BHYC Juniors were active this week with more than15 golfers hitting the links, 30 players on the courts, and 40 sailors on the water.

Pro Alex Arsenault joined the tennis program this week with instructor Barbara Duncan soon to be of Colby College, and Director Chantalle Lavertu. The tennis players had their first meet at nearby Juniper Point where the two teams went at it with BHYC taking a slight advantage. Sam Clarkson has been the “go-to” apprentice with the Junior Beginner crowd under age 12.

Six Mini-Mariners, ages 5 1/2 to 8, learned to row, steer, tie knots, and get in and out of boats safely (when it was hot a little splashing around made for extra fun). They toured the harbor by boat and sailed in a Boothbay Harbor One Design with instructors Tori Jackson and Claudia Stedt.

The Intermediate sailors used new reduced area mainsails on the 420s when the wind piped up into the high teens on two days. Spinnakers flew in the afternoon with all racing sailors, including Junior instructor Gabby Boord and Apprentice instructors Tess McComiskey, Claudia Stedt and Ella Beauregard, along with Hamilton Barclay, Holden Langenhagen and Tyra Pranger, joined by Southport boys Charlie Chappelle and Rodi Mayne among others. Winds were strong enough to trapeze on Wednesday and Thursday. Friday's session ended with the racing coach Sarah Jacklin of Roger Williams University varsity sailing team and Director Chris Liberti, pulling three Racing C420s for this week's Junior Olympic event held in Portland July 10-12. They will be joined by five racing Opti sailors coached by BHYC Program Instructor Aidan Clark.

BHYC is sending some of the top teams in Maine to the JO's with Beauregard and Barclay coming off a very strong spring high school season and Boord and McComiskey sailing well together. Joining these veteran teams will be Claudia Stedt and Holden Langenhagen, although new to the race team this season the duo has worked hard and looking forward to testing their speed. Boord was seen practicing Saturday afternoon before the thunderstorms while Barclay, Beauregard and Chappelle were seen preparing for upcoming club races and J-22 match race at Sail Maine.

On Sunday, July 9, nine boats raced in the BHYC Junior Program Foundation Cup to the Cuckolds and Linekin Bay before finishing in the harbor. In 12-18 knots of wind the winning boats, Commodore Scribner's Panache and Ken Colburn's J-80 Ghost carried juniors aboard. The Foundation Cup donates fees to the BHYC Jr. Program Foundation to fund community juniors attending BHYC golf, tennis, and sailing programs. The Foundation supports the high school sailing team and capital equipment purchases such as a new 70 HP Yamaha engine as well as trailers, floats and boats. Past Foundation President Tony O'Neill sailed Cynara II in the event and noted the long history of the program and benefits to year round juniors in the community.

The big news is the purchase of a fleet of nine (9) Tech dinghies from the University of Rhode Island this month. Modified slightly from the original MIT design, these boats are excellent teaching platforms for a wide range of sizes and abilities. More than a dozen members and employees donated towards this project to bolster juniors and adult dinghy sailing/racing. After our large trailer returns from servicing at Dan's Automotive we will bring the boats from URI. This is an exciting growth opportunity for sailing in Boothbay. The purchase was arranged by Junior Program Chair Charlie Cochrane and Director Chris Liberti, a URI alumni

The really big news is the membership approved Saturday, a financing package for the new BHYC Sailing and Education Center. Groundbreaking is scheduled for September 17. This is 4800+ sf building will allow us to extend our season and offer improved instructional facilities for juniors in sailing and tennis. We are all very excited by the promise of this new facility and the impact to junior sailing programs in Boothbay.