by Nathalie Cavallo '16, Tucker Hersam '16, and Parker Loftus '16, 2016 Sailing Captains
Though only midway through the season, the Tabor Academy Sailing team has found a lot of success so far this year. This past weekend, we came away with the George O’Day Trophy for the first time in ten years. Our success all started with a strong foundation: an early season trip to Schull, Ireland, where we sailed against 15 other schools in an International Regatta. It was a great team-building trip, where we, the captains, were learning along with our teammates, thanks to our excellent hosts in Schull.
Now back, sailing in New England on the shores of Sippican Harbor, we’ve already accomplished a lot. This past weekend, Tabor sailing hosted a qualifying fleet racing regatta with 13 teams. We all woke up Saturday morning to find the temperatures were in the 40s and the wind was already gusting to 25 knots, so we knew that hosting this regatta was going to be more than just the "three ring circus,” as Mr. Hurd likes to refer to it.
Due to the strong winds, many boats were flipping, which led to an abnormally high amount of boat repairs. They all needed to be fixed on the spot, and it was amazing to watch our team run around fixing repairs, win out on the water, and help pull off the event. We had two captains on the water racing, and one off the water helping keep morale up and making sure every teammate was doing their job well. It took a full team effort to make the event a success, both for Tabor, and for the visiting schools.
Sunday was even more exciting as the wind was much lighter, and we all raced very well, securing our spot for the National Fleet Racing Regatta, being held this year at the College of Charleston in Charleston, SC. It’s challenging leading the team through fleet racing events because it’s another full day of sailing with not too many breaks. Our job is to bring morale up and keep the team focused.
Morale building was the key to keeping our scores consistent, even in the very inconsistent wind conditions. There was strong student leadership--constantly talking between races about what we need to do differently, and what continue focusing on in order to qualify was critical to our success.
Coming home with a metal cup, and plaque, having won the O’Day Regatta, was probably one of the highlights of all three of our high school sailing careers and it felt amazing for all three captains to know that we led our team to a National Regatta. We all were very excited to go fill the trophy case back at Tabor with our new shiny prizes.
It has been a privilege to be captains of our very talented sailing team, already. We can’t wait to get back to Team Racing for the rest of our season, and race at the College of Charleston for the National Fleet Racing Regatta. We have high hopes all around for our team this year!
