Maine Maritime brings home Harbor Cup

Maine Maritime claimed victory in the 16th running of The Port of Los Angeles/Cal Maritime Harbor Cup Regatta on March 8-10 in San Pedro, CA. Champions of the 2008 and 2009 regatta, the Mariners topped the 10-team field racing Catalina 37s off Pt. Fermin.

The keelboat college event was Founded in 2008 to provide young men and women the opportunity to enjoy competitive offshore sailing, with a focus on Corinthian values, sportsmanship and ocean stewardship. The 2024 edition attracted four academies along with schools from both sides of the USA.

The 2024 regatta began with steady breezes and moderate chop which the College of Charleston team mastered, taking the lead followed by Navy and USC. Day two had a grueling five races in the building breeze, with Maine Maritime edging out Charleston and joining the Midshipmen and Trojans at the top of the leaderboard.

Racing on the final day commenced in a lighter breeze than the prior, and it was in the penultimate race when USC’s consistent performance saw them clinging to a one point lead over Maine Maritime, but a ninth in the final race dropped the Trojans to second when the Mariner won the finale.

“Our first day was really just kind of jitters for us,” Maine Maritime tactician Nalu Ho admitted. “It’s been a while since we’ve been sailing and we just had some silly, goofy mistakes. But credit to our amazing team, they held strong, believed in each other, and loved each other through all that, and just kept positive.”

Everything fell into place the second day, he explained, and by Day Three and the final three-lap race, it was a battle for the gold.

“Starting the last race we had USC right above us, and wanted to pinch them off at the start,” noted Maine Maritime Skipper Zach York. “But we weren’t really able to, though going up that first beat we were able to slam dunk them in between two other boats and that really messed them up on that first windward leg.

“The tactician and team got us in the right position, at the right time, and we were able to extend above the layline, tack and crush the fleet. Our spinnaker trimmer did a great job telling me what he was feeling; we were all communicating really well. That was one really good takeaway from the regatta: communication. That really helped us get from sixth to first.”

Patrick DiLalla, who has served as the Maine Maritime coach for just over a year, commended his team. “The first day they did well enough to stay in the hunt, just feeling out the course; but by the second day they’d figured it out. The goal was to be ‘in it to win it’ on the final day and it came to a showdown between the three top teams today. I told them to just go for it, and they brought it home.”

After the racing on March 9, the crews were treated to a stirring presentation by sailing icon Roy P. Disney, “owner/grinder of Pyewacket,” as he described himself.

“I’m really honored to be here speaking to this group,” Disney said. “I’ve been where they are. I’ve seen the path that they may well be on. And I want to encourage that. Sailing is experiential, and the trap you run into is you can’t get the experience without the job and you can’t get the job without the experience.”

So the advice he always gives, he says, is, “Volunteer to do the worst job on the boat. First of all: you’ll get the job. Secondly, you can see the world play out in front of you. And you can then make judgments about what works and what doesn’t, where you fit in, and where your skill sets are. And they’ll probably invite you back!

“I started out as a pit guy, and then a grinder. A lot of people don’t see that: they don’t see the work that it took me to go from here to there.” He applauded Los Angeles Yacht Club and the POLA Harbor Cup for the opportunities it gives college sailors, noting, “You’ve got to start somewhere and this is a great place to start. Don’t play it down if you don’t do well. Take it. Learn from it. Grow from it.”

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Source: Betsy Senescu