Harvard Sailing Earns Sports Highest Honor

For any Harvard sailing team to be considered among the best in school history is no small feat. After all, Harvard sailing has a proud tradition that dates back over a century and includes Olympic medalists and American Presidents.

But the accomplishments of this year’s Crimson sailors are unrivaled. On June 8, the Crimson coeds clinched the Leonard M. Fowle ’30 Trophy, given to the nation’s top all-around sailing team. It was Harvard’s first Fowle Trophy in the award’s 30-year history.

The trophy is decided based on a point system that includes each of the year’s six Intercollegiate Sailing Association national championships. In the final point standings, Harvard scored 86 to edge out Dartmouth’s 77 and Old Dominion’s 69. Navy and Tufts, with 10 and eight trophies respectively, have won the most Fowle Trophies.

The Crimson’s Fowle quest began in earnest back in November at the Men’s and Women’s Singlehanded Nationals—the first two ICSA championships. Sophomore Clay Bischoff claimed fifth place in the men’s regatta, while junior Margaret Gill—for the second time in three years—took home highest honors on the women’s side.

When Harvard dominated the Sloop National Championships three weeks later, tallying a low score of 21 over ten races to beat nearest competitor Charleston by 15 places, the Crimson had established itself firmly as the Fowle Trophy favorite. At the end of the fall season, Harvard led second-place Old Dominion comfortably, 38-26, atop the Fowle standings.

The Crimson would still need a strong spring season to bring the trophy home, however, especially during the climatic final week of the season in June, when nationals for Women’s Dinghies, Team Racing and Coed Dinghies are held in rapid succession.

Harvard’s Fowle hopes took a hit late in the spring season, when the team failed to qualify for Women’s Dinghy Nationals, despite being ranked in the top ten throughout the season. Dartmouth and Old Dominion claimed second and sixth place, respectively, at Women’s Dinghies to eliminate Harvard’s early Fowle lead.

At Team Racing Nationals, the Crimson delivered a school record second-place performance on its home waters. Had it not been for a controversial defeat to eventual champion Georgetown on the final day of racing, Harvard would have secured the national title. In the Fowle Cup standings, the Crimson reclaimed the lead with 52 points, followed by Old Dominion and Dartmouth with 47 and 45 points, respectively.

“We sailed really well—our practices showed,” said junior co-captain Sean Doyle. “We took advantage of sailing on our own river. The way we handled our races, we had the best boats out there.”

The season came to a climatic finish at the Coed Dinghy Nationals at Rhode Island. As the oldest and most prestigious of the six championships, Coed Dinghies carried twice as much weight in the Fowle standings.

The 36-race regatta was among the closest in its 65-year history, featuring eight lead changes in the final 12 races. The juniors Gill and Susan Bonney dominated the 18 races of the B Division and propelled the Crimson into the lead with only four races left to go. Their boat amassed a winning low score of 78 points, 19 places ahead of nearest competitor Dartmouth.

The Crimson still needed a strong performance in the A Division to claim the Dinghy title. The A boat, featuring a combination of skippers Doyle and freshman Cardwell Potts and sophomore crew Michelle Yu and Laura Knoll, took sixth place with 139 points.

When the final tally was announced, Tufts was the Dinghy champion with 215 points, edging out Harvard’s 217 and Dartmouth’s 220. A 16th-place finish by the Harvard A boat in its final race doomed the Crimson’s hopes for the title.

But Harvard was the year’s overall champion nonetheless. The second-place Dinghy finish—the Crimson’s best since it last won the title in 1974—provided more than enough points to bring home the school’s first Fowle Trophy.

As usual, several Crimson sailors made the All-American team. Doyle, Gill and Bischoff were All-American skippers, while Potts earned Honorable Mention skipper accolades, and Yu and Bonney both made All-American crew. Doyle was one of five finalists for the Everett B. Morris trophy, given to the Sailor of the Year.

With not one senior in its regular rotation, the Crimson has every reason to expect a repeat performance atop the national rankings next spring.

“We had some real high points and great performances and made a run at a couple of national titles,” said Harvard Coach Mike O’Connor to sum up the season. “And the way we finished the year, I hope it carries over to the fall and more good racing.”