MHS Sailing, Neighbor

Coached by Parker Dwyer (new this year), the sailing team (aka the Fishwagons) is one of the most successful sports programs at MHS.  The Fishwagons have won six state titles and have placed in the top three for the state sailing championships every year except for two years. The team has also qualified and represented Massachusetts in the New England Championship Regatta fifteen times, and has proceeded to the high school National Sailing Championships twice.  Three years ago, the team placed second in the Atlantic Coast Team Racing  Championships at SailMaine (after a tiebreaker), the Fishwagons won the Massachusetts State High School Championships and were the recipients of the Stephen B. Leslie Sportsmanship Award from the New England Schools Sailing Association three seasons ago.

Former coach Nick Burke said of the team, “So many teams put the cart before the horse with their primary focus on winning. Our philosophy has always been about learning. In the sport of sailing you will lose a large number of races before you will win races consistently. As such it is important to embrace the lessons from losses.  Rather than focusing on the result we focus on effectively executing the individual pieces of the sport. It allows young sailors to execute the pieces, make good decisions and the result takes care of itself.  At the end of the day if you come away learning something new, then you’ve won. The losers are the ones who don’t learn anything. On top of all the time, energy  travel and effort, we try to have as much fun as is allowed!"