By Nick Judson
Contributing Writer
The varsity sailing team and its coaches have been practicing hard in recent weeks, and the work has paid off in both individual improvement and team cohesiveness.
The Whalers are still struggling, however, to put together an entire race as a collective unit. Their starts have been inconsistent and when one boat has a good start the others are not where they need to be. Against Dennis-Yarmouth Tuesday, the Whalers were often overly aggressive at the start and fell 3-0.
The team’s focus at practice for the past week has been on communication and putting together aggressive moves that will create winning combinations. The coaches have been focusing on crew combinations and trying to establish the most advantageous crew pairings based on wind and water conditions.
On Friday at Nauset and then Saturday at home the Whalers faced a strong Nauset team and fought hard but came up short on both occasions, 3-1. At Nauset the winds were light and shifty, the same conditions that have plagued the Whalers all season and although they jumped out to an early 1-0 lead, Nantucket was not able to continue the momentum.
On Saturday, the Whalers started off a bit intimidated by the team that had beaten them 3-1 the day before. As the wind built the Whalers seemed to gain more confidence and after dropping the first two races in close contests they easily won race three, putting together one of their best races of the season. Race four was their opportunity to even the score and they had a winning combination at the weather mark, but Nauset was able to slow the Nantucket team and when the boats converged again at the leeward mark, the lead had dwindled and one of the boats capsized, giving Nauset a winning combination and the series.
Now that Spring Break is approaching, the Whalers have to shift gears and prepare for the New England Fleet Racing Championships that will be held in Newport this year. Some of the team will be sailing over break and training for fleet racing. On the last Saturday of break the Whalers will travel north to Wolfeboro, N.H. to sail against Brewster Academy on Lake Winnipesaukee. If the Whalers place in the top three, they travel to the finals in Bristol, R.I. on Sunday.
Nick Judson is the head coach of the Nantucket High School sailing team and the executive director of Nantucket Community Sailing.
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