the regatta in our final race against Dartmouth,” Bischoff said. “But with the help of the videotape, we’ll look at what our specific mistakes were and what we need to work on.”

If a windy Charles seems daunting enough for most, it is considerably tame compared to the venue of next weekend’s New England Dinghy Championships-the Atlantic Ocean. Hosted by the University of Rhode Island, next weekend’s regatta will bring new challenges, a different format, and an open sea setting that can hardly be as cozy as the well-contained Charles Basin.

“All in all we feel good about where we are and how we are doing,” Doyle said. “The depth of our team in practice was what got us ready for this weekend and we are confident that it will prepare us for the next regatta.”