Marblehead’s Junior Race Week is a wrap, with several local winners announced.
Nearly 180 young sailors boarded their vessels Monday morning and sailed them out of Marblehead Harbor to face off in the first day of the 2025 regatta. They spent the next few hours sailing in heavy wind, big waves and challenging conditions. But this was just the first of three days of sailing.
Junior Race Week took place July 21-23 and included four races per day for 8-to 18-year-old sailors. Many are Marbleheaders, but others come from all around New England. Marblehead Race Week was first introduced in 1889, making this the 136th annual event, and one of the town’s most treasured traditions.
CURRENT PHOTOS / GREY COLLINS
Last year, a lack of wind canceled all but one race at the Junior Race Week. Since beginning to organize the races back in January, officials and sailors have been hoping that this year might be different. They were delighted to see wind speeds of up to 20 mph on Monday. This allowed for fast racing and combined with big waves to create challenging conditions for the sailors. But it also gave these sailors a rare opportunity to test their skills.
“It’s going terrific, relative to last year, we’ve gone from famine to feast,” said Junior Race Week Co-Chair Jim Da Silva, who has been organizing the race week for four years. “Yesterday being a windier day than average, a lot of sailors were able to test their limits. And when you test your limits in a controlled and safe environment, it can be a really special experience.”
The racers took to the waves in three types of boats: Optimists, C420s and Lasers. The buoys marking the race courses were placed by race committee boats near Children’s Island and Chandler Hovey Park.
The winners
On Wednesday, after three days of racing, the points were counted to determine an overall winner for each category.
The winner of the Opti Green races was Sebastian McAllister from the Pleon Yacht Club, and the victor of the Opti Champ division was Harrison Doyle with the San Francisco Yacht Club. The winner of the ILCA 6 division was Max Dressel from the Pleon Yacht Club, who was closely followed by his brother, Julius, who came in third place. Michael Carner and Sebby Wells, of Ipswich Junior Sailing, won first place in the 420 Green division races, and the victors of the 420 Champ races were Micholas Paratore and Bock Otto Richon of the Sandy Bay Yacht Club.
For more on the results, click HERE.
The organizers and racers were happy to see community support that has helped make these races possible. The Boston, Corinthian, Eastern and Manchester Yacht Clubs all assisted in the race management, but the organizers were really thankful to all of the volunteers who are spending their time helping out.
“This event is really run on volunteer support,” said Co-Chair Emily Gabriel, who is organizing the Junior Race week for her first time. “It’s so meaningful that so many people are coming out to help, whether they’re on the race committee, or getting the sailors fed with bagels in the morning. We have a terrific group of volunteers.”
Ella Benedetto, who has been sailing at Pleon for six years, and was chosen to be the commodore of the Pleon youth program this year, was looking forward to helping run the show this week, and welcoming racers from all over New England.
“It’s such a great tradition,” said Benedetto. “It’s so great to host a home regatta and help everyone feel welcome. Pleon is such a special place, and I love sharing that with everyone who comes to race with us.”
She also hopes to share her love of sailing with this group of promising young racers this week.
“I want everyone to love sailing as much as I do, so I just want to be somebody who helps foster that love in other people,” reflected Benedetto. “I want everyone to be able to experience what it’s like when you cross that finish line.”
Stay with the Current for comprehensive coverage of Race Week through Sunday evening.
