The 2022 Maine Girls Doublehanded Sailing Championship was held Saturday, October 22nd, at Maine Maritime Academy in Castine, Maine, with 11th grader Tess Straw and 10th graders Norah Shroder, Story Straw, and Alex Haskell representing Cape Elizabeth High School.
Fourteen boats representing high schools and conglomerate teams from across the state competed for the state championship in girls high school sailing and its associated perpetual trophy, the Becton Cup. The Cup is named after Jean Coggan Becton who won the Maine Women’s Sailing Championship in 1936 and 1946 and whose family promoted scholastic sailing in Maine.
The race committee was able to run 8 races in a relatively strong wind, during which time skipper Tess Straw and crew Shroder were able to rack up impressive results that included two first place finishes and three second place finishes, ending the day 5 points ahead of second place Camden Hills Regional High School and 6 points ahead of three-time defending champions Lincoln Academy. (Full scores available at: https://scores.hssailing.org/f22/becton-cup/ )
With their victory—believed to be the first state championship in Cape Elizabeth Sailing Team history—the pair was awarded the Becton Cup perpetual trophy, which Straw and Shroder plan to add to the Cape Elizabeth High School trophy case for a year once it has been engraved. Although this is believed to be the first perpetual sailing trophy to be displayed at Cape Elizabeth High School, the team hopes it won’t be the last.
This victory caps off a strong season for the Cape Sailing Team that included a berth in the prestigious Lawrence White National Invitational at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy in Connecticut and competitive finishes against various New England private school sailing powerhouses by various combinations of the Becton Cup sailors, 10th grade skipper Sage Evans, and 12th grade crew Cora Johnson.