Coed Sailors Place Second, Qualify for Nationals

After a sensational showing at Dartmouth last weekend, the Harvard co-ed sailing team stormed into Rhode Island looking for the crown at the New England Team Racing Championships.

It didn’t win, but its second-place showing was more than enough to qualify the squad as one of four New England teams with a berth at the co-ed dinghy nationals in Oregon next month.

Dartmouth, led by star senior Scott Hogan, climbed out to a 16-point first day lead on Saturday. And after only a day of sailing, the Crimson and the Big Green had separated themselves from the rest of the pack.

The story of the weekend was the dominant sailing of Harvard sophomore skipper Vince Porter and crew Ruth Schlitz in the B-division.

While Hogan and Darmouth’s A-team had seven top-three finishes on the first day, finishing with a fleet-best 57 points, Porter and Harvard’s killer Bs stung the competition, cruising to a day-best total of 29 points and a one-point lead over the Big Green.

It was more of the same on Sunday, as the Bs totaled 30 points, three better than second-place Dartmouth’s 33, finishing the weekend as the top team in the B-division.

In fleet racing, one team from each school at the fleet—there were 18 this weekend—competes in each race, with the team getting a point for its place. If a team finishes 3rd, it gets three points. If it finishes 15th, it gets 15 points. Teams with the fewest cumulative point totals win.

The national dinghy championships will take placec in Cascade Locks, Ore., June 2-4.

The team racing championships, for which Harvard qualified last weekend with its win, fall on May 30-June 1.

Both races will sail Flying Juniors.

—Staff writer Alexander C. Britell can be reached at abritell@fas.harvard.edu.