Most sports careers end at high school graduation.

But then there are the sports that stay with you for a lifetime.

Boothbay Region High School Club Sailing team Head Coach Sally Lloyd recognizes that she is coaching the latter.

Lloyd, who is in her third year coaching the club sailing team, said on the eve of the season that results were fine, but that the knowledge and experience gained was even better.

“I think we’re a young team without a whole lot of experience, so I want these guys to have confidence in the water,” she said. “They live in (a) town that’s so based on the water; I think it’s a skill they need to have.”

The team, which consists of eight boys and two girls from the region, started its season on Saturday, Sept. 9. The team will compete in seven regattas during the fall season, with the spring season schedule yet to be determined. Lloyd said she hopes to host one informal regatta where “anyone can just show up and sail.”

With ten athletes, there will be five full boats, with a skipper and crew. The team will send an A Fleet, B Fleet and alternate to every regatta.

With such a full team coming off a successful season, Lloyd said she has a goal for the future.

“I would like to see this become a high school sport,” she said, referencing the team’s current club status. “I think the goal is to one day have this be ‘Seahawk Sailing.’”

In the interim, the Sailing Club will compete against other clubs spread throughout the coast of Maine. Although the team is stacked against larger schools from throughout the region, Lloyd said it doesn’t put her sailors at a disadvantage.

“We’re really competitive,” she said. “There’s only one sailing division – there aren’t divisions for different schools.

“It’s actually pretty cool because we get to sail against the top schools.”

It’s that competition that drew junior Hayden Wright, 16, to the sailing team for another year.

“I’ve sailed since I was really young,” he said. “I sailed for 3 years at the Southport Sailing School for 3 years, and that really got me into it.” 

After a brief hiatus from competitive sailing, Wright said he began to race with college-aged sailors, but when the opportunity arose to compete with other athletes of a similar age, Wright said he again took to the water.

“When they made this team I decided to join because I really wanted to get into racing part of (sailing),” he said. “I think it’s fun to race at the high school level, because I really get to put myself up against other kids in the state of Maine. I get to see how good they are, and how good I am.”

Wright’s first goal of the season is to find a partner and get into a groove. In a sport where chemistry and knowledge of one-another is paramount to success, Wright said having the right combination could lead to big things.

“Hopefully I can get a partner I can keep for a while,” he said. “Last year, I was switched around a lot, so I’m hoping to have a crew I can get good with and win some firsts and seconds.”

Because the season is split between the spring and fall, sailors who have other sport commitments can make it onto the team. With the season’s weather being unpredictable, Lloyd said she is appreciative of the way the regattas are scheduled.

“They give us two seasons – it’s tough to sail for much longer in Maine because it gets so cold,” she said. “We have a regatta almost every weekend, and some weekends we have two. The state of Maine does a great job of stacking as much in a tiny season as they can.”

With such a short season and some inexperience in the boat, Lloyd said the team’s success will be different than most seasons.

“I think I’m not going to judge our success on how well we do,” she said. “I’m excited that we have a team and that they just get the chance to sail.”

Lloyd said another thing she wants to see is that every sailor gets a chance to compete in the regatta. She said that the team has garnered attention in the past for its performance.

“People notice that these guys are pretty good,” she said.