Yet another summer has come to a close at Southport Yacht Club, where long term memories were made, sailing was taught and bonds were built that could last a lifetime.

This final week was very warm with very light wind, which was very lucky for those taking their swim tests, Vincent Duncan, Lucia Kielpinska and Dominic Duncan all passed their swim test with ease as they cooled off from the August heat and humidity.

The morning class consisted of some final sails in the light wind to nowhere specific, but refining skills and enjoying the final days of the camp we have all come to love even more throughout the summer. In the afternoon, the 420 program did their final race days, a combined day with the Opti program where they sailed all the way to Reid State Park.

On Wednesday and Thursday, the afternoon class focused on decommissioning the boats, which included washing and rolling sails, destepping and lifting boats and packing up boats; all hands were on deck as the jobs were done with great efficiency while everyone enjoyed their time together.

On Friday, to celebrate a great year, both classes went to Powderhorn to spend the final day having fun and hanging out on the beach. On Friday, the JYC held the annual end of year banquet, which was a success with a great turnout where race results were shared Optis was won by Paige Smith and 420s was won by Nathan Phippen and Graydon Smith. Congratulations to those sailors!

This summer was very successful where many memories were made. I’d like to start by thanking all of the instructors who were Finn Urich, Morgan Donahue, Liam Donahue, Gigi Moen, Graydon Smith, Ily Harrington, Joe Duffy, Oliver Tineo, Nathan Phippen and Rachel Phippen.

A ton of thanks also goes to the assistant director and head director; Maggie Doyle and David Turley. Thank you so much! Also thank you very much to everyone who baked for a bingo, donated ice cream toppings, the companies who were generous enough to donate to our prize bingo, and anyone who participated in those events, none of this would be possible without you guys!

The final thanks I would like to give is to the Boothbay Register for letting us share our amazing experiences down at Southport Yacht Club that we cherish so much. This summer was an amazing summer and here is wishing to many more that we can cherish forever. Thank you all we’ll see you next summer.