Harvard sailors think that they have the best team in New England and over the past month have proved that this is no idle boast. They have won the New England Women's Team Racing Championships, the Greater Boston Dinghy Championships, the Hoyt Trophy, the prestigious MacMillan Cup and still have several important races to sail before the season is over.

The Radcliffe team lost its first two races of the Women's Team Racing Championships on October 13th to Tufts and URI. They fought back, however, winning their last four races to gain a tie for first place with Brown and URI. Kate Jennings, Meredith Stelling, and Rachel Lampert skippered the boats to victory while Lisa Glen, Liz Miller and Beth Latouf crewed.

"It was great to see them bounce back like they did," sailing coach Mike Horn said yesterday. "In the last race we were sailing against Brown. If we had lost, they would have been first and we would have been fourth." Radcliffe finished the Championships with six wins and two losses, Brown with five wins and three losses and third-place URI won four and lost four. The team sailed without Lauren Norten, one of the team's top skippers, who was pressed into service in the MacMillan Cup on the same weekend.

The MacMillan Cup is one of the big-boat races on the college racing circuit. The eight intrepid sailors, led by team captain Steve Strittmaller, sailed two masted 44-ft. yawls. The team had never practiced together on the big boats prior to the official pre-race test run but managed to hang on to second place after the first day of sailing. "We were behind Delaware by eight points and there were two more races to go, which is a huge gap," Horn said. Nevertheless, the team closed the gap in the last two races, sailing well enough to edge out the University of Delaware for first place.

The victory qualifies Harvard for next spring's J.F. Kennedy Trophy in which representatives from each of the eight college districts from across the country will compete against each othe

Harvard sailors also placed first in the Hoyt Trophy, which was contested at Brown on the 14th. King's Point, last year's North American champion, was favored to top the field of ten. The favorites were leading by one point going into the last race, but could not hold onto the lead as Harvard sailed into the sunset with a two point victory and the Hoyt Trophy.

The victory qualified the Crimson for the Schell Trophy, which is a step towards the Atlantic Coast Championships.

In other qualifying competitions, Harvard won its round of the New England Team Racing Championship elimination October 13. The Championships take place at M.I.T. this Saturday and Harvard is favored to win this meet as well, although Yale and Tufts will offer stiff competition. The top two finishers in the meet will gain a berth in the North American Championships.

The Crimson sailors also took the Greater Boston Dinghy Championships last weekend in a very close competition. Boston University, M.I.T. and Tufts all tied for second place with 72 points, two points behind Harvard. Briane Keane had two first place finishes, while Will Geffries had "the best racing day of his life," said Horn, taking four first places. Tony Friedrich also won a crucial race in his first major trophy meet.

The future of the sailing team is very promising, Horn said. "There have been a lot of different people involved in bringing home these victories," he said. "In the past, eight or ten good sailors would contribute. Now there are about 20 people who support the core of seniors."