An 18-wheeler trundled through Boothbay Harbor on April 2 carrying boats for the Boothbay Harbor Yacht Club.

Ten shiny, new 420 sailboats were manually unloaded by members of the Boothbay Region High School sailing team.

The boats are the newest addition to the Boothbay Harbor Yacht Club's Junior Program Foundation, which provides equipment and scholarships for the yacht club's summertime programs, as well as for the high school sailing team.

It was like Christmas for Coach Sally Lloyd and her team, who were eager to get started on assembling the boats. Under Lloyd guidance, her students went to work rigging one of the vessels.

“We're working on making sure they're all done the right way,” Lloyd said. “These guys will all break them in and then the summer guys will use the same boats.”

Since December, the Boothbay Harbor Yacht Club Junior Program Foundation successfully raised $73,500 from yacht club members as well as public donations to pay for the new equipment, according to President Andy Marvin. 

The previous boats were maintained well, but were 16 years old, so the yacht club will be selling the older vessels.

Unfortunately for the sailing team, the ground is still frozen in the harbor, which is delaying the docks from going in, Lloyd said.

Despite that temperatures barely crept over freezing, the students were excited as they untangled the new lines and raised the mast and boom on one of the boats, all in under 15 minutes. Now the only thing to do is wait for warmer days.