Sailing Teams Capture Fourth

The Harvard sailing teams turned in another pair of excellent performances last weekend at the Admirals Cup and Dellenbaugh Trophy Regattas, as both teams finished fourth overall in competitive fields.

The coed team traveled to the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy at Kings Point, also the site of this year's upcoming coed nationals, to compete for the Admirals Cup. Saturday's steady northeasterly winds allowed all twenty

teams to get in ten races in each of four divisions, but Sunday's excessive fog and lack of breeze forced race officials to call the regatta early.

Harvard's key to finishing strong in the team rankings was the outstanding

performance turned in by freshman Clay "Backstreet" Bischoff who sailed

his Laser into a second-place finish in the C division.

"[Bischoff] really carried the team this weekend," senior skipper Sarah Levin said.

"With such a large and closely packed fleet, it was possible to make both big gains and losses in each race," Bischoff said. "Whoever came out of the crowded mark roundings well tended to post the best scores in the regatta. Having good tacks and gybes in the light air conditions was also extremely important."

Strong performances in the A and B divisions were somewhat hampered by the unpredictable conditions, as Sunday's abrupt cancellation threw off the teams rotation strategy. Levin and fellow senior Christian Taubman became acquainted with Vanguard 15s, a boat new to college sailing, in the A

division. "The Vanguards are fun boats, and Christian and I learned a lot

about them this weekend." Levin said.

The seasoned skipper/crew pair of sophomore co-captain Sean Doyle and

freshman Michelle Yu took fourth in the B division. "The conditions were

light and extremely foggy, but we managed to sail well." Yu said.

The women's team was in action at Brown for the Dellenbaugh Trophy, which was captured by the Dartmouth team. It was also a bipolar weekend for

Providence, as Saturday's picture- perfect conditions contrasted with

Sunday's light winds forced race officials to end racing early. Harvard finished ahead of 10 other teams to take home a fourth-place finish.

The sophomore skipper/freshman crew pairs of Margaret Gill with Clemmie Everett and Susan Bonney with Daphne Reeve succeeded in

bringing home an easy first for Harvard in B division.