Thursday,May 19. Sandwich HS sailing team hosted Harwich HS sailing team today on Lawrence Pond. Conditions were gusty with a
10 to 12 knot breeze from the north frequently spiking to 20knots. Harwich won the series, 4 - 1.
Harwich captain Laura Adams and crew Kylie Germann brought Harwich in with a couple firsts, with teammates Eric Walther and Colin Hamilton
and Kelsey Goggin and Meaghan Callahan sailing strongly to win the series. Sandwich's team captain Mike Higgins and crew Jake Crosby sailed strongly
for Sandwich, leading for their school in all races. With conditions so good, we couldn't easily get off the water, so two more races were held with Sandwich
and Harwich splitting the final two races.
Saturday,April 16. Harwich Rough Riders' sailing team fought heavy winds and a strong fleet on Saturday in the 2011 O'Day
qualifiers held at Wianno Yacht Club in Osterville. Eleven teams showed up and Harwich
raced to an eighth place finish after 14 raucous trips around the windward leeward course.
The day was rife with capsizes and breakdowns as a 25 knot cold breeze built from the East. Skipper
Eric Walther and crew Colin Hamilton worked hard to keep their boat sailing flat and fast, sailing
respectfully in the middle of the A fleet throughout the day, but a capsize in race one and another in race two gave them
plenty to work for as they climbed back through the fleet in the standings. Strong starts and
smart sailing by skipper Kelsey Goggin and crew Meaghan Callahan kept Harwich in the middle
of the fleet until a rogue gust tossed them in the water on the last race of the day.
Thursday,April 7. Harwich High School Rough Riders sailing team hosted the Chatham Blue Devils on Nantucket Sound today.
Sailing under beautiful blue skies in 10 - 12 knots of southeasterly breeze,
Chatham's Peter King and Kyle Bissette pulled out all the stops with some great team-racing tactics. However, Harwich skippers Laura Adams,
Kelsey Goggin and Eric Walther and their crews held on in each race to win the series 3-0.Due to scheduling conflicts, we will not have enough sailors on hand tomorrow to compete in the Bourne quads. As a result, I have informed
Bourne that we will not be competing Saturday.
Wednesday,April 6, race against DY away at Lewis Bay. Sunny westerly breeze was too much and race was cancelled before we even got on the water. Maybe this was infuenced by yesterdays news story from Winthrop, Mass.
Tuesday, April 5 - Nasty wind yesterday causes practice cancellation, but Winthrop sailed in the blow and got ambushed. Here is TV story Four Students flip sailboats need rescuing. We chalk-talked while the winds blew 40 in Harwich Port.
Monday, April 5th - Windy and raining... cold! Practice canceled.
Wednesday, March 29 - Nauset Warriors come to Harwich Port and control the Rough Riders in light sea breeze off Saquatucket Bluff. Led by High School champ Duncan Howes and Alexis Matheson. It was a clean sweep but not without some strong effort to close gaps by Harwich Captain Laura Adams and Eric Walther. Nauset had an undefeated season last year and we wish them well on their 2011 effort.
Tuesday, March 29 -
Harwich Rough Riders opened their sailing season today, hosting the Falmouth High School sailing team. We raced under beautiful blue skies with a cool 10 - 15 knot wind coming in from the south west. Falmouth's Jana Gailiunas led the way around the course for the first race,but Harwich won the next two races with team of Laura/Tory, Eric/Meghan, Kelsey/Kylie. Meg and Eric have to leave for school play practice and we remake squad with Nancy/Tory and Kelsey/Anna. We lose the 4th heat. In the fifth race Laura and Nancy spring a loose lead by the jibe mark but Falmouth's Jana Gailiunas find an inside lane and traps Nancy out at the leeward mark then sails fast to wreak more havoc at the finish by holding down Kelsey's boat.So Falmouth turned things around for the final two races, winning the series 3 to 2.
Friday, March 25 -
Cold and blustery practice today. Seven sailors showed up and Coach Leach suited up once again to make an even number of sailors for four boats. We set up an N course in Nantucket Sound, just east of the Saquatucket channel. The wind continued to increase and, after the second race, we decided to move things inside the Wychmere breakwater. In the course of racing, there was some great teamwork by Laura and Anna to bring their team-mates up to the front of the fleet, and Kelsey continued her string of near-perfect starts. Coach Leach didn't play lightly with the others as he crowded the starting line and played good starboard approaches up the course, knocking his competitors off along the way. . The wind increased and the snow began to fly, so we brought the practice in to the inner harbor for a couple around-the-harbor races before calling it a day. It's cold and rather inhospitable out there, but it is great to see the everyone getting time on the boats with old skippers shaking off the winter rust and new sailors getting more experience with each practice. THINK FAST!!
