Sailing Twice Triumphant

Neither the Crimson co-eds nor the women were slowed by the frigid temperatures on the Charles this weekend, as each team burned the competition to capture intersectional regatta titles.

Professor Schell Trophy Regatta

At the Professor Schell Trophy regatta, hosted by MIT, the Harvard co-eds turned in a consistently solid performance to hold off Tufts and best the 18-team field.

The bulk of the competition took place on Saturday, which featured 10 races held in winds between 10 and 20 knots coming from the northwest.

On Sunday, only two races were held under mild wind conditions, 0 to 5 knots from varying directions.

In the ‘A’ division, captain Clay Bischoff and senior crew Lema Kikuchi struggled the entire weekend to make up for their first race.

In that race, the two began over the starting line but did not return to cross the line and start the race. The result was a recorded finish of 19th, which set the duo well behind from the onset of competition.

In spite of the early difficulty, the pair came back with a very strong showing, winning three of the remaining eleven races, placing in the top-three on seven occasions and in the top-five 10 times.

However, a fifth place finish in the final race—one spot behind Tufts—dashed the tandem’s hopes of victory within the division, but still secured second place.

While the Crimson did not win the ‘A’ division, Bischoff and Kikuchi’s comeback effort kept Harvard in the running for the overall regatta title, pending the results of the ‘B’ division.

In that division, junior skipper Cardwell Potts and sophomore crew David Darst did not encounter the same initial difficulties as their ‘A’ division counterparts.

However, the squad from Yale turned in five consecutive top-three performances to start the regatta, and heading into the sixth race, the Crimson trailed by 19 ranks.

“It didn’t really affect anything,” Potts said. “It was like last weekend. You just need to know there are more races ahead.”

A Yale breakdown in race six seemed to signal a change in momentum, however.

While the Crimson won three of the final seven races and placed second in three more, the Elis could muster no better than a third-place finish for the remainder of the regatta.

Heading into the final third of the regatta, Potts and Darst had climbed to within five points of the Yale squad. Two first-place finishes and a second brushed the leaders aside, and established the Crimson duo as best in the division by four points.

The cumulative ranks of the two divisions placed Harvard ten spots ahead of Tufts for the overall title. Yale took third place.

The Crimson succeeded throughout the day on Sunday despite the boats raced—MIT’s technical dinghies.

The boats are used exclusively by the Engineers and have been a source of some trouble for the Harvard sailors in the past, but not on this occasion.

“I’ve sailed {technical dinghies] the past two years, so I’ve become pretty familiar with them.” Potts said.

Women’s Victorian Coffee Urn Regatta

In the most interestingly named regatta of the year, the Crimson women faced similar conditions to the co-eds just down stream, and dispatched them with equal success.

In the ‘A’ division, freshman skipper Genny Tulloch paired with junior crews Liz Lord and Clemmie Everett, with Everett filling in for Lord during races two through four.

Tulloch and Lord encountered difficulty from the onset, placing twelfth in the first race of the regatta.

Tulloch and Everett quickly recovered, however, winning the next race, and placing third and fourth in the two that followed.

With Lord back on board in lieu of Everett, the ‘A’ boat finished Saturday with another victory among four top-six performances.

Heading into Sunday, the Crimson trailed Charleston by eight ranks and Tufts by four.

Sunday changed little in the way of the standings, with the duo of Tulloch and Lord unable to gain any ground on the two leaders, and in fact slipping three ranks further behind Charleston and two more behind Tufts, to finish in firm possession of third place.

Though the initial 12th-place finish diminished Harvard’s chances of victory in the ‘A’ division, the third-place finish was primarily attributable to Charleston and Tufts simply out-sailing the Crimson team.

Charleston placed in the top-two five times and never once lower than eighth. While Tufts was less consistent on the water, the Jumbos did win four of the 10 races, propelling the team to a second-place finish, just ahead of the Crimson.

The ‘B’ division duties were handled by junior skipper Jennie Philbrick and classmate Diana Rodin on Saturday, with junior skipper Everett and sophomore crew Laura Schubert taking the helm on Sunday.

Harvard battled against Brown for the top of the ‘B’ division, with both teams staking claim to first at different points throughout the weekend.

The two teams had separated themselves from the pack by the end of the third race and then proceeded to battle for the top spot.

Initially, Philbrick and Rodin took control of the regatta, winning the first race, and holding the Bears off through three races.

“We concentrated on our starts and really watching the wind on the upwind legs,” Rodin said.

Brown victories in the third and fourth races put Harvard down one, but a third-place finish in the fifth race brought the Crimson even with the Bears.

Harvard finished third in the sixth race, two spots behind the victorious Brown squad. The two teams would not be as close again.

Brown took second in each of the next two races while Harvard placed ninth and seventh, increasing the margin between the them to 14 heading into Sunday.

“We didn’t have a lane in those races coming off the start,” Rodin said. “We were covered by other boats. We couldn’t be where we wanted on the course. We had to work our way up the fleet during the race.”

Everett and Schubert rallied on Sunday, winning one race and taking second in another, however, despite Brown’s worse finish of the regatta in the ninth race, Harvard was unable to take the lead, finishing down six points.

Like the ‘A’ boat, the foursome in the ‘B’ division was simply bested by the competition.

In addition to winning three races, the Bears finished outside the top-four only once. By comparison, the Crimson took first twice and finished outside the top-four on two separate occasions.

Harvard’s across-the-board consistency, however, earned the overall title, placing ahead of Brown and Dartmouth.

The Crimson victory qualifies the team for the Atlantic Coast Women’s Regatta, hosted by Connecticut College on November 16.

Nickerson Trophy Regatta

At the Nickerson Trophy regatta—hosted by Massachusetts Maritime Academy—the freshmen co-eds did not perform as well as their upper class counterparts, but still succeeded in qualifying for the Atlantic Coast Championships.

In the ‘A’ division, skipper Vince Porter and crew Ruth Schlitz sailed in the middle of the pack for the first 11 races, finishing no better than fourth and no worse than 11th.

The duo came to life in the last three races, winning them all. The strong finish thrust the Crimson into fifth place in the division.

Skipper Sloan Devlin and crew Mallory Greimann performed erratically in the ‘B’ division, placing second on four occasions, but tempering their success with an 11th- and 13th-place finish.

The tandem finished eighth and ninth in the final two races, which allowed boats from BU and Dartmouth to sneak ahead of Harvard in a tightly contested division.

Overall, the Crimson placed fourth, a single point behind Tufts.

Dartmouth took first, while Connecticut College finished second in the final standings.

Sailing Standings

In the Sailing World College Rankings of October 29th, the Harvard co-ed squad maintained its position atop the polls for the second consecutive time, placing just ahead of Brown.

Rounding out the top five are Hobart/William Smith, Hawaii and Georgetown.

The Harvard women climbed three spots in the rankings to No. 6, while Old Dominion rose one spot to lay claim to the No. 1 ranking.

This weekend’s effort turned in by both squads equaled the results which vaulted each to its high position in the rankings.

The Crimson race for the Glenn S. Foster Trophy and the Jane Lutz Trophy next weekend at the 2002-2003 Men’s and Women’s Singlehanded North Americans, hosted by Houston Yacht Club.