The Duxbury High School sailing team traveled to Hyannis Yacht Club last month for a sectional qualifier for the New England Fleet Race Championships. The sectional qualifier, hosted by the Barnstable sailing team, had a field of 12 teams in the competition. Only the top three teams would qualify for New Englands the following day in Greenwich, Conn.

The day began with a solid breeze out of the north, but the conditions were shifty with the breeze coming directly off the land. Senior skipper Julia Leonard and junior crew Ian Grant began in the A division and sailed consistently all day.

Sailing in the B division was sophomore skipper Ian White and senior crew, Morgan Gould. The pair started well, but really began to sail effectively at the end of the day, finishing with two first-place finishes in their final set.

Overall the team finished third, qualifying for the New England Fleet Race Championships in Greenwich, CT the next day.

Indian Harbor Yacht Club in Greenwich was the host club, but they couldn’t produce prime conditions for sailing. With rain, a light breeze, and a cold front passing through, it made for a difficult afternoon.

As the day went on, the wind began to build with large shifts throughout the extremely long course. The racing was so close that there wasn’t any room for mistakes.

Leonard and Ali Garran began in A Division with Grant switching in as the wind built. Half way through the day junior Al Shane and sophomore Brendan Keohan switched in to end the day. All the team members sailed hard in the competitive A fleet. White and Gould sailed steadily in B Division all day but were not able to replicate their success from Saturday. Hadley Burnham and Garran switched into B-Division and finished the day on a strong note, posting top five finishes in both races.

At the end of the day the team finished in 11th place, failing to qualify for nationals.

The Dragons finish their season in a couple weeks and are currently in 11th place in the NESSA team race standings and has a good shot at qualifying for Wild Card Weekend: a last minute qualifier for Team Race New Englands.