The Boothbay Harbor Yacht Club hosted the 2023 Battle of the Bay youth regatta July 10-11. The fog and rain held off for two days, much to the relief of the sailors and the organizers.

Nearly 120 sailors gathered for the Battle, representing 12 sailing programs from around the state. On the water, there were 42 double-handed 420 sailboats, 29 single-handed Optis divided between a green and champion fleet, two RS Fevas, a Laser, and a Megabyte, likely making this the biggest junior sailing event held in Maine since Covid.

On Monday SailMaine (Portland), Southport Yacht Club (SYC), and the Camden Area Youth Seamanship Program (CAYSP) joined Boothbay Harbor Yacht Club sailors to kick off the Battle of the Bay with a fierce and friendly “deadfish” tournament. Created by the University of New Hampshire sailing program, this is essentially Ultimate Frisbee modified for sailboats. Do not fear; instead of a dead fish, we use a rubber chicken. We played 3 vs 3 and set up the best tournament bracket we could figure for 5 teams, and at the end BHYC came out on top. 

Tuesday's weather started off questionable, but cleared nicely and Wednesday weather was far nicer than anticipated, which allowed for 6 course races, plus the famous Island race – unique to the Battle of the Bay – to be completed.

At the end, the 420 fleet was won by sailors from Kollegewidgwok Yacht Club (KYC) in Blue Hill, the Opti champ fleet was won by Southport Yacht Club, and the around the island race was won by Boothbay Harbor Yacht Club (420s) and Southport Yacht Club (Optis). We are especially excited that five different sailing groups represented the top three finishers in the two champ fleets.

A special shout out to all the Green fleet racers, especially Pauline and Maggie, who were recognized for their determination and improvement over two days of sailing. The “Green fleet” is reserved for those that are very new to sailing in a regatta. It can be a daunting step to be one of 12-20 boats on a starting line, navigating a start sequence, right of way rules, and figuring out the course; congratulations is due to all these sailors!

One of many unique pieces of the Battle of the Bay is the broken oar trophy, which is an added competition between Christmas Cove Improvement Association (CCIA), Southport Yacht Club (SYC) and Boothbay Harbor Yacht Club (BHYC) – the three clubs around Booth Bay. This trophy is decided by looking at the top 5 finishers across both champ fleets and adding their finishes up, lowest total wins. Southport defended their trophy from last year and will keep the oar for another year. 

Interested in seeing these kids out on the water again soon? Southport Yacht Club will be hosting the Maine State Opti Championship on Aug. 2-3 and Boothbay Harbor Yacht Club will be hosting the Maine State 420 Championship and Northeast RS Tera Championship on Aug. 8 and 9.