It’s hard to believe our season over the hump – but with many new sailors and tennis players joining us each week in August, we continue to enjoy the best of what Boothbay has to offer. This week will see 100+ sailors at BHYC for the Maine State 420 and Opti Championships – good luck to all competitors! There should be great viewing from the inner harbor, especially for the novice green fleet.

But before we jump into the highlights of a great Week 5, a belated congrats to Hollis Harding who won her age group (White Fleet Optis) at last week’s Junior Olympics.

Monday afternoon, a group of our Opti and 420 racers joined in the Corinthian vs BHYC Tech races one of many events in the Corinthians’ visit. I’d like to say the winds did not disappoint, but well, they did. In a light rain and 0-2 knots, we started our races. While the goal was a few short races in the harbor, we ended up with an 'all methods of propulsion allowed' race that saw many juniors swimming their boats. While the Corinthians won the event, a good time was had by all. One participant, who was a few years past 14, remarked that she felt 14 again out on the water with her friends.

This visit raised $500 to be donated to the Junior Program Foundation, which provides support to all our programs through scholarship, financial aid and capital purchases. A group of our sailors were on hand to say a few words of appreciation at the reception to follow; they did a wonderful job expressing their gratitude and speaking in front of a room full of adults, many of whom they did not know. It truly was awesome to see. Our programs help to not just grow sailors and tennis players, but people as well.

Out on the water, we saw two of our Mini Mariners join Tess in the Beginner Opti Class. Isaac Fay and Xavier Tineo both made the step up well and will continue the summer learning to sail. Tess also lead a small group of teenage beginners in the afternoon using our Tech's. Although the Techs are getting used in a variety of ways, one of the driving reasons to add them to our fleet was the ability to teach beginners who were simply too big for the Opti, and it is exciting to see this niche being filled. Between us and our Adult Instructor Director Geoff, we are able to effectively teach everyone to sail, be they 8 or 80.

On Thursday, Payton brought a group of Opti and 420 racers over to SYC for some scrimmages races and all were smiles when returning to the club. Thanks to SYC for lending us boats making the logistics much easier.

Friday wrapped up with some racing in both the morning and the afternoon. In the morning, long time instructor Caleb Gray devised a fun sailing relay race, which was a hit with our sailors. I could honestly hear the laughter from the sailing center lawn. In the afternoon, all our sailors were paired up for some 420 racing. Tessa and Delly, despite classifying themselves as non-racers, won the day, 1 point ahead of Cyrus and Feleke in second. Ethan Gruntfest with new sailor Harper Shepard rounded out the top three. Both sessions ended with a well-earned swim break.

Tennis players kept busy with two interclub matches with Juniper Point and Squirrel Island on the same day. The kids played a lot of close matches and finished the day with ice cream on Squirrel Island. This week, tennis players head over to CCIA and we look forward to another fun afternoon on the tennis courts.