MHS Sailing Team Victorious in First Regattas

Although it is Spring according to the calendar, the true beginning of Spring came this past weekend with beautiful weather on Saturday and the first regattas of the season for the Marblehead High School sailing team (also known as the Fishwagons). On Friday afternoon Marblehead hosted Swampscott for some team racing and this weekend was the annual Maine team race invitational that has been running for sixteen years with new Fishwagons coach Parker Dwyer continuing the tradition this year. Each year, two teams from Maine – Mount Desert Island (MDI) and George Stevens Academy (GSA) – come down to Marblehead for a weekend of team racing. Marblehead sailors host the Maine sailors and provide food for a team dinner and team breakfast with all three teams. The Maine sailors reciprocate the generosity when Marblehead goes up to Castine for the Maine State Championships in May.

Marblehead dominated GSA and MDI during the two days, winning both days and the regatta overall.  The first day of sailing was beautiful with wind building as the day went on. The teams team raced for the first day of sailing which means two teams were on the water at a time with three boats sailing for each team on the water (six boats total).  The teams raced each other and used tactics, maneuvering and strategic finishes to beat the other team. To win a team race, a team had to score ten points or less, and scoring is based on finishes (1st place is one point, 2nd place is two points...) The racing was done in a round-robin with Marblehead racing GSA for a best two-out-of-three set and then racing MDI for the same and after that GSA and MDI raced each other for a two-out-of-three set. It took a total of three sets before each school had raced against the other schools and one round-robin was completed.  Marblehead was very successful in the team racing, beating GSA twice and MDI once to win the first day of sailing. Marblehead won three of the sets while GSA won two sets and MDI won one set for a total of two round-robins.  Everyone on the Marblehead team sailed a set of team races and three of Marblehead’s groups won their set in the first two races of the set! 

Sunday was rainy and the racing got off to a late start with coaches and race committee waiting for the wind to fill in.  Sailors hung out while waiting for racing and made new friendships with kids from other schools.  Marblehead coach Parker Dwyer also decided to change the format for the second day and have the two teams fleet race each other, basically a race with every boat racing one another over a set course with placements added up to total point values at the end of the day.  This allowed the sailors to practice the two types of racing they will be doing throughout the season. Marblehead won day two as well with 27 points compared with MDI’s 48 and GSA’s 50. Again, Coach Dwyer made sure everyone on the team sailed and no boat finished below fifth place with ten top three finishes over 12 races.  Marblehead Coach Dwyer commented on the regatta as a whole saying, "This regatta presented us with our first true challenge of the Spring and our sailors fared well against some tough competition. Hopefully this can help us build momentum and confidence as we get into the toughest part of our schedule."

The weekend regatta wasn’t the only event Marblehead raced in, the red and black also faced off against the Big Blue on Friday in a team race and won every one of the five races against Swampscott with Marblehead finishing in first and second for each of the races.  Coach Dwyer reflected on Marblehead’s racing on Friday and remarked: “Marblehead was able to win using a consistent boat speed advantage and good decisions on the starting line.” Swampscott and Marblehead will be facing each other again on Tuesday over April vacation and you can watch the race from anywhere along the Harbor so come cheer on the Marblehead team!

After only a couples weeks of practice, the Marblehead High School sailing team performed very well at their first two regattas. Both regattas provided the team opportunities to utilize the skills they had been working on at practice and Coach Parker Dwyer believes a lot of races were won due to the boat handling skills used. All of the Marblehead boats made good decisions throughout their races and maintained solid boat speed even with the changing wind conditions.  Coach Dwyer reflected on Marblehead’s racing over their first two regattas and said: "I am very pleased with the way our team sailed. Our strong finishes are a direct result of the hard work these sailors have put in this Spring." It was a great experience for all the sailors involved and a perfect way to start of the Spring sailing season. Until Swampscott and Marblehead face each other again, the Marblehead team will be practice in the Harbor every week day except Friday, so grab your shades and come watch us from any spot in the Harbor!