By Nick Judson
Contributing Writer
The Nantucket sailing team put in some extra work in preparation for the Cape and Islands Fleet Racing Championships last Sunday at the Hyannis Yacht Club. It paid off, as the Whalers finished fourth out of 10 teams.
Harwich was the overall winner with 38 points. The Whalers finished only eight points out of third behind Dennis-Yarmouth’s 50 and 12 out of second behind Nauset’s 46.
Martha’s Vineyard finished three points behind the Whalers at 61.
In preparation for the weekend, the University of Vermont sailing team came to Nantucket to host a training clinic for the Whalers and get in a few more practices as it prepares for the College Nationals next week in Newport, R.I. Vermont, which is coached by Nantucket Yacht Club racing coach Justin Assad, brought 10 sailors to Nantucket to help it improve its boat-handling and sail-trim techniques.
On land, the Catamounts hosted a boat-tuning and sail-trim clinic, which was followed up by an on-the-water boat-handling demonstration. After the demo, skippers and crews from both teams paired up in 420s and went sailing so that the Whalers could work on the techniques they had just learned.
After an afternoon of college training the Whalers appeared reinvigorated to compete in the championships. Consistent with the weather issues that have plagued the Whalers all season, Saturday’s scheduled regatta was moved to Sunday. With the schedule change, Nantucket lost three sailors and a coach who had commitments with the Big Brothers Big Sisters Iron teams Relay Sunday on Nantucket.
Despite the setback, six Whalers went to Hyannis under the watchful eye of coach Mike Fleischut, including captain Russell Bartlett, Adam Ceely, Brian Chitester, Sarah Erichsen, Maria Jones and Jesse Lang.
In fleet racing championships there are two divisions: A and B. Each high school competes with a crew in each division and is allowed limited substitutions. The scores from each division are combined and the team with the best overall score wins the regatta.
Bartlett and Lang started in division A and when the starting gun went off for race one, they were deep in the fleet. After a quick tack to the right side of the course to clear their air, Bartlett and Lang were able to make up almost all of the ground they had lost and worked themselves back up with the leaders. With solid boat-handling and speed they dismantled the competition, getting out into a lead which they never relinquished.
In race two they continued their dominant speed and smart sailing, taking another first, followed by a second and a fourth. Heading into the last round, the Whalers were winning the A division.
In B division, Ceely and Erichsen started out with a third in race one and then a seventh. The next two races found the Whalers getting caught in and around boat pile-ups and Ceely and Erichsen were not able to get around the packs. They finished up with two more eighths going into the last round.
For Bartlett and Lang, their last round was the toughest. Their boat had accumulated a lot of water in its hull tanks from the previous six races and they were not able to determine this problem until it was too late. As a result, they did not have the dominant speed that they had earlier in the day as they carried a lot of extra weight around with them. Even with this disadvantage they were able to stay with the leaders and finished up the day with two sixth-place finishes, putting them second overall in A division, only two points out of first place.
In B division, Fleischut made some switches, putting Erichsen in as skipper and with the increase in wind speed, Chitester in as crew. They were a bit rusty in the first race, placing eighth, but then lit it up with great speed in the last race of the day, placing fourth. The solid finish moved them up to fifth overall in the B division.
After racing, the teams adjourned ashore to hold protests. Nantucket’s Ceely and Erichsen were in one protest which they won, and with the point bump finished the day fourth overall.
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