The Boothbay Region Sailing Club competed at Sail Newport's Halloween Howl Regatta this weekend in Rhode Island. The annual regatta is the last major New England youth regatta of the year for. US Sailing Olympic Development Coach Rich Feeney said, "It's the last traps and chutes of the season," referring to trapeze wires and spinnakers to speed the boats faster than in high school regattas. The six varsity sailors, led by team captain Gabriella Boord (BRHS '19) and including Liam Cullina (Lincoln Acadmey '19), Nate Graves (BRHS '18), Nate Rideout (BRMS '21), Ella Beauregard (CTL '21), and Hamilton Barclay (BRMS '23), arrived during heavy wind and rain Friday, which canceled practice. Graves and Cullina visited college sailing programs at University of Rhode Island, Brown, and Roger Williams University while Boord, Rideout, Beauregard and Barclay readied boats for launch. The sailors got a practice in Saturday afternoon short tacking along Fort Adams Park then flying spinnakers in an exhilarating building breeze on Narragansett Bay.  

Over 30 teams of C420 sailors from Connecticut to Maine competed in the Halloween Howl along with five pairs of 29er sailors, and 40+ Opti sailors. Sunday dawned clear with 15 knots breeze from the North. By the Skipper's meeting, Cullina and Graves had already practiced a half dozen spinnaker sets, jibes and douses in Brenton Cove. The 11 a.m. start of racing was postponed after the start sequence began when the wind shifted. When the wind did fill in, it was mostly in the 3-5 knot range from the Northwest, never getting above 8 knots. Sailors faced a strong ebbtide.

At the start, Boothbay sailors Beauregard and Barclay held court at the committee boat warning off bargers. The pair held position on the line then used an aggressive heel and flatten acceleration maneuver with ten seconds before the start. Getting away clean, they were first to tack and sail the center-right side of the course. They rounded the weather mark in 4th place. Boord and Rideout had trouble getting clean air and found the wind dying at the weather mark. Cullina and Graves were ahead in mid-fleet until they tacked short of the lay line and fell back among competitors. Beauregard and Barclay gained a boat downwind. They swapped positions with the first and second place boats several times on the next two legs finishing third.

The wind softened again, leading to postponement. As the race committee moved marks, a southerly sea breeze developed building to 8 knots, calling for a complete course reorientation. The final warning signal fired at 2 p.m. Barclay and Beauregard again got a good start with acceleration even after being bumped by a competitor. The top five boats crossed tacks and covered each other. In the end, the Boothbay boat crossed the line in third. Cullina and Graves' and Boord and Rideout's boats sailed well when they had clear air and finished mid-fleet within two boat lengths.  

Beauregard and Barclay learned they took third after a tiebreaker with the first and second place boats; all three had six points. Complete results were not available at press time.