Sailing Sends Three To U.S.-Japan Regatta

While hundreds of Harvard students will be packing their bags in eager anticipation of turkey and stuffing this week, three talented Harvard sailors will be packing their bags in the hopes of bringing glory to their country.

Senior Pete Strothman, captain of the Harvard co-ed sailing team, will be traveling to the U.S.-Japan Goodwill Regatta in Newport Beach, Calif. over Thanksgiving Break to represent his country. Freshman phenomenon Margaret Gill and senior Brian Fox will accompany Strothman to the prestigious event as his crew.

"[The regatta] should be a lot of fun this weekend," said Gill, affectionately nicknamed "Sea Bass" by her teammates. "I think that we have the potential to do really well, and I know that I'm really looking forward to it. The three of us should [work well] together."

Strothman, one of two All-American selections on the Harvard sailing team this year, has enjoyed a remarkable and award-filled season during his senior year. He placed third at the New England Sloop Championship with sophomore Jack Donohue and qualified for the New England Championships earlier in the season. In the Coast Guard single-handed elimination in September, a regatta that focuses on individual finishes, Strothman easily dominated the field and placed first in his single-handed eight-race event.

He also traveled to the University of Southern California this past weekend to represent Harvard by competing for the men's single-handed national championship.

Strothman's accomplishments this season have won him the reputation of a serious national contender in the sailing world. Together, he and Fox led the Harvard co-ed sailing team to a fourth-place national ranking earlier in the season.

Gill's successful season has also amazed many Crimson fans in her first year. In late October, she, one of only three freshmen to compete in a 16-woman field, won the National Women's Single-handed Championship at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy in King's Point, New York, a win that most women dream of garnering in four years. For her hard-fought win, she captured the distinguished Janet Lutz Trophy. Her yachting strength and her ability to adapt to changing conditions on the water have been one of the keys to the success of the women's sailing team this season.

Although the fall season is coming to a close for the Harvard sailing team, it can look forward to a promising spring. Harvard's successful performances in this fall's regattas serve merely as a preface to the more important Co-ed Nationals, which will take place in the spring.

And with the leadership of Strothman, Fox and Gill, the Harvard sailing team can look forward to an exciting ending in the spring.