Harwich High School 2001 Interscholastic Sailing Team

Welcome to the Harwich High Sailing Team Homepage. The Sailing Team is based at the Chatham Yacht Club on the shores of Pleasant Bay. This is one of the mildest spots on Cape Cod in the springtime and provides flat water and shifty sailing which add up to a perfect formula for developing top notch sailors.

The Harwich High Sailing Team completed another highly successful sailing season (11-5) on the waters of Pleasant Bay culminating in a 2nd Place finish at the State Fleet Racing Championships at MIT and 1st Place at the Cape & Islands Championship which was hosted right here at our diminutive club.

Coach John Dickson assisted by Harwich Harbormaster Tom Leach continues to mold a successful team of skippers and crew from among school ranks. Because our beloved Pleasant Bay is just that, pleasant, their success may be due in part to beginning daily practices early in March nearly a month prior to some of the other schools. Dry suits are the order and the infrequent capsize is usually dealt with by a quick righting. If you think kids today are any less tough, think again about bobbing around in the 38°F water and a -5° wind chill.

The captain's torch was passed to a pair of Juniors: Tommy Leach and Jamie Scarbrough. Harwich lost two top senior skippers last year in CYC members Mike O'Loughlin and Josh Mongeau. Fortunately for Harwich, two underclassmen Tommy Leach and Jaime Scarbrough, who are part of Stone Horse racing team, have picked up the helm along with Neal Donovan. Mikes kid sister Shawna O'Loughlin also takes her turn on the tiller as do Bryan Knowles and Scott Penfield. Crews include Gina Legge, Jim Adams, Jill Shuttleworth, Jesse Mongeau, and Julia Szendrei.

The team races and practices in their 420's on Pleasant Bay five days a week. Here skipper Co-Captain Tommy Leach and Jesse Mongeau really get the 420 smoking.

Tommy and Jaime as team captains have done well. Their most unusual event this year was a return to Figawi for the High School Invitational where the two shared the helm and crew duties and landed an untouchable two seconds and five firsts against 8 teams. In sailing science counts. That's what two Harwich High skippers have shown the rest of their world throughout this season. Sailing on the edge the honor students learned to put physics to work, tacking on shifts and headers, deciding on the chess-work that gets you to the top in team and fleet racing.

New to the team this season and quick studies were Jillian Shuttleworth (junior), and Jesse Mongeau(soph), Jim Adams, Julia Szendrei(soph), and Bridget Sullivan(senior). Jillian also played a double role as team stenographer, and photographer. She is the contributing sports editor for the Cape Cod Chronicle.

Co-Captain Jamie Scarbrough with crew Shawna O'Loughlin have developed their 420 skills to the highest degree. It all starts somewhere. Ask a sailing team member about joining the Rough Riders sailing team. Practices start the tail end of March.

In 2000 the team was 11-3, ranked #10 in New England; 2nd Place at Cape & Islands Invitational; 3rd Place at Down East Championships; 8th Place at the Mass States; 2nd Place at Figawi High School Fleet Regatta. Harwich team members were particularly proud of their effort at the Massachusetts State Sailing Championship at MIT in 1999 and their victory at the premier 1999 Cape & Islands Invitational Championship Regatta. The 2000 season was our strongest showing yet, led by senior co-captains Josh Mongeau and Mike O'Loughlin and tactful steering by Tommy Leach and Jaime Scarbrough as sophomores . Added to that equation were a host of crew willing to put their backs into it like stalwart Ben Bachert, Scott Penfield, Bryan Knowles, Gina Legge and Shawna O'Loughlin. We were also proud of the afterguard, with the likes of up and coming skippers Shawna O'Loughlin, Neal Donovan.

The premier team went 4-1 on its 1998 season. 1999 saw an influx of a solid corp of freshmen and the team boosted its record to 7-3. In 1999 we became full members of the New England Interscholastic Sailing Association and the Interscholastic Sailing Association. 1999 the team was 2nd out of all schools at the Tabor Academy Invitational; 1st in the Cape & Islands Invitational; 5th at the Mass State Championships. This year our schedule was expanded to 17 team races (we sailed 14) and several more regattas. For the first time, we will enter the NESSA Fleet Championship and the NESSA Team Racing Championships (if we get in by resume).

Coach John Dickson, who received his training on Pleasant Bay and the Harvard Varsity Sailing Club, instills a sense of purpose to the team. Although he underscores the need for team members to have fun sailing first, the team is drilled heavily in the skill, adroitness, delicacy and diplomacy of team racing and fleet racing challenges. Assistant Coach Tom Leach (Tufts) brings his lifetime experience as a sailor and harbormaster to the team. The challenge of short course one-design sailboat racing requires student crews to make quick strategic decisions in difficult and tight situations to be successful. High school sailing teams are extraordinary and we are proud to know that the Harwich School Administration recognizes the Harwich High Sailing Team as a natural for our unique Cape Cod Town .

Current Wind and Weather Conditions on Pleasant Bay, Harwich, MA