This season has been met with a talented and devoted staff, great (albeit hot) weather, and a wonderful group of sailors. Cyrus and Harper have continued to welcome our youngest sailors to the sport with a near perfect blend of patience, compassion, and encouragement.  Bobby, Lila, Louisa, Sabrina, and Selene have led our beginners from some of their first times sailing alone to tours of the Harbor under their own command.  Holden and Caleb have taken those beginners and brought them further along in their journey, helping a whole new crew experience racing and the travel that can come with it, while being sure to balance that with exposure to other boats and good old fashion “messing around in boats.”  Races around Mouse and Burnt islands in a variety of boats seamlessly blended exploration and new sights with refining old skills and learning new skills.  Toby has led a usually packed house of Feva sailors as they transition from sailing alone to sailing with a partner, and with the jib and asymmetric spinnaker, helping them to see the joys of working together towards a common goal, going faster, and getting further.  Holden and Cyrus led a great pilot year of our all-day beginner and intermediate sailing and Wings, as the duo worked together to incorporate more seamanship skills into their lessons and curriculum, helping to refine that for year two.  Caleb worked to give those Opti sailors comfort and control in the afternoon’s heavier breeze and waves.  Toby led our 420 sailors on a regatta packed summer (Battle of the Bay, HYC, Maine States, ‘Round Southport) while balancing that out with various trips and experiences here.  

On the racing front, we hosted a very successful 3rd annual Battle of the Bay with just shy of 100 sailors joining us.  And, brought them college level coaching (Thanks to Bowdoin's head coach Frank Pizzo and Maine Maritime Academy’s Dinghy coach Delaney Brown) and exposure to match racing (thanks to MMA head coach Pat) mixed with fun and fair racing and good vibes. We sent many sailors to their first regattas - both in 420 and Optis, saw a few green fleet Optis make the jump to champ fleet, and sent our 420 sailors on the first overnight stay for a regatta in years.  Special thanks to all of the coaches (especially Arden who came back to coach this one) and parents who helped with logistics, towing, planning and more.  We could not do it alone. Thanks to Megan, Sarah, Liz, Richard, Bob, and many more. 

Back closer to home, we had a wonderful adventure day at Ram Island, our first Burnt Island Overnight excursion, and our sailors are playing Scrabble on the water as I type. We shared laughs and applause at our talent show (thanks to Caleb and Cyrus for leading that effort) with performances by students and instructors.  We have had a summers worth of hotdogs and ice cream together, and we have had countless laughs.  All of our sailors have celebrated their own success and milestones, be it your first tack, the first time making it to Burnt Island unassisted, or your first (untangled) spinnaker set. 

There is far more than I have time to write (or you want to read) but it has been a great season and we are already looking forward to the academic sailing season and next summer.