After winning third place in their class at the 2025 Marblehead to Halifax Ocean Race, members of the U.S. Naval Academy’s Offshore Sailing Team came to Boothbay Harborfor some rest. They arrived over the weekend and left Wednesday, July 16 off to Newport, Rhode Island, for their next series of races. 

“Every day after school, we go and we practice on the boat, and we train up. We practice and build on all this work, and this summer is really where the reward comes,” saidteam captain Eddie Konjoyan. "(This race) was probably the best sailing I've ever done in my life. And it spoiled a lot of us, but it was really amazing.” 

The seven-person crew sailed the Wahoo, a Ker 50, in a 360-nautical-mile race from Massachusetts to Canada in 36hours. Sailors said conditions were near perfect, with winds up to around 30 knots straight behind them. But the crew also sails from race to race along the East Coast on their summer itinerary, managing themselves in sometimes less than ideal conditions.  

On the way to Marblehead, around Long Island, Konjoyan said the ship was hit by a squall with winds of around 45 knots, but the crew handled themselves well.  

"You're kind of out on your own and there's nobody else to really answer to, and you kind of have to figure it out,” he said. "I think because of that, it's probably some of the most valuable experience I've had at the academy, just being out in the water with just you and your crew and making decisions and going fast and having fun together.” 

However, he said the academy trains them to adapt to any situation, even though many only started sailing in college.  

“I came in barely knowing how to step foot on a boat, and now we're doing offshore ocean races," saidjunior Lois Herring. “So, you learn a lot really fast. But everybody gets really good at what they do.” 

Once they arrived in Boothbay Harbor, they were able to take a little rest. Hosted by Boothbay Harbor Yacht Club and several generous families, the sailors spent their time getting to know some locals. Club Liason Dan Zajdel said some families signed up two years in advance to host crew members when they return.

“It’s a really cool sailing town, just getting to be here, and we don'thave any racing or anything like that scheduled,” added junior Lauren Aabey. "We really just get to be present and meet all these new people and show them what we do.” 

One way they shared their experience was teaching kids from the yacht club’s youth sailing program. Theyinvited them aboard the Wahoo, sailed with them, and even had a friendly race in the harbor on a perfect summer afternoon.

“It was nice to meet kids who grew up sailing, specifically because a lot of us didn't.So it was cool to see how excited they were about seeing Wahoo and kind of looking at what they could do in the future,” said Herring.  

Senior Chad Schaffner saidmany of the kids were very interested and asked a lot of good questions during the lessons. He added it was a good opportunity to show younger sailors how a larger boat works, andmaybe inspire them to join the Navy team someday.  

“Communication is pretty key.And we've been trying to teach them that.And then just the ability to work together in a small team, which is pretty important,” he said. "It's one of the only places where you can take a whole team of people who, 90% of which have never sailed on a boat before in their life, and take them within a year to sail these big giant races. I think that's a really cool opportunity that we get given that's not really present a lot anywhere else.”