Carter Ford led the Crimson sailing team to its second consecutive triumph the New England Sloop Championships at New London last weekend, Sailing a 24 foot Raven in winds of to 30 knots, Ford and his crew of Clody Smith of B.U. had beaten the Crimson in the first elimination round The course was a windward-leeward twice-around variety, and two spinnaker sets were necessary in each race. At no time did the Crimson reach the upwind mark in better than third place, but Ford took the downwind stretches at speeds up to 13 knots, assuring a high finish in each race. Nearly Disastrous Accident The strong winds and rough waters on the Thames Saturday caused some nearly disastrous mishaps. In the third race, Ford was sailing on the downwind leg of the course when a sudden shift in the wind direction caused the sail to jibe accidentally. The main boom swung across, carrying both Horn (acting as downwind boomvang) and Drake with it. Pring just managed to place himself in their path and block them from plummeting over the boat's rail. A 25 knot puff of wind hit the boat as Ford was attempting to jibe around the first leeward marker in the fourth race, and the sail ended up wrapped around the spreaders. As Ford lost precious moments clearing the Crimson sails, the Coast Guard and BU rounded the mark and started upwind with about a 50 yard lead. Harvard closed the gap on the second windward leg, however, and championship spinnaker work around the market gave the Crimson an invincible lead and eventually victory in the race. Other top sailing colleges represented in the Sloop Championships were MIT, Tufts, Williams, and Holy Cross. The seven teams entered represented the top qualifiers among 21 colleges in three elimination rounds.
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