While spring break for most Harvard students means a respite from all the rigors of campus life here in Cambridge, for the Crimson’s co-ed and women’s sailing teams, the week-long break only brings additional hours out on the water.

Traveling down to Maryland for Harvard’s annual spring break trip, the co-ed squad competed in its second regatta of the season last weekend, improving on its third place effort from the week before to claim the top spot at the John Jackson Team Race held at Georgetown.

While the ladies were not quite able to match the finish of the co-ed team, the women’s squad still opened up its spring campaign in solid fashion, taking fifth at the 27th Women’s Intersectional at Navy.

“We had a rough first round robin on Saturday,” said junior skipper John Stokes of the co-ed team, “but we were able to pull it together nicely on Sunday and finish strong.”

JOHN JACKSON TEAM RACE

The Crimson co-ed squad traveled to the nation’s capital to begin its spring break and posted its first team victory of 2010.  The host Georgetown Hoyas provided the stiffest competition for Harvard, as the two schools emerged to face each other in the final round of competition.  While both teams sported identical overall records of 13-4 on the weekend, the Crimson claimed the victory thanks to the results of individual races among the eight schools that competed.

“Georgetown, and also Brown, are both good teams,” Stokes said, “so we were fortunate to have success against them and earn the victory.”

Competing at skipper for Harvard throughout the two-day affair were juniors Alan Palmer, Teddy Himler, and Stokes, along with sophomore Brendan Kopp.  Senior Michelle Konstadt, junior Megan Wareham, and freshman Alma Lafler took care of the Crimson’s crewing duties in the Washington Sailing Marin Lagoon, which posed an unexpected additional challenge for some teams.

“The conditions were light throughout the two days,” Stokes said, “but the water we were sailing in had a lot of debris, which was an obstacle for some teams but didn’t seem to bother our boats.  We were able to sail well, and this is definitely a confidence-builder for our week of practice.

27TH WOMEN’S INTERSECTIONAL

While the co-ed squad had one regatta under its belt coming into this weekend, the Harvard women’s team competed in its first event of the spring season, earning a fifth-place finish at the 27th Women’s Intersectional held at Navy.  The Crimson was able to capture five total race wins on the weekend, along with 14 top-four finishes.

“This was a good finish for us, considering we haven’t had much practice at this point,” sophomore skipper Emily Lambert said.  “We were able to get back in the boats and work on getting our boat handling back.”

Competing in the A division for Harvard, Lambert teamed up with fellow second-year Alexandra Jumper, who took care of the crewing duties.  The pair tied for sixth in the division, winning two of its 17 races over the two days of competition.

“The first day had horrible conditions, with pouring rain,” Lambert said, “but it was better the second day with light wind and sunny weather.”

The B-division duo of senior skipper Liz Powers and sophomore crew Marie Appel outdid their A-division counterparts, as the pair took home a fourth place division finish, claiming three victories amongst the 17-school field.

“A few of the teams from our New England section weren’t there,” Lambert said, “but we were able to race some teams from the Mid-Atlantic and further south, so that was a good learning experience heading into our week of practice.”

—Staff writer Thomas D. Hutchison can be reached at tdhutch@fas.harvard.edu.