Bischoff, Porter Earn Berths in Nationals

Harvard’s sailors fanned out across New England this weekend to compete in national qualifying regattas and intersectional competition. In the end, the Crimson’s success at the New England Singlehanded Championship was tempered by less dominant performances elsewhere on the seas.

Harvard shined at the Singlehanded Championship, hosted by the U.S. Coast Guard Academy. The field of competition featured 18 of the region’s top sailors, vying for the top four slots—which earn berths in the North American Men’s Singlehanded Championship, held in Houston in early November.

Captain Clay Bischoff dominated the regatta, winning nine of the 18 races. He finished in the top-four 15 times and did not place worse than eighth on the weekend.

Despite Saturday’s torrential downpours and shifting wind patterns, Bischoff staked claim to the lead by the end of the fourth race and never trailed again throughout the course of the weekend.

In races five through 10, Bischoff won five times and finished second once, increasing his one-point lead to a 36-rank cushion heading into Sunday.

“Clay put on a show,” freshman Vince Porter said. “[The wind] was blowing the whole regatta, and he’s definitely good in the breeze. The conditions were definitely good for him. He’s faster upwind than anyone else and in better shape than anyone else.”

Though the conditions Sunday—a crisp autumn day with a consistent northwesterly breeze—were markedly different from Saturday’s, Bischoff set the tone early by winning two of the first three races and moving 42 points ahead of the field.

Appropriately, he took first place in the final race of the competition, extending his lead to a whopping 72 points.

Porter also made waves, as he took third in the event and will join Bischoff in Houston.

Porter started the regatta well, winning two of the first three races and leading after the third race.

“I just had a good start both races and got out in front early,” Porter said. “I increased my lead and nobody was really near me.”

But none could pose much of a challenge to Bischoff this weekend and Porter consequently fell back in the standings after the fourth race.

Throughout the weekend, Porter was locked in a three-way struggle for second place.

After Saturday’s races, Porter’s three-man chasing group had distanced itself from the rest of the competition. He held a comfortable fourth, four points out of second place and a single point out of third.

Porter hit rough seas in races 10 through 13, finishing 13th twice and 15th once. More than 20 spots out of first, he launched a comeback that nearly won him second place.

Finishing in the top-five in four out of the final five races, Porter moved up 21 points in the standings, a single point out of second.

“I had some rough races in the middle, it was sort of shaky at times,” Porter said. “But I just tried to stay conservative and not any make mistakes.”

Harvard’s third entry, John Mulcahy, finished 15th in the field.

Hoyt Trophy Regatta

This weekend’s Hoyt Trophy Regatta, hosted by Brown on the Providence River, featured two Crimson boats, which combined for fourth place against stiff competition.

Harvard’s ‘A’ boat, with junior skipper Cardwell Potts and sophomore crew David Darst, dominated its division, capturing first by a sizeable margin.

Potts and Darst started slowly in the 18-team competition, taking 13th and 15th in the first two races.

“We were over early at each start—that’s what hurt us,” Potts said.

Three consecutive first-place finishes, however, thrust the duo back into the thick of competition.

“I was just a little bit more conservative and stayed closer to the other competitors at the start,” Potts said. “Just knowing that there were going to be a lot of races, we didn’t let ourselves get down.”

In race eight, the leading Old Dominion boat was disqualified, allowing the Crimson to take firm control of first place within the division and maintain it for the remainder of the competition.

The two sailors completed the last 10 races with nine top-eight finishes, their only hiccough a 17th-place finish in race 12 that proved irrelevant to the outcome.

The Crimson ‘B’ boat, featuring senior skipper Dan Litchfield and crewed first by captain Michelle Yu, then senior Natalie MacLeon, did not fare as well as its ‘A’ division counterparts.

Like Potts and Darst, Litchfield and Yu started slowly, but their turnaround was less timely and decisive.

The Crimson sailors placed in the top-ten for all but three of the last 13 races, but the trio was unable to overcome the deficit which had developed over the course of the early races, and ultimately placed eighth in its division.

Harvard’s cumulative score placed it one point behind Hobart/William Smith for third place. Brown captured first place on its home water, while BC finished second.

Oberg Trophy Regatta

At Saturday’s Oberg Trophy Regatta, hosted by BC, the Crimson encountered difficulties which ultimately landed the team in seventh place.

Senior skipper Liam Mahoney and classmate Zoe Epstein guided Harvard’s ‘A’ boat to a seventh place finish within the division.

The duo posted two third-place finishes in the seven races, but a 12th-place result in the first race and a last-place finish in the penultimate race torpedoed its chances of victory.

In the ‘B’ division, senior skipper Sam Clark and sophomore crew Daphne Lyman placed in the top five on three occasions, once taking both first and second.

But a ninth, 10th and two 12th-place finishes significantly undermined their efforts and landed them in eighth place.

The team’s cumulative score ranked seventh out of 15 competing schools. Host BC took first, followed by Tufts and Dartmouth.

The Crimson returns to the water next weekend at the Schell Trophy Regatta, hosted by MIT, and the Women’s Victorian Coffee Urn, hosted by Harvard.