Southport Yacht Club junior sailors took 1st and 2nd at the Harraseeket Youth Regatta July 11-12. With four more pairs in the top ten, Southport Yacht Club demonstrated it has the top teenage sailors in Maine. Three Southport sailors also competed in the Opti division with a top finish of 10th. The Harraseeket Youth Regatta is a favorite among Maine’s youth sailors because of the exposed wood frame club house, location, warm hospitality, and lunch on the barge in the race area. A few sailors vacationing from Vermont, Florida, and Annapolis also competed. Full results can be found at www.regattaman.com.

This year’s regatta precedes the Area A Qualifier at Wianno Yacht Club, and the North East Junior Olympics in Camden July 17-18. One hundred and twenty three sailors competed on three races courses. Thursday’s winds were southeast in the 8-14 knot range with a chilling mist. In the wake of Friday’s early storm, high pressure led to a gentle 2-5 knot easterly and warm sunshine by lunch. The switch from ebb to flood occurred near lunchtime each day.

For the first four races, the weather mark was in close under the lee of an island. This provided frustrating no-wind zones for 100 yards that the sailors had to navigate. A modest shift to the east was enough for race committee to move the marks left into better wind. The start line was skewed throughout the day leading to 30-35 boats converging at the ends of the line.

Hamilton Barclay and Ella Beauregard of Southport Yacht Club were in the top 4 at each weather mark rounding. Barclay and Beauregard used superior downwind boat handling to gain leads by each of the leeward gates. A dramatic moment came in Race 6 as Barclay rounded the weather mark in a freshening breeze, Beauregard set the spinnaker and got out on the trapeze within 10-15 seconds of the weather mark as they opened a substantial lead on the boat which had rounded just astern. They won Race 6 by 2 minutes.

At the end of day, Beauregard and Barclay had six 1st place finishes with leads of 35 seconds to over 3 minutes in windward-leeward races that averaged 26-30 minutes in length. Leading by 12 points over Charlie Apolinsky and Abigail Thress (4, 3, [7], 4, 4, 2) of Southport Yacht Club who held a 6 point lead over Sandy Yale and Elsa Dean-Muncie of Portland Yacht Club. Yale had two premature starts; leading to a disqualification (OCS) and a 12th place (2, [38], 12, 2, 2, 5).

Beauregard and Barclay won Races 7-9 on Friday. A cheer rose among sailors and spectators when Sandy Yale and Elsa Dean-Muncie of Portland Yacht Club won Race 10. Yale won Race 11 as well but it was not enough to overcome Apolinsky’s consistent top 5 finishes. After 11 races: Beauregard and Barclay had 11 points; Apolinsky and Thress had 40 points; and Yale and Dean-Muncie had 42 points. Apolinsky and Yale go into the Junior Olympics at Camden as favorites among the 49 boat fleet. While Beauregard and Barclay are off to Wianno Yacht Club and Nantucket Sound for the Area A Qualifier. Barclay and Beauregard were the top qualifier at this event last year in Boothbay and went on to finish 2nd in the Chubb Double-handed Junior National Championships in Michigan.