Eight Boothbay Harbor Yacht Club Opti sailors, led by coaches Tori Thompson on the Championship and Sarah Jacklin with the Green Fleet, raced at the Harraseeket Youth Regatta. Boothbay sailor Toby Clarkson took second in the Blue Division of the Opti Championship Fleet, finishing 9th Overall among 51 total entries. Toby won his first race, the last of the series, in little more than drifting conditions. Dedicated sailors know, it takes concentration to sail well in light air. Toby was beaming with modest excitement at the finish. Other sailors doing well included Otto and Rath Schoenthal, Sydney and Caroline Snell, Arden Carleton, Anna Alberino, and Della Hahn. Toby Clarkson and Della Hahn also sail on the Boothbay Region Sailing Club Team in the Fall.

The regatta doubled as the Maine State C420 Championships with thirty six double-handed boats. Boothbay Harbor Yacht Club sent Henry Currier, Bobby Clarkson, Charlie Alberino, Liz Saudek, Ella Beauregard, and Hamilton Barclay. Currier, Clarkson, Beauregard and Barclay all sail on the Boothbay Region Scholastic Sailing Team. Several parents helped sailors haul and launch boats and provide logistics support. All three C420 teams showed improvement through the regatta and are excited to return for next year. The sailors experienced challenging conditions from 18-22 knots with higher gusts on Day 1, to a drifter with the time limit expiring on 22 boats on race 6 of Day 2.

Beauregard and Barclay in sail #7445 tossed off the disappointment of Race 1’s DSQ (37) to finish 2, 2, 1, 2, 2, 1 for 10 points and second place overall to Northeast Harbor’s Sky and Terra Erhart. Beauregard and Barclay frequently bounce back from difficult starts as they did in Races 2 and Race 6. In Race 2 they found themselves over early at the start and rounding and end before they could sail up the course. In both races they battled back from starting near last by finding clear air in narrow lanes, executing crisp tacks to lee bow, cross, or cover and slow competitors. The pair has learned to effectively use the C420’s trapeze to accelerate in moderate to heavy air from a near stop and shoot off the line as a result.

With the wind picking up in races 3, 4 and 5 the pair’s spinnaker work helped them pass boats and develop leads they covered to the finish. In Race 3 they were the first boat to get on the trapeze on the weather leg, and developed a big lead on the next boat by the leeward mark. A gust in that race on the downwind leg topped twenty two knots and pushed the pair through the water with spray flying from both sides of the hull in a thrilling, but short, spinnaker ride. The pair called for an early and conservative douse and cruised upwind to a finish in front of eventual series winners Sky and Terra Erhart. They finished the series off in only 4-6 knots of breeze winning the last race of Day 2 as did Toby Clarkson in the Opti line.

Next regatta for Boothbay Harbor Yacht Club sailors is the Battle of the Bay Aug. 15-16. While the Scholastic Sailing Team opens their season with the Polar Bear Open Sept. 3 at Bowdoin College.