Eight Boothbay Harbor Yacht Club sailors, led by coaches Tori Thompson and Caleb Gray, sailed in the Maine State Opti Championships (MSO) at Portland Yacht Club. Sailors Piper Carleton and Otto Schoenthal competed in the Green Fleet. In the Championship Fleet, Toby Clarkson finished 14th, Rath Schoenthal 20th, Arden Carleton 25th, Cyrus Blake 26th, and Della Hahn 44th. Twelve-year-old Hamilton Barclay won the event.  The Maine State Opti Championship is the state’s most competitive youth regatta.  Next year Boothbay Harbor Yacht Club will again host the regatta at its new Sailing & Education Center.

Races began in a moderate 8-10 knot Southerly.  Barclay got clear air at the start and tacked on lifted shifts near the course’s center. He led at the weather mark by 35 seconds and increased that lead to finish more than a minute ahead of second place Nate Strout of Camden. Strout would finish the regatta 9 points behind in 2nd.  In Race 2, Portland Yacht Club (PYC) sailor James Leavitt went early to the port tack layline for a large lead with Barclay closing the gap on subsequent legs to take 2nd. In the third race, PYC sailor Elsa Dean-Muncie, used her local knowledge as the wind shifted Southwest to sail early to the starboard tack layline to take 1st while Barclay continued to sail the center of the course, taking third. In Race 4, Barclay started at the Committee boat and played the center shifts working right to the starboard tack layline 75 yards away from the mark.  With a 45 second lead at the mark he increased each subsequent leg and won the last race of the day convincingly.

Wednesday morning the start was postponed due to fog and little breeze. Race 5 saw a General Recall and restart under the yellow I Flag signaling that boats over the line within 1 minute of the start had to sail around the ends of the start line.  With 20 seconds to go Race Committee hailed “Hamilton number 151690, over early!”  Barclay roll tacked away and around the committee boat to start 35 seconds after the gun. Starting at the back of the fleet in light wind Barclay coolly tacked more than 20 times on shifts, each time crossing, covering, and lee-bowing competitors. Barclay reached the weather mark in a dying wind 50 yards behind Camden’s Strout who took the lead from Boothbay’s Cyrus Blake just before rounding. Barclay was 7th at the weather mark and gybed to an inside passing lane. He rounded the leeward mark in 2nd right ahead of Hainee McSweeny of Agamenticus Yacht Club. McSweeny passed Barclay on the final leg of the race, Barclay finished 3rd. The sixth and final race saw Barclay take third and the championship by 9 points. 

Barclay is eligible to race three more MSO’s before aging out of the class but also races the C420 with Southport’s Ella Beauregard. They took a Gold Medal in the Narragansett Bay Junior Olympics last month in the Under 16 division. Harraseeket’s Youth Regatta/C420 Maine State Championships is next for the pair then BHYC’s Battle of the Bay August 15-16.