Sailing’s Johnson, Schlitz garner All-New England honors

The Harvard co-ed sailing team just qualified for the ICSA North American championships in both team and fleet racing, and accolades have already started to fill its sails.

Two Crimson sailors, sophomore Clay Johnson and junior Ruth Schlitz, were recently named to the 2005 All-New England co-ed team, Johnson as a skipper and Schlitz as a crew.

Schlitz typically crews for junior captain and 2004 All-American skipper Vincent Porter, and the duo has usually constituted the Crimson’s A-division in spring semester fleet racing.

With the graduation of collegiate Sailor of the Year E. Cardwell Potts IV ’04 last spring and Porter’s semester-long absence in Rome, Johnson rose to skipper the A-division in fleet racing—and, at the helm of a Laser, to take second in the singlehanded national championships.

In 2004, Schlitz was an All-American crew, and Johnson received an honorable mention at skipper.

Yale, Brown, and Tufts each boasted three sailors on the honorary squad.

Schlitz’s and Johnson’s selections bring the Crimson’s All-New England total to six, as four Harvard sailors had been named to the All-New England women’s team.

—Staff writer Samuel C. Scott can be reached at sscott@fas.harvard.edu.