Sailors Sweep Wood Trophy, Snag Seconds at Yale, Tufts

Crimson sailing coach Mike Horn had to be pleased with the performance of his team this weekend, as the Harvard sailors came out of three trophy events with a pair of seconds and a very solid first. The Crimson yesterday took the Wood trophy in convincing style and Saturday placed what Horn called "encouraging" seconds in the Big Three Trophy and the Lane Trophy.

"We really cleaned up," was Horn's comment on yesterday's event on the Charles. The race is set up in such a way that it is well suited for the Crimson's strength, depth. There are four divisions, two varsity level, a JV and a freshman division. Each of the five competitors, Harvard, MIT, Tufts, Coast Guard and Brown, places a two man crew in each division, with the twist being that the two alternate as skipper every other race.

"In our situation," Horn said yesterday, "with five year good varsity level skippers and some good freshmen, it played right into out hands." Co-captains Chris Middendorf and Clem Wood alternated at the helm of the varsity. A division boat, while Terry Neff and Tim Black took turns in the B division. Both dinghies swept to firsts, outclassing the rest of the field.

Chris Horning and Rick White tackled the shifty winds for a second in the JV class, while promising freshman Tony Leggett and Ned Johnson captured the top spot in their division. Leggett and Johnston had the best record on the team with a mere nine points in five races, on a low point system. As a team, Harvard bested second place MIT by a whopping 25 points, 48-73. Tufts, Coasts Guard and Brown finished respectively behind.

Saturday wasn't quite as satisfying as Yale pulled a few switches in New Haven, changing the format of the Big Three Trophy and ended up taking first place over Harvard and Princeton. Middendorf, Wood and Neff arrived on the Thames only to find that the race was set up as a team race, with each team sailing the other two schools in separate races. Yale, second in last year's North American championships with essentially the same personnel, won both races while Harvard ended up 1-1 and the Tigers 0-2.

In a two division event on Mystic Lake at Tufts, the Crimson crews of Tim Black and Ogden Ross, and Chris Hornig and John Ebel, sailed Harvard to second place out of eleven schools behind the home team. "I was very encouraged," Horn said, "especially by Hornig who was sailing in his first varsity event. He and Tim Black did very well."

Horn has to be optimistic: with good team depth and strong freshmen (Harvard has won the freshmen championships the past two Falls) it looks to be a strong season.