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Fleet streak! Hotchkiss sailors start as champs

LAKEVILLE — It seems a little backward, but for competitive high school sailors, the season begins (more or less) with a national championship. 

Schools from all over New England had regional qualifying events on Saturday, April 12. The 15 victors in those competitions came to Lake Wononscopomuc in Lakeville the following day for the New England championship, hosted by The Hotchkiss School. 

Roger Rawlings, who has been coaching the Hotchkiss team for 26 years, organized the championship, which is held at different schools on a rotating basis. The last time Hotchkiss was the host was in 2003.  

Each of the 15 schools came with two teams of two sailors: a skipper and a crew, in the A and B divisions.

The teams race across the lake, following courses that are redrawn as the wind direction shifts. 

The morning had almost no wind, Rawlings said, “which was frustrating. It was blowing out of the northeast, which is difficult on this lake. By 1:30 p.m., it began to blow in from the southeast — in front of the big storm we had Sunday night. It was lucky that didn’t come while we were on the lake. We don’t sail in lightning.”

The fastest teams get the lowest scores (the first place team gets 1 point, second place earns 2 points). The A and B scores are combined and the team with the lowest score wins. This year, first place went to Hotchkiss, second place went to St. George’s from Newport, R.I., and third place went to Tabor Academy from Marion, Mass. 

Rawlings said he was grateful to the competing teams for their forbearance with the weather (“The competitors were very patient with the lake, which can be a very difficult place to sail. By the end of the day,” he said, “it was beautiful”). He also gave thanks to the Salisbury School, which has a new sailing program and had lent nine of its new boats for the day of racing. 

The three top teams will now travel to Seattle, Wash., for the national regatta on May 11 and 12.

This will be a repeat visit to the regatta for Hotchkiss. 

“It’s exciting,” he said of the opportunity, while adding that, “Hotchkiss is often in the national championships; we’ve been pretty succesful in recent years.”

Lakeville Journal

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