Cohasset & Hull's HS Sailing Team, The Nantasket Nor'Easters Take 2nd in The Mass Bay League Championships

A loud applause is due to the Nantasket Nor'easters for finishing in second place in the two day Mass Bay League championships out of 23 teams.  About half of the other teams were long-established A-Division programs.   It is hard to fathom how great of an accomplishment this is for a team in just its second year of sailing--and operating on on a shoe-string budget with minimal financial support from the school budgets!

The sailors deserve a tremendous amount of credit for the work they've put in over the last two season as do the coaches, volunteers and parents who all played a significant role in making this a success.  The communities of Hull and Cohasset owe a tremendous amount of gratitude to Coach Kevin Broome and his volunteer assistants coaches, without whom this achievement would have never been possible.  They have had some challenges this year particilarly in recruiting new members to the team, and a couple of hiccups against division foes Wellesley and Lincoln Sudbury, but the team re-focused and yesterday's results were the culmination of all of that hard work in often miserable weather conditions (when other spring sports were cancelling practices and games--the Nor'easters were sailing!).

As if the team result wasn't impressive enough, only one other team--the champion Manchester-Essex--had more consistent top finishers in each of the 4 fleets.

In the Mercury Silver fleet, Sam Campbell and Sarah Russell finished 5th out of 30 teams.
In the Mercury Gold fleet, Andrew Burnett and Kelsey Diemer finished 3rd out of 32 teams.
In the 420B fleet, co-captain Danielle Sookiasian and Emma Musto finished 2nd of 25 teams.
And in the 420A fleet, co-captain Morgan McCarthy and Elise Quebec finished 6th of 25 teams.

In a bit of disappointment for the team yesterday, because the NESSA region scorekeeper still won't post their scores for team races within the Mass Bay League, they were not recognized for their 4-2 record in team racing this year and two of the teams the Nor'easters beat in head-to-head competition were recognized as finishing higher in the standings.  Because of the losses to Wellesley & Lincoln-Sudbury, the Nor'easters would probably have been no higher than tied with Dover Sherborn for 3rd place in the 6-team division, but I understand their frustration at not getting the recognition for the work that was done prior to this week's championships.  They'll all collect more "pickle dishes" over the years for their sailing accomplishments so that slight shouldn't otherwise diminish the tremendous accomplishments of this season.  More importantly than pickle dishes, the team earned the respect of all of their competitors who all know the real standings!

There is a little bit of work left in the season for the upcoming women's and underclassman's regattas and Coach Broome will be in scramble mode trying to cobble together enough kids to do that given the challenges with the end of school for the seniors and the upcoming prom.

And as an organization, Sail Nantasket is already in fund-raising mode for next season and would really appreciate all of your support in spreading the word to your friends, neighbors and colleagues about our upcoming event on Friday June 3rd at Beachfire at Nantasket Beach.  A flyer for the event is here:  http://www.sailnantasket.org/Sail_Into_Summer_Soiree.pdf.  We will also have some great silent auction items including a cruise out of Cohasset aboard a Nordic Tug, a captained charter cruise in Narragansett Bay, a Newport Harbor Sailing Tour, a Weekend escape to the Black Bear Lodge at Waterville Valley, and personal coaching.  More information on those auction items as well as how to submit bids is included  here http://www.sailnantasket.org/sailnantasket_events.html (attendance at the Soireee is not required).  Also on that events page is information on our other fund raisers including a Father's Day Pancake Breakfast & Marine Flea Market and a Family Quiz Nite in July.

Congratulations again to the team and coaches again this year, and thank you for any assistance you can provide in helping us promote our fund-raising efforts.

About the author: The above Real Estate information about Sail Nantasket was provided by Bill Tierney, an internet savvy REALTOR who covers the South Shore real estate market for Virtual Homes Real Estate. Bill can be reached via email at William.Tierney@VirtualHomes.com or by phone at 617-653-1955. Bill has been a licensed real estate agent for over seven years.