The Harvard sailing team had the wind knocked out of its sails over spring vacation as it recorded mediocre finishes in the Boston Dinghy Club Cup at MIT and the New York Yacht Racing Intersectional Meet at King's Point Merchant Marine Academy.

The yachtsmen had a spectacular fall season capped with a victory at the Atlantic Coast Championships and a number-one national ranking in Yachting magazine.

The team's performance has taken a different tack in the abbreviated Cambridge spring. "We've been racing other schools for four weeks, but our first practice was today," coach Mike Horn said yesterday.

MIT was a surprise victor at the Boston Cup, as it sailed past nationally-ranked University of Rhode Island, Tufts, and Webb Institute. Harvard finished a dismal fifth.

Co-captain Tom Repps was the only bright spot in the Crimson effort, with his boat taking low-point honors at the Regatta.

Mastery or Drift?

Last weekend at the New York Intersectionals, the yachtsmen drifted even farther away from their championship calibre, placing 13th out of 14 teams.

Repps captained the Crimson's B boat, but he could not equal his earlier performance. "It was really frustrating. I got a great start and was last at the weather mark," Repps said yesterday.

Harvard's only victory this season came last Saturday when heavy winds forced cancellation of the scheduled races. The yachtsmen initiated the First Annual Headbasin International Intercollegiate Quarter-Ton Interclub Championships. Hammet, Leggett, Repps, Mike Jacker and co-captain Dave Poor weighed in at over a quarter of a ton and won the event for the Crimson.