ROCKLAND — On Saturday, May 20, teams from Southern Maine, Camden Hills Regional High School, Boothbay Harbor, Islesboro Central School and Rockland Community Sailing sailed a series of 20 individual team matches for trophies donated by the Coastal Hospice of Maine Volunteers. Sponsors from nearly 30 local businesses and organizations contributed over $8,000 for the Hospice Volunteers. The regatta was a collaboration of Coastal Family Hospice and the Apprenticeshop.

Each team was represented by three boats, each with skipper and crew. One team would race a match against one other team and the team with the better combined low-point total at the finish would be the winner. Each team raced each other team two times.

The day was beautiful, but the west-northwest breeze, shifting and blowing up to 15 knots or dropping to almost nothing, provided extremely challenging conditions for team racing. Matches were raced over a course configured as a “digital N”. A few of the early races ended in comfortable victories by one team, but later races were highly competitive and the winning team not decided until very shortly before the finish. A number of boats capsized when huge puffs swept through and one boat capsized in a sudden shift just feet from the finish line. Three protests were entered, with two teams suffering disqualification. Equipment failure early in the third scheduled match required that match to be re-sailed at the very end of competition.

Camden Hills took home the trophy for first place with a record of 6-2. Rockland Community Sailing was second (5-3). Three teams were tied with records of 3-5. Southern Maine and Islesboro Central both beat Boothbay 2-0. Islesboro and Southern Maine split their two matches and, by virtue of winning the second meeting between them, Islesboro claimed third overall.

In addition to trophies for the top three finishers, the Chris Biggert Award for an “outstanding team race maneuver” was presented to Islesboro skipper Rylee Sienkiewicz and crew Lake Lindelof. The pair initiated a perfectly executed tacking duel before the finish that converted their team’s losing combination into a win.

This regatta was the second of three that make up the Pen Bay Sailing League Spring Series. The third and final leg of the series will occur at Mount Desert Island on May 27. Point standings after the first two legs:

Rockland 1.5 + 2 = 3.5
Islesboro 3 + 3 = 6.0
Camden 6 + 1 = 7.0
Boothbay 4.5 + 5 = 9.5
MDI 7.5 + 6 = 13.5 [Did not compete]

Scores of individual matches in the order they were sailed (low-point wins):

1. SM 6 ICS 15
2. RCS 7 CH 14
3. SM 10 BB 17 (Re-sailed at end)
4. CH 8 ICS 13
5. RCS 6 SM 15
6. ICS 9 BB 12
7. CH 8 SM 13
8. BB 8 RCS 13
9. BB 8 CH 13
10. RCS 9 ICS 12
11. ICS 7 SM 14
12. CH 7 RCS 14
13. SM 8 BB 13
14. CH 8 ICS 13
15. RCS 9 SM 11
16. ICS 10 BB 11
17. CH 8 SM 13
18. BB 11 RCS 16
19. CH 10 BB 11
20. RCS 9 ICS 12

Reach the sports department at: sports@penbaypilot.com.