This week was the third of the Southport Junior Yacht Club sailing program. From our annual Baked-Goods Bingo to attending the Battle of the Bays regatta, SJYC was filled with pride.

In the morning class on Monday, we had eight swim tests: Cairine Blackman Morehouse, Edie Dubrowski, Jack Dubrowski, Danny Dubrowski, Ollie Johnderson, William Lassen, Louise McConnell, and Octavia Preston. The new sailors were given a warm welcome and a cup of hot chocolate before being sent into turnabouts. The morning class had a slightly different schedule for the remainder of the week. With most of our instructors and helpers at the Battle of the Bays on Tuesday and Wednesday, SJYC had to get creative. The morning class participated in sailing activities both on land and on the water on Tuesday, and on Wednesday we had a scavenger hunt! Thursday we had a rainy day with more on-land sailing activities, but our Turnabouts and Optimists were back on the Sheepscot River on Friday!

This week, the Southport Junior Yacht Club sent six 420s and six Optimists to the Battle of the Bays Regatta in Boothbay Harbor. For the 420s, we had Skye Harrington and Logan Snyder in fourth, Nate Phippen and Graydon Smith in fifth, Liam Donahue and Finn Uhrich in sixteenth, Jackson Maher and Lowell Watson in twenty-sixth, Gus Giampetruzzi and David Kershaw in thirty-second, and Katherine Kershaw and Morgan Donahue in thirty-third. Coach, Brian Goldsmith, said that a highlight of this regatta was watching Donahue and Uhrich successfully port-tacking the fleet on a start line during one of the races!

For our Optis, there were two groups. There was a Red, White, and Blue fleet that raced together throughout the two days, and a Green fleet that primarily focused on familiarizing newer Opti sailors with the race course. For the Red, White, and Blue fleet, coached by Daphne Walsh, we had Hadden Brinegar in first, Surina Kelchner in second, Mabel Kaler in fourth, and Taylor Smith in sixth! For the Green Fleet coached by Kimball Kehtani, sailors Paige Smith and Chapman Brinegar represented SJYC. Kehtani commented, “While the Green Fleet race committee does not record scores, I will not that Chapman recorded a first place in one of the races and always seemed to be in the top five boats at the finish line. Paige Smith, who also spent the duration of the two days in the front of the pack, started the last race of the regatta far behind her competitors, but decided to go in the opposite direction of everyone else finding clean wind and finishing the day with a first place.”

On Thursday, the Southport Junior Yacht Club hosted our Baked-goods Bingo. Run by our Junior officers, over seventy prizes were made by families, and cheers and banning of bingo cards filled our yacht club. Our Baked-Goods Bingo is one of the Junior Yacht Club’s biggest events and this one didn’t disappoint. We had some big winners that evening, but by the end of the night, all seventy or so prizes went home in the hands of a different family. We hope you’ll join us next year for our Baked-Goods Bingo and bring your family specialty to the table!

Next week we will send sailors to Haraseeket for another regatta, have our Wednesday night Kickball at 6 at Southport Central School, and host another Ice Cream Social on Thursday at 7 p.m. at SJYC. We hope to see you all there and that you stay tuned for next week’s report!