Boothbay Harbor Yacht Club

Mon, 07/16/2018 - 9:30am

What a hectic but wonderful week last week was! Hectic because there were so many people, cars and boats and wonderful because of the opportunities offered and enjoyed by so many young and enthusiastic sailors. Working the registration desk, I had the opportunity to listen to complaints and compliments throughout the week and I can honestly report that the latter outnumbered the former by about 94 to 6. We should be proud of how our membership stepped up to the plate ( the baseball vernacular is not really appropriate) perhaps it should be stepped up to the jib ... at any rate they did indeed step up and the efforts were much appreciated by the visiting kids and parents.

Well the kids stepped up as well with both sportsmanship and skills. In the Junior Olympic Area A 420 championships our Ella Beauregard and Hamilton Barclay took A strong second place (1 point short of victory) and earned a place in the Nationals which are being held this week in Michigan. In addition Claudia Stedt and Tess McCommisky finished 28th, Luke Merrill and Ethan Gruntfest placed 40th, Toby Clarkson and Cyrus Blake were close by at 41st, and Bobby Clarkson and Holden Longenhagen 45th in a field of 60 racers. Our good friends from Southport captured a 15th, 19th, 20th, 21st, 23rd, 29th and 34th. We hosted teams from all the New England States and New York.

In the Laser division, 15 boats strong, Henry Currier of BHYC took a 14th in his first major race of this type.

In the Maine State Opti event held Thursday and Friday it was BHYC by a landslide as defending champ Hamilton Barclay crushed the opposition ( all 60 boats of it) and won by an amazing 20 point margin over the nearest challenger from Portland Yacht Club. This of course means that we have the honor/responsibility/challenge of hosting the 2019 championship event. Hamilton was not alone in this competition as Toby Clarkson finished 11th, Arden Carleton was 13th, Patrick Schoenthal 27th, Otto Schoenthal 43rd, Cyrus Blake 44th, Piper Carleton 49th and Charlotte Blake 56th.

We were not through with winners however as, in the Opti Green Fleet for inexperienced racers, Hollis Harding of the BHYC Junior Program took a strong first place which bodes well for the future.

Thanks to Lee Krow, RC Liz Rettenmeier , VC Gardiner Rapeleye, Charles, and all of the other volunteers who made this event a huge success.

While this is not normally a sports column we are a yacht club and sailing and boating news must take precedence over social and other associated activities. Along these lines the adults took to the race course on Sunday for the annual Junior Program Foundation Cup where adults race to salute and aid the Junior program. On a beautiful afternoon the Offshore racing team from the U.S. Naval Academy joined members for this eventful race.There were three races for J-80s who had junior sailors, Annapolis midshipman and the boats “owners” on board. The result board showed that First place was taken by GHO2T skippered by midshipman  Sean Caraher. Second place went to Wired, skippered by Skip Baker. In third place was Silkie, skippered by Jeff Curtis, and in fourth place was Firebolt skippered by Caroline Hunt.

In the Racing division, which had midshipman and their coaches aboard, Apparition skippered by Ken Colburn and Hamilton Barclay, took the Gold medal while second was Step Lively with skipper Chris Malliet. One BHOD raced, C Fever, skippered by Carol Matwiczyk with Chuck Koch as crew.  Thanks go to the Race Committee Sandy Taft and Kate Culbert who summarily declared C Fever the “uncontested winner of the day.” All in all a great event and thanks to the visiting midshipmen from Annapolis for their interest and support. Following dinner at the club, the middies participated in the Colors Ceremony, then boarded their boat to go to Newport where they will be racing in the New York Yacht Club’s “Race Week at Newport” starting Wednesday followed by the Around Long Island Race next week.

Still on the water at noon we found a very unique event for folks with boats or aboard boats to have a Sunday lunch with Commodore and Sandy Wheeler. Osprey made her way through the Southport bridge to Hodgdon Cove and set her anchor to welcome guests from far and near. Five boats joined the raft including three Tafts (from MacMahan, Washington D.C., and Goshen Kentuck) , Tom and Laura Blake from Southport, and Lee and Mike Rowan. A great afternoon and thanks Commodore Rob for organizing this.

Speaking of organizing the Fashion show brought a large and enthusiastic crowd to the return of what, years ago, had been a highlight of every summer. Claire Field and Elsie Plummer with the support of Anita Howe staged a runway spectacular for many years but alas it disappeared with their passing ... until this past weekend. Thanks to retailers The House of Logan. Slick’s Boutique. A Silver Lining, Calypso. Jansen”s , and Abacus (plus our own ships store ) we had a peak at what’s new and interesting in the fashion line and also a peek at some aspiring fashion models ( including the Commodore) . Door prizes aplenty spiced up the activity and the whole event brought BHYC closer to the entire Boothbay Harbor community.

We could go on and on for several more pages about what has just happened and what is in the calendar for the future but for this week that will have to fall in the hands of Donna’s many bulletins because we have run out of Register space. More next week.