The Maine Maritime Academy Mariners are the 2024 College Sailing Regional Teams National Champions! The third year of this burgeoning national championship, created to showcase teams at the regional level of collegiate sailing, was hosted by the University of New Hampshire at Salve Regina's sailing center in Newport, Rhode Island. The team fought hard and summoned an enormous amount of grit to secure the lead in challenging conditions on the second day.
On Saturday, the race committee decided to start the event in Larks- an uncommon boat in college sailing famously known for its powered-up mainsails that make the boats fly even in light-air conditions. The team adapted to the unfamiliar boat quickly, taking time between races to dial in their boat handling, and completed six races in blue sky conditions with winds building from 8 knots in the morning to a sustained 15 knots with higher gusts by the late afternoon. In the unfamiliar boats and big breeze, the Mariners posted three first place finishes, including one by freshman skipper Isaac Thompson and crew Amelia Griffith.
On Sunday, competitors finished the remaining four races of the event in Salve Regina's fleet of FJ's in vastly different conditions from the day before. The lighter wind at the start of the day made staying in the puffs a huge factor, and the teams that kept their heads outside the boat and noticed the flag off of Fort Adams shifting took advantage of the favorable breeze up course-right. After a couple of crowded mark roundings and close finishes the top three teams, Bates College, Maine Maritime, and the University of New Hampshire moved closer together in the cumulative scores, bringing the championship title down to the last set. In the final race of the day, a second-place finish by skipper Henri Richardsson and his crew Liam Ries in the A-Division secured the team's win, and the Mariners jumped into the lead to beat out Bates with a three-point gap in the overall scores. Richardsson and Ries's consistent top five finishes also earned the top overall place in the regatta.
"This event really showed just how far the team has come in the past couple of years," said MMA's dinghy team coach, Delaney Brown. "The improvement in these sailors' speed and boat-handling is apparent, but more importantly, they've learned how to believe in themselves, their teammates, and the possibilities for Maine Maritime's dinghy team. We've come a long way, and this win shows that we have what it takes to meet our goal of breaking into the ranks of the most competitive district in the county."
Lineup:
A Division- Henri Richardsson (Jr. Cohasset, Mass.) and Liam Ries (So. Sarasota, Fla.)
B Division- Nathan Hyde (Jr. Saco, Maine) and Anna LaDue (So. Canterbury, N.H)
Isaac Thompson (Fr. South Bristol, Maine) and Amelia Griffith (Jr. Castine, Maine)
