“Kyle and I are laser sailors, so our boat handling skills are pretty good,” Johnson said. “We had great starts, but for Kyle, a freshman, to come in here and start like he did was incredible.”

Kovacs would add two seconds and third to close out the five race slate, and Johnson went on to record two wins and a third place finish to take the overall title.

“We tried really hard to remain consistent, and we knew we had to avoid having a bad race,” Johnson said. “Even if we had a bad race, we still tried to catch as many boats as possible.”

If they follow up the women’s strong performance at the New England Championships with a couple top five finishes, they too will be headed to Lake Minnetonka for nationals in late October.

The doublehanded squads were also in action last weekend, as the Harvard squad competed in the Hood Trophy race at Tufts. The Crimson finished 14th overall, partially because the singlehanded competitors had to take it easy, due to their upcoming qualifying races.

—Staff writer Michael R. James can be reached at mrjames@fas.harvard.edu