Ella Beauregard and Hamilton Barclay, sailors from Boothbay Harbor Yacht Club, qualified and competed at the US Sailing/Chubb Junior National Double-handed Championships recently on Lake Erie in Michigan.  The five day event included welcome session and dinner, clinics with top US Sailing, collegiate coaches, and Olympian coaches including home town gold medalist Anna Tunicliffe-Tobias.  Outside coaching was not permitted with all sailors staying with host families and restricted in their use of electronic devices.

Tuesday's clinics included practice races which the Boothbay pair won practice race 1 gaining the attention of head coach Richard Feeney.  Beauregard and Barclay earned national attention from the US Sailing coaches and were mentioned prominently during live facebook feeds as a favorite team.  Thunderstorms threatened Tuesday evening activities planned at the host North Cape Yacht Club but failed to materialize while damaging hail pelted areas just 15 miles north. 

Racing began Wednesday under sunny skies and shifty light winds that never exceeded 7 knots.  The Boothbay sailors found themselves in 3rd place at the end of racing with a 6th, 2nd, and 7th place in races 1-3.  By the end of the day they had jumped to 2nd place by light of the 2nd place boat not sailing the course properly and retiring after finish.   The top four boats were separated by only 3 points.  Day 2,, under cloudy skies that eventually cleared, racing got underway in 8-10 knots of wind that dropped to 2 and caused a postponement after the fourth race.  The wind began to build and shifted southeast and racing got underway after noon in 10-12 knots building to 14 knots by the end of the eighth race.  The Boothbay pair had a difficult first race finishing 14th after a mediocre start and foul.  They finished the day with an 8, 5, 4, and 3rd place finishes.  They ended Thursday's racing in 3rd place in the series with just two races to go on Friday.

Thursday evening a strong front and squalls blew through the area causing all hands to help secure the boats on shore while 30+ knots of wind blew across North Cape Yacht Club where the event was held.  The front stalled to the south of Lake Erie and the sailors were greeted by a northeasterly breeze in the 14-15 knot range with sizeable steep waves caused by the shallow water and long fetch to the north shore.  Beauregard and Barclay were 8 points out of second place and 6 points ahead of the fourth place boat.  In Race 9 they started well going to the left and as boats peeled off it became clear they were in the lead group of boats rounding the weather mark in 3rd place.  On the 5 subsequent legs they lost several places finishing 7th.  The fourth place boat in the event finished Race 9 in 3rd place and cut the Boothbay pair's lead to 2 points going into the final race.  However, both boats picked up points on the second place boat which Boothbay now trailed by 5 points. 

Race 10 was decisive.  With a good start the Boothbay pair rounded the weather mark in second place not far behind series leaders Trevor Davis and Rider Odom from Severn Sailing Association.  The lead boats extended, finishing well ahead of all other boats, finishing 1-2 in the series as well as in race 10.  

The Boothbay sailors have two weeks off till they start high school sailing for the Boothbay Region High School Sailing (BRHS) team on Aug. 30. Boothbay Harbor Yacht Club is supported by members and the BHYC Junior Program Foundation.