In one of the most hair-raising regattas ever held in the Charles River Basin, the Harvard sailing team qualified for the finals of the North American Dinghy Championship last Saturday and Sunday.

Sailing in gale-force winds, the Crimson barely edged out arch-rival Coast Guard Academy for second place in the New England Championships and earned an invitation to the North Americans, which will be held at the University of British Columbia the weak of June 16.

Co-skippers Dave Stookey and Dave Gantz won in the "B" division, while junior Tim Prince finished third in the "A" class.

Conditions were so bad that Harvard's interclubs were rigged with Tech Dinghy stormsails borrowed from M.I.T. Nevertheless, four aluminum booms were broken, six sails were blown out, and ten boats capsized.

M.I.T. led by Terry Cronburg, who finished second in "B", won the meet with a total of 114 points. Except for Prince's one disqualification and Stookey's capsizing, the Crimson might have challenged Tech for first place.

The Crimson has finished second in the North Americans for the past two years. Last year they lost to Princeton, and the previous year to Coast Guard.