With so much of our time spent slipping on ice and covered in snow, we may forget to take advantage of Maine’s convenient and beautiful location along the coast. There is, however, one group that is constantly reminded, spending time on the water all year long.
The College’s sailing team competed in their first regatta of the 2026–2027 academic period this past Saturday at Bowdoin College. Club treasurer Athina-Anna Vlachos `29 was one of the 12 participants in the regatta, which began with a skipper meeting at approximately 11:45 a.m.
“Skippers are the people steering the boat, and [there are] the crews. [We have] two-person boats. Crews are the people who’re in charge of the jib, which is the smaller sail, and also telling [the skipper], ‘Okay, this boat’s in your way, we have right of way over that boat.’ The skipper is the one choosing the race course [and] in charge of the actual steering of the boat,” Vlachos said.
Kailyn McCarthy `29 explained that after the skipper meeting, those hosting worked to get sailors out and racing on the water as quickly as possible, before the event’s conclusion at 6:00 p.m.
“We did four races, and each race is like 15 minutes. They take a while because once they start, you have to sail up the course [and] then you have to come downwind, which takes a long time. The course was a W4, which meant we started, then we went upwind, downwind, upwind, downwind, and then we finished,” McCarthy said.
Finishing first in one of her races at Bowdoin, sophomore and club vice president Addy Smith is looking forward to continual improvement over the year. “The biggest goal is to just get better results. I am very much looking forward to watching people grow and watching people improve and seeing our regatta results get better and better. Last year, ours did,” Smith said. “[I want] to make sure we all have a growth mindset, and that everyone [in addition to having] fun wants to get better and improve and become a well-established team.”
Amid the pressures of manning each boat and reaching the finish line, the team must also navigate certain conditions outside of their own control. Even on land, the group has faced many obstacles getting the club up and running. “It’s a relatively new team that was restarted. We had a team in the 1990s and 2000s, which got disbanded. So then back in 2022 some [students, including Gabby Henry `27], restarted the club, and it’s been growing since then,” Vlachos said.
“Last year we got boats, and that was a big accomplishment… Originally, when the club was starting out, there was a lack of hope. [Everyone] was told, ‘That’s never gonna happen. You’re never going to get boats’…It was a big budgeting and financial wait; we had to fundraise for paying off the boats, getting the sails, and getting the rigging, which is very expensive.”
Eventually, with some outside assistance, the group was able to get all of the necessary supplies. “Connecticut College donated their old boats at a discount, and we got the sails from a different club. People were really nice about reaching out and helping us,” Vlachos said.
With this relatively new team, the College’s sailors are looking forward to competing and putting their names out there. “The community is small, but also really purposeful in reaching out and helping other people. So that was something that we really noticed, and that really shone through,” Vlachos said.
~ Isabella Boggs `29
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