The driving force behind the Harvard coed sailors’ first-place finish at the United States Merchant Marine Academy (USMMA) this weekend wasn’t a strong wind. In fact, nonexistent breezes after noon yesterday forced the cancellation of ten races.

Sure, smart maneuvering and good starts helped, but senior Cardwell Potts said listening to ESPN’s Jock Jams early in the morning motivated the team to a second-straight first-place finish.

“It worked this week,” Potts said. “So we’re going to keep doing it.”

On the water, the team made a little music of its own, topping a regatta of 19 teams hosted at Kings Point, N.Y.

The conditions were light throughout the weekend, with the sporadic breeze also posing a problem on Saturday, when it didn’t appear until one in the afternoon.

In the A division, Potts won six of 10 races while sailing a Vanguard 15, a boat only the USMMA uses among schools with sailing programs. According to Potts, the Harvard boathouse has only one such boat, but he didn’t see that as a significant problem.

“It’s not much of an adjustment,” Potts said.

In the B division, Vince Porter won one of 10 races in a Flying Junior.

“Vince didn’t start out very well,” Potts said. “But overall he sailed well. He had good speed and he was smart.”

In the C division, freshman Clay Johnson won two of 10 races sailing a Laser.

Potts said the sailing was better this week than it was in last week’s win at the Captain Hurst Bowl at Dartmouth.

The Crimson finished with 124 points, with Navy in second with a tally of 175.

In other coed action, senior Clemmie Everett and sophomore Genny Tulloch skippered the Crimson to a sixth-place finish at MIT.

“Yesterday, we had a hard time getting off the starting line, having good pieces and parts of races,” Everett said. “But we never really had a solid race from start to finish.”

The adjustment to MIT’s Technical Dinghy boats proved a bit difficult.