MHS Sailing Team Advances

The following article about the Marblehead High School Sailing Team was submitted by Alison Becker:

This weekend, SailMaine hosted the ACC’s organized by the Midwest Interscholastic Sailing Association, Mid-Atlantic School Sailing Association & New England Schools Sailing Association.

This major regional team racing event featured 10 High School sailing teams from 3 districts. The MHS Sailing Team (AKA The Fishwagons) qualified for this event through Team Racing Events throughout the spring season. Approximately 60 teams went through elimination series to qualify for the New England Team Race Championships better know as The Mark Trophy. By finishing the NEs in 6th place the Fishwagon qualified for the ACCs.

Participating in the event were the teams of (skipper/crew), Brian Drumm/Renee Torrie, Michael Drumm/Ryan Hoey and Brian Felsenthal/Josh Chmara. After completing Saturdays racing, the team finished the first round robin in 1st place. On Sunday, the team was in the position of having to race a tiebreaker for 1st place against Portsmouth Abbey.

That race lead to a 2nd place finish overall. This event brought teams from the Mid Atlantic to the Midwest and New England. For Seniors Brian and Michael Drumm (both team captains), Brian Felsenthal and Josh Chmara (captain), this event has been an outstanding way to end the season’s team racing events.

Celebrating his 20th year of coaching the MHS Sailing Team, Nick Burke reflects about this year’s season, “After many years of focusing on fleet racing dynamics, it was really rewarding to see the Fishwagons embrace team racing format and competition. This focus was met with an opportunity for additional learning and much success in the new discipline. The short story on the direction of the team as a whole is that we believe that success is not a final destination, but is a journey.  All too often many competitors in a variety of sports loose sight of winning. The most important thing is not winning, but increased learning. By focusing on learning and getting better enables the young sailors to relax and enjoy the journey. For some it leads to winning but for many it leads to their own levels of success and achievement.”

The team looks forward to this Thursday and Friday when they will compete in the Massachusetts State Championship, taking place at the MIT Sailing Pavilion on the Charles River in their last fleet racing event of the season.

Some of the strongest teams in the state will arrive on the Charles River for two afternoons of racing for the State Title. For many of the graduating seniors on the team the next part of the journey will include the many competitive College Sailing programs.