The Duxbury High School sailing team hosted its first home meet of the season on Saturday at the Duxbury Bay Maritime School.

St. John’s Prep, Chevrus and Falmouth, Maine, were all on hand to compete against the Dragons in Duxbury’s first varsity regatta of the season. The day could not have been any better for sailing with warm temperatures, a 10-15 mph breeze from the west and sunny skies. With a great porch for viewing the racing and a great location on Duxbury Harbor, the Maritime School’s facilities were perfect for hosting the high school sailors and their families.

Like the majority of the meets in the spring season, this particular regatta was a team racing event. Team Racing, which is a common type of racing in high school and college, is often considered to be the most exciting form of sailboat racing. With constant action, three boats from one team compete against three boats from the opposing team with the goal of achieving the best combination at the finish. Much like basketball or other more mainstream sports, there are set plays that each team is trying to execute to better themselves and their teammates. Each boat receives the exact number of points for the position in which they finished, and the team with the fewest points wins. If a team achieves 10 points or less they win the race. Normally, teams compete in a best of five series of races to determine the winner.

Duxbury started off the day strong with a dominating performance, beating Chevrus in three straight races. The team looked good on all points of the race course and finished every race with strong combinations. Unfortunately for DHS, the momentum didn’t carry on when facing the next two teams. While the racing was close against Falmouth and St. John’s Prep, each team defeated the Dragons in a best of five series. St. John’s Prep and Falmouth (Maine) are currently two of the top teams in New England. Although Duxbury lost, they had solid performances from Aidan Diprima, Alison Shane, Ian Grant, Chandler Rodriguez, Ian Ikeda, Ian White, Alec Stewart, Brendan Keohan, Meg Hyland, and Isaac Estey.

The next meet for DHS sailing is against Dartmouth High School on Monday at 4 p.m. Once again, the Duxbury Bay Maritime School will play host for the event. If the Dragon’s win, they will improve their record to 2-3. Last season the sailing team lost to Dartmouth HS in regular season action, but the Dragons improved throughout the season and beat Dartmouth handily in the playoffs. The team has 11 more regattas that will help determine whether or not they make the New England Team Race Championships at the University of New Hampshire on May 14 and 15. The team was able to sneak into the NE Championships last year and they believe they have a good shot to qualify again this season.