New Captains Pilot Crimson

For some teams, changing leadership in the middle of the year could rock the boat. But for Harvard, it’s been only smooth sailing.

In the spring, both sailing programs witnessed a change in captaincy—junior Emily Lambert took over along with senior Teddy Himler as Liz Powers ’10 and current senior Alan Palmer stepped down.

“Teddy’s great. I mean it’s interesting, because I figured I could do leadership and organization without the title of captain,” Palmer said. “Teddy is pretty good at doing motivational speeches. It’s a great quality of his. In terms of sailing, he’s also exceptional as well. He understands the sport.”

Himler was quick to compliment the leadership of the senior class.

“Our top three male skippers, Palmer, [senior John] Stokes, and me called ourselves the Mighty Ducks when we came in,” he said. “We were these young guns freshman and sophomore year, and we took control as juniors. We’ve also been helped by the other seniors on the team, Quincy Bock and Meghan Wareham. That group of five has really helped and led by example. While, yes, I’m captain, those other four have provided an incredible example for the rest of the team. They made the transition easy for me.”

Similarly, Lambert has felt the change to be smooth.

“It’s been a bit of a transition, but it hasn’t been too much of a challenge,” she said. “The biggest thing is just making sure I set a good example. I really have to discipline myself to be early to practice and make sure I get out on the water early.”

The changes have not bothered the Crimson a bit as the squad continues to roll, aiming to further improve the prestige of Harvard sailing. In 2003, the Crimson won the Intercollegiate Sailing Association National Championships, a coed competition, and in 2005, the women’s team captured the national title. The coed squad placed second in last spring’s national regatta, with the women taking seventh.

Harvard is led by long-established head coach Michael O’Connor, who has been at the helm of the program since 1997. The team’s two new captains have high hopes of repeating the successes which O’Connor has enjoyed with his past teams, as Lambert and Himler look to return the Crimson to the top of the national heap.

“Teddy and I have been really working to try and lead the team by example, whether that’s coming early to practice and being the first boat on the water, making sure all the boats are put away, or trying something new in practice,” Lambert said.

“We’re off to a really good start. We’re at the top of the performance rankings—how you do in the top regatta each weekend,” Palmer added. “Those are important for scheduling.”

While its championship hopes are ambitious, the team’s performance in winning the Hood Trophy last weekend shows this goal could be in reach.

“The competition will be tough to beat,” Palmer said. “But we can do it.”

The coed team defeated 19 schools, including host Tufts, with Palmer and Bock finishing second in the A division. The women also performed well, finishing ninth overall at the Women’s Regis Bowl at Boston University.

With multiple regattas every weekend through both the fall and spring, the competitive sailing season is longer than almost any other sport.

“It’s definitely a grind,” Himler said. “We practice three days a week for about four hours a day. That type of repetition really helps us hone our skills. This gives the team a great sense of camaraderie. The kind of schedule we have wears away at us after a while, but our team is pretty supportive of each other, so it makes us pretty close.”

This year’s squad features many freshmen, with six new men and a whopping 17 new women.

“We have a lot of good freshmen on the team,” Palmer said. “Some of them don’t have great experience, but we’ve had All-Americans on the team before who have never even sailed [prior to] college. People learn pretty quickly if they’re working hard.”

So far, the new captains have provided strong leadership and first-place finishes. Now that they’ve gotten their feet wet, they can set their sights higher—on bringing a national title back to Cambridge.