The Boothbay Region Sailing Club was busy again this week, both enjoying the warm clear days and working hard through rainy practices, showing determination that will help them to succeed on and off the water. Learning from the mistakes made during last weekend’s regattas, we focused our practices this week mostly on acceleration and starting. Over the weekend, the Lincoln Academy team was busy, sending teams to Martha's Vineyard for the Arnold Brown Regatta as well as sailors for to SailMaine in Portland for the Southern Maine Open.

In Martha's Vineyard, Hamilton Barclay with crew Alton Coolidge and Ella Beauregard and crew Andrew Gutierrez sailed against 10 other teams to try to qualify for the Atlantic Coast Championship. Teams from Maine, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire and Rhode Island provided stiff competition throughout the breezy afternoon of racing. With the wind building throughout the afternoon, the sailors spent most of the day racing in 12-15 knots, with some races in 18 or more. Both teams struggled to get in sync with each other and the wind for the first few races, but improved quickly and had many top three finishes, with Hamilton and Alton finishing first in three of their races. Both teams showed impressive boat speed and overall the team finished in 3rd place. Although only the first-place team qualifies for the upcoming 420 Atlantic Coast Championship, the LA team continues to show themselves to be very competitive, and we are excited to have them and help them grow in members and skill.

The Lincoln Academy Sailing team and Boothbay Region Sailing Club had a tremendously successful showing at the Southern Maine Open hosted by SailMaine in Portland this past Saturday. A and B division finished fourth overall out of 14 teams from Maine and New Hampshire. Students Arden Carleton and Bobby Clarkson competed in ‘A’ Division, while Nate Rideout and Liam Zuber sailed to an outstanding victory in ‘B’ division, with Maren Whitney supporting the team and ready to fill in at moment's notice with the approval of the host team. Congratulations to Nate and Liam for keeping it consistent and winning their division by one point, a terrific result given this was Liam’s first sailing regatta. Conditions were challenging for all, with gusty southerly winds ranging from 15-20 knots along with weekend Portland Harbor boat traffic squeezing in one more weekend of summer-like weather and stronger wind conditions not seen often enough in practices. Thanks to SailMaine of Portland for hosting another great event.

This coming weekend, the Boothbay Region Sailing Club will host the third and final Penobscot Bay League regatta of the fall season at our home, the Boothbay Harbor Yacht Club. The Pen Bay League is our local answer to getting more kids sailing, allowing mixed school teams and middle schoolers to compete. Anyone interested in seeing what high school sailing is all about is welcome to come and check it out.