Sailing Places Second at Team Racing Nationals

The Harvard coed sailing team completed its best-ever finish yesterday at the North American Team Racing Championships on the Charles River. The Crimson placed second and was one controversial decision away from winning its third national title of the year.

“We sailed really well-our practices showed,” said junior co-captain Sean Doyle. “We took advantage of sailing on our own river. The way we handled our races, we had the best boats out there.”

The Crimson compiled a sparkling 16-5 record through three days of competition on its home waters to place just two races in back of Georgetown, who went 18-3 to become the 42nd winner of the Walter C. Wood Trophy.

Twelve teams qualified for the championship from the seven different Intercollegiate Sailing Association regions. After a head-to-head round-robin over the first two days of competition, the top six teams split off into a championship double round-robin to determine the series champion.

The race against the Hoyas that opened yesterday morning’s action proved to be the difference in the series.

With the three Crimson boats holding down second, third and fourth place and the Hoyas’ boats in first, fifth and sixth place, Harvard was in position for a 9-to-12 victory.

But then at the windward mark-where the boats are forced to turn-Georgetown was accused of a violation.

“At the first turning mark, we think one of their players tacked very close to first turning mark,” said sophomore sailor Dan Litchfield. “You’re not allowed to tack close to the mark if it means another person change their course.”

If a boat recognizes that it has broken the rules, it can exonerate itself by making a 360-degree turn. The Georgetown boat made no such turn.

“We think if Georgetown had exonerated, we would have won that race,” Doyle said.

The Hoyas went on to win the race by claiming second, third and fifth place-good for a narrow 10-11 victory.

There are no on-water officials for sailing, so every race is self-refereed. Rules are enforced by teams who file protests after each race.

The Crimson naturally protested the Georgetown victory. But the protest was not heard because the race officials claimed that Harvard did not clearly describe the incident on its protest form. By refusing to hear the Crimson protest, the officials avoided a potentially controversial decision that would have seized the title away from the Hoyas.

“We’re pretty frustrated that it ended that way,” Doyle said.

Had Harvard’s protest been granted, the two teams would have tied atop the standings with 17-4 records. The Crimson would have won by virtue of having won two of three races against Georgetown. Harvard had won its second race against the Hoyas by disqualification.

“It’s a bummer when things aren’t decided on the water,” Litchfield said. “But we don’t what to focus on that. We’re glad we got second. It was to be on our home waters.”

The Crimson used three skippers for the series—Doyle, sophomore Clay Bischoff and women’s single-handed national champion sophomore Margaret Gill.

Each Crimson boat teamed up a skipper with an able-handed crew member. The Harvard crew for the series included sophomore Michelle Yu, junior Susan Bonney, sophomore Laura Knoll and sophomore Lema Kikuchi, who is also a Crimson editor.

“There were a number of close races, like [when] we came from behind to beat Dartmouth,” Litchfield said. “We showed we’re a good team, we’re very deep.”

There will be no rest for the Harvard sailing team, as the Crimson heads straight for Dinghy Nationals in Rhode Island tomorrow. Harvard won the New England Dinghies earlier in the year.