Wednesday, March 23 -
With the help of four Chatham sailors and Coach Leach suiting up and joining Chatham, we had enough boats on the water to run some 3 on 3 team races. We experienced the rare early spring occasion when Mother Nature assigns us "light air" practice - it was puffing a very light 4-5 knots from whatever direction it wanted to puff from, with a 3 knot current heading west. We put to work right away our newest team members as crew for our able skippers and the Harwich team performed very well with good starts and active team work around the course. It's great to see the team starting out so strongly. While we are a small team, we have a great body of experience to draw from and I believe we are set to win some races this year!
While returning from practice, new crew members took the helms of their boats for "light air" boat handling practice.
I've got to unload these extra sails that have been stinking up and occupying my car for the past week. Can you text me the # to get in to the Fire House to drop these off and pick up the racing sails. I used the combo you gave me before, 532, or some such, and it worked on the outer door, but the inner door didn't work. Is there a different lock somewhere on that one? It sounded like there was an additional lock much higher than the cipher lock. I will not have email for the rest of the day, text or call.
Should be good for practice today 15k out of the North....that's a bit heavy maybe, but we should have flat water off of the beach....
Thanks for all your help, Tom!
Wednesday, March 23rd. With the help of four Chatham sailors and Coach Leach suiting up and joining Chatham, we had enough boats on the water to run some 3 on 3 team races. We experienced the rare early spring occasion when Mother Nature assigns us "light air" practice - it was puffing a very light 4-5 knots from whatever direction it wanted to puff from, with a 3 knot current heading west. We put to work right away our newest team members as crew for our able skippers and the Harwich team performed very well with good starts and active team work around the course. It's great to see the team starting out so strongly. While we are a small team, we have a great body of experience to draw from and I believe we are set to win some races this year!
While returning from practice, new crew members took the helms of their boats for "light air" boat handling practice.
March 17th. Happy Saint Patty's Day and a glorious day of practice I might add with a pot o'gold on the end. Many of our team were in a festive mood including sailors of decent from the old sod as Kelsey Goggins, Meghan Callahan and Tory O'Sepavitch. We raced two on two with Colin, Meghan, Laura, Kelsey, Tory, sharing the skippering and Kylie and Jen crew. Coach Paulus already working the team in the collegiate N format and expects a lot of this from us. Just a perfect late afternoon, 47F, with wind SW at 8 knots. We should have an even dozen team members and not everyone is in the school play.
Monday (02/14/11) Happy Valentines Day. Rick & Tom & Tom working feverishly to get everything right for sailing team by early March. Three boats have now been refinished and look great. We have gone through 20 drysuits replacing all necks, wrists gaskets and boots where required. Many many repairs but they are in good shape now and this is promising to be the best start equipment wise we have had. Nantucket Communit sailing is giving us a complete set of practice sails for 6 boats so that really helps too.
Monday (11/15/10) HARWICH - It's Official, Rick Paulus will be returning as our new team coach for the 2011 season. Rick and his wife Julie recently completed trekking from Mexico to Canada along the Pacific Crest Trail. 2,652 miles. Soon we will be calling a team meeting to assess where we are and what we can do to get more students onboard.
Monday (02/14/11) Happy Valentines Day. Rick & Tom & Tom working feverishly to get everything right for sailing team by early March. Three boats have now been refinished and look great. We have gone through 20 drysuits replacing all necks, wrists gaskets and boots where required. Many many repairs but they are in good shape now and this is promising to be the best start equipment wise we have had. Nantucket Communit sailing is giving us a complete set of practice sails for 6 boats so that really helps too.
Monday (11/15/10) HARWICH - It's Official, Rick Paulus will be returning as our new team coach for the 2011 season. Rick and his wife Julie recently completed trekking from Mexico to Canada along the Pacific Crest Trail. 2,652 miles. Soon we will be calling a team meeting to assess where we are and what we can do to get more students onboard.