MHS Sailing Team Ties for 2nd at State Championship

After practicing for the past two months, everything the MHS Sailing team had prepared for came down to two days of racing on the Charles River. The 41st Annual Massachusetts High School Sailing Championship took place on May 21st and May 22nd on the Charles River with racing taking place out of the MIT Sailing Pavilion. This was the final regatta of the Fishwagons’ spring season and a chance to use all that they had learned throughout the season.  The entire team went down to Boston for the two days of racing.  However one major difference in the regatta was that team sailed in Fireflies and Flying Juniors, boats different from the 420s the Fishwagons practiced daily in. The team made do with this disadvantage and still managed to tie for 2nd place in the regatta, making for a great end to a fantastic season.

Thirty team registered for the championship this year, prompting race organizers to split the event into two days: the first day was a qualifying day with the top eight teams moving on to the championship the second day.  The first day of sailing was beautiful with steady breeze that built slightly throughout the afternoon. The thirty teams were divided into a north and south division. Marblehead sailed in the north division which, along with the south division, sailed three races. In A Fleet Peter Lynn (skipper) and Marika van Dusen (crew) placed in the top 5 for all three races with a second place finish in the final race as well. Their results, combined with the domination of B Fleet by Renee Torrie (skipper) and Lily Roberts (crew) with a first, a second and a sixth, propelled Marblehead to an overall second place finish in the qualifier.  The second day was rainy with the wind dying throughout the afternoon.  Three races were completed the second day with the fourth race abandoned due to low wind.  Peter Lynn sailed A Fleet again, this time with crew Katie Rodger and together they placed in the top 10 of the 18 fleet boat in each race with their highest finish a third. Renee Torrie and Lily Roberts returned to sail B Fleet and again dominated for two third place finishes and a fifth.  The team tied with Duxbury for second place at States, but sadly lost the tiebreaker and got third place overall for the regatta.

The Massachusetts High School Sailing State Championship is the last regatta that the Fishwagons attend for the season.  It is also the last high school sailing event for our seniors: Camille Homa, Emily LaChance, Lily Roberts, Teresa Bruno and captains Alan McKinnon, Sara Krypel and Renee Torrie.  So after three or four years of high school sailboat racing, the seven seniors ended their high school sailing career with an impressive third place finish at the Mass State Championships for 2014.

We wish all the seniors good luck in their future endeavors: sail hard, sail fast.