Harvard's sailing team rebounded from early season losses to pull off a major victory over MIT and capture the Dartmouth Bowl for the third straight year last Saturday at Tufts.

The victory in the Dartmouth Bowl regatta qualifies the sailors for the New England championships May 6 and 7. The event on Saturday was one of three eliminations spread throughout New England.

The previous weekend MIT won two regattas where Harvard had finished fourth, and so Saturday's win was particularly sweet. With the graduation of two All-Americans last Spring. Harvard had been written out of the New England sailing picture, but the Dartmouth Bowl has changed the situation.

Heavily favored MIT was second to the Crimson in the Dartmouth Bowl and was followed by Boston College, Bowdoin and Dartmouth.

Co-captain George Putman with John Dodge as crew sailed in Division A for Harvard, and took three firsts in the five races to upset the Engineers' ace skipper Allen Spoon. In Division B co-captain David Brownlee with Doug Libby alternated with Chris Middendorf and Edgar Pulitzer, and the two combinations pulled out a second place behind MIT's entry.

A day later, on Sunday, the Crimson solidified further its position in New England as four sailors qualified for the New England intercollegiate single-handed championships on May 13 and 14 in eliminations held up and down New England.

The Crimson had their best luck in the four heats at Coast Guard where they had three qualifiers. MIT's Spoon took revenge for his earlier loss in squeezing by Putnam in one heat, but the Crimson co-captain also qualified in finishing second. John Bowers placed second in his heat and Clem Wood tied for second in his.

In a heat at Tufts Brownlee sailed to a second to bring the list of Harvard qualifiers to four. Last Spring Harvard All-American Robbie Doyle won the New Englands.

This weekend the Crimson will be spreading themselves thin as they compete in three major events. Their emphasis will be on the Kennedy Cup at the Naval Academy where George Putnam will skipper the Crimson's eight-man yawl team. But the Ivy League championships and the Fries Trophy regatta, a major New England event, are also this weekend.