Potts Propels Coed Sailing

The Harvard coed sailing team continued its resurgence with a win this weekend at the 69th Boston Dinghy Cup. In a field of 14 competitors, what was not so long ago the nation’s No. 1 ranked team showed that it is still quite a force to be reckoned with.

Leading the way, as he often does, was senior captain Cardwell Potts, in his last regatta on the Charles before nationals.

“We’re really excited,” said freshman Clay Johnson, who finished third skippering in the D-division with classmate crews Emily Simon and Samantha Fink. “Everyone sailed extremely well. Cardwell was insane—just so dominant. This was his last regatta of his career on the Charles before nationals. To go out like this, with a bang, is great.”

Potts, skippering the A-division with junior crew Laura Schubert, won by an impressive 26 points, finishing with 23 to second place Brown’s 47. Sophomores Vince Porter (skipper) and Ruth Schlitz took home tops in the B-division, while sophomore Genny Tulloch (skipper) and junior Daphne Lyman topped the C-division. Harvard finished with 161 points overall, to second place host Tufts’ 200.

Johnson said the team seems to be catching up, after losing too many practices to bad weather early in the season.

“We’ve been practicing for a month and a half, it’s definitely made a difference,” Johnson said.

HARVARD WOMEN’S TEAM

The Harvard women’s sailing team had its first bad day in quite a while, not winning first for the first time this season. But luckily for the Crimson, for a team that is ranked first in the nation, bad days only mean third place.

As further proof of the Harvard women’s tremendous depth this spring, a group of sailors comprised of mostly non-regulars battled its way to third place at the Duplin Cup hosted by Tufts on a weekend that lost a day of sailing to absent winds. In fact, the team even entertained thoughts of a second-day surge—if there had been a second day.

“We were hoping to be able to stage a comeback on Sunday,” said senior Caroline Dixon, who moved out of her usual position to skipper the B-division.

Dixon, skippering with senior crew Emily Nielson, sailed into second place in the B-division, while senior skipper Clemmie Everett and freshman crew Christina Dahlman slotted in fifth place in the A-division.

Dixon singled out the team’s depth.

“We’re not really disappointed,” Dixon said. “The people who were sailing were different from the people we’ve been sailing. It shows that we have a lot of people who can keep up.”

Going against the Crimson was another day of poor weather in this endless, grey winter-spring hybrid season.

“It was shifty, the wind direction changed a lot,” Dixon said, “and the wind was light. We’re a team that likes speed.”