The coed Northwestern sailing team rounds the mark ahead of the MMA Mariners during last weekend’s big-boat regatta in San Pedro, Calif.—PHOTO COURTESY OF LOS ANGELES YACHT CLUB

CASTINE — Last March, the Maine Maritime Academy sailing team sent a crew of six big-boat racers to the inaugural edition of the Port of Los Angeles Harbor Club Trophy regatta. Despite having virtually no practice time before heading west, the hardy Mariners stunned their West Coast competition by winning the POLA trophy.

The foredeck crew has the spinnaker well in hand as the Maine Maritime Academy sailing team heads into a downwind leg on its way to winning its second consecutive Port of Los Angeles Harbor Cup Trophy regatta. The Mariners beat six other collegiate teams racing Catalina 37 sloops last weekend in San Pedro, Calif.—PHOTO COURTESY OF LOS ANGELES YACHT CLUB

Not to worry. With junior skipper Matt Bourque at the helm of the Catalina 37 sloops used in the one-design regatta and tactician T.J. Scott calling the shots, the Mariners came out of the gate to win the first race of the eight-race, two-day event. Then the Mariners pulled off two more firsts, a second and a third to finish with 23 points and convincing win in the seven-team fleet and their second consecutive POLA Cup trophy.

On Tuesday, Brown was still enjoying the team’s victory. It was especially sweet because the crew was inexperienced as well as rusty from a winter layoff.

“Matt is new to driving big boats,” Brown said. “It was T.J.’s first ride out there, too.”

Besides Bourque and Scott, two other Mariners, John Kovach and Lester Closson, were sailing their second POLA regatta. The other two sailors in the boat were both freshmen.

Sailing conditions on Saturday and Sunday were extremely difficult. Instead of the expected southwest sea breeze, the wind varied from 3-7 knots off the land.

“It wasn’t like it was last year,” Brown said. “It was squirrelly and choppy.”

MMA finished six points ahead of the second-place USC team. California State University, Channel Islands finished third, losing a tiebreaker to its Southern California competition.

Four races were sailed on both Saturday and Sunday. MMA won the first and fourth races on the first day, then won again in the opener on Sunday. The second race was the team’s worst race each day — a sixth and a fifth.

Brown attributed the inconsistency to a lack of practice time. Many of the other teams had managed at least one or two days of pre-regatta sailing on the big sloops.

“The same thing happened at Navy,” where the team raced 44-foot sloops last fall, Brown said. “They often win the first race, then crazy things go on.”

During pre-regatta coaching sessions, Brown said, he tried to get the sailors to focus on the idea that when they identify “what goes right, keep it going right.”

Despite the tough conditions, Brown said, the crew “kept their composure and didn’t get psyched out. They did what they had to do to win races.”

There was good news for Mariner fans from the East Coast, too. MMA sent two crews to Newport, R.I., to race 420 dinghies for the Wood trophy at Salve Regina University. Despite having just a single practice day on the water before leaving for Rhode Island, the Mariners finished fifth in a 16-team fleet.

“That’s as good as anything right there,” Brown said. “All the other teams have been to Florida and have been training on their breaks. We just don’t have the money to do so.”

The 420 crews mixed experience and youth. In Division A, first-year skipper Chris Poole drove his boat to fifth overall, including one first-place finish in 13 races. Senior Lori Berggren sailed as his crew.

“Poole sailed really fast,” Brown said. Berggren sailed with him to help him “keep his head in the boat. He’s going to be a very strong sailor for us.”

MMA also got a strong performance in Division B from skipper Chris Hulse and crew Will McClean, both first-year racers.

“His nickname is ‘Ice T,’” Brown said of Hulse.

According to Brown, although the team still lacks the consistency it needs to compete against teams from bigger schools with better funded programs, the Mariners have some advantages.

“I think the ‘I get it’ factor has come to them a little bit,” Brown said. “The team is hungry. It really wants to do well.”

Although only 10 team members actually raced last weekend, Brown said the excellent bicoastal showings would have been impossible without the help of the rest of the squad. Many who didn’t sail worked on preparing boats and other gear.

“This was an all over team effort,” Brown said. “It’s a win for all of them, even the guys that didn’t sail.”

This weekend, the dinghy team is scheduled to head for Cambridge, Mass., to race in the first Central Series regatta of the season, hosted by Harvard. Another group will return to Salve Regina to race in the Veitor Trophy regatta.