A legacy has begun.

After capturing its first-ever North American title and winning its second consecutive Fowle Trophy—college sailing’s top honor—Harvard is poised to defend its No. 1 national ranking.

However, the loss of ICSA College Sailor of the Year Sean Doyle ’02, Susan Bonney ’02 and two-time women’s national champion Margaret Gill ’02 doesn’t help the Crimson’s cause.

The gaps left by All-Americans Bonney and Doyle call for the creation of new crews, a task aided by the return of two All-American skippers—captain Clay Bischoff and junior Cardwell Potts—and captain Michelle Yu, an All-American crew.

“Last year we had our top four skippers returning with their crews,” assistant coach Bernhar Noack ’96 said. “This year, two of our skippers are returning, but only one returning pair. We need to develop new combinations.”

While few boats actually compete, the quality of those boats depends on the class of the competition in practice, so depth is a key factor in team performance. Freshmen provide a new pool to draw from, including experienced rookies such as Vincent Porter.

“We’re going to need our freshmen to step in right away and contribute,” Bischoff said. “We recruit a lot of sailors that don’t have much experience so it’s important to get them going as soon as possible.”

Immediate crew development is important as Harvard looks to qualify sailors for three national regattas this fall—the Sloop National Championships and the Men’s and Women’s Singlehanded Nationals.

As Harvard sailors do not practice often with sloops, the regatta poses a different kind of challenge, one that Doyle conquered with two consecutive Sloops titles.

“Sloops is a fairly big unknown,” Noack said. “Dan Litchfield will probably be steering the boat, but he’s basically unproven as a helmsman in that competition.”

More emphasis in practice is placed on the singlehanded championships, that have previously crowned Gill and honored Doyle and Bischoff.

Bischoff finished fifth in the singlehanded event last year, and looks to improve on that finish after honing an important sailing fundamental.

“I know what my weakness is and I’ve been working on that this summer and this fall—it’s sailing downwind.,” Bischoff said. “The guys who have beaten me the past couple years have passed me downwind whereas sailing upwind is probably one of my strengths.”

Porter may also qualify for the regatta, given his extensive singlehanded experience.

The women’s team should benefit from the strength of the freshmen skippers, as well as the return of juniors Clemmie Everett and Jennie Philbrick.

Philbrick will join longtime partner Diana Rodin while Everett will team up with sophomore Laura Schubert for the first time.

So though Harvard lost Gill, its singlehanded champ, Yu is still confident in her team’s prospects for fielding a qualifier for nationals.

“I think we have a pretty high chance,” Yu said. “Both Clemmie and Jennie sail singlehanded and some of the freshmen too.”

—Staff writer Jessica T. Lee can be reached at lee45@fas.harvard.edu.