Harvard's varsity sailing crew made a strong showing, capturing a second and third in two separate regattas held in New London, Conn., last weekend.

On Saturday, the Crimson qualified for the New England Sloop Championships to be held October 13, by placing second in a field of seven, two points behind a tough Brown squad.

The sailors returned to New London Sunday, finding more pleasant skies but less predictable winds, and finished third to the Coast Guard Academy and the Bulldogs of Yale.

Harvard's performance in Saturday's competition was not marred by the cold rain or the high winds. Skipper Clem Wood led the Crimson to three first place finishes--more than any other crew was able to capture.

But the team was hurt by a costly mental error when Wood left his spinnaker pole on shore during one of the heats, resulting in a seventh place finish.

Wood's boat--which was manned by Rick White, Chris Hornig and Sandy McIntyre--scored three firsts, a third, a fourth, a fifth and a seventh, for 22 points, two behind the Bruins. Boston University also scored 22 points, but Harvard took second on a tie-breaker.

Rounding out the field were Tufts with 23 points, Yale 23, Northeastern 26 and Maine Maritime with a whopping 35 biggies. The first three teams qualified for the New England Sloop Championship.

On Sunday it was back on the Thames (they don't say Tems in New London) for the Hap Moore Trophy event and shifty (this is not a moral judgement) breezes.

Each school raced in three sets of events--dinghies (two-man crews), ravens (four-man crews) and K-boat (three-man crew)--with Harvard finishing second in points, but dropping to third behind Yale because of two disqualifications.

Terry Neff and Chris Middendorf each skippered their dinghies to second place finishes.

In the raven class Wood again posted a second, sailing with Ogden Ross, Rick White and Harold Clark. Hornig made it seconds all around in the K-boat, with the help of Bruce Howie and Tad Kramarczyk.