'Surrounded by teamwork': Youth sailors sail from Newport to Bermuda
Nia Rodrigues of New Bedford at the wheel of the boat, named Crazy Horse. Source: Sarah Palestine
Daniel Renehan drives while Dartmouth resident Maisy Sperry trims.
Maisy Sperry steers the boat.
Daniel Renehan, Bella Furey, Shealin Palmer, and Dartmouth resident Peter Herlihy watch dolphins swim nearby.
Some team members wave from the rail port.
Riding the waves.
The team waves from the boat.
The team take a group photo when having dinner in Bermuda.
Shealin Palmer and Sophia Litos high-five.
Maisy Sperry, Sophia Litos and Nia Rodrigues look at the navigation.
Bella Furey coming out from below deck.
Richard Feeney, left, and Scott Bancroft steer the boat.
Anayis Mendes, Peter Herlihy, Shealin Palmer, Sophia Litos and Bella Furey.
Climbing the mast.
Shea Palmer, Anayis Mendes and Richard Feeney.
Nia Rodrigues of New Bedford at the wheel of the boat, named Crazy Horse. Source: Sarah Palestine
Daniel Renehan drives while Dartmouth resident Maisy Sperry trims.
Maisy Sperry steers the boat.
Daniel Renehan, Bella Furey, Shealin Palmer, and Dartmouth resident Peter Herlihy watch dolphins swim nearby.
Some team members wave from the rail port.
Riding the waves.
The team waves from the boat.
The team take a group photo when having dinner in Bermuda.
Shealin Palmer and Sophia Litos high-five.
Maisy Sperry, Sophia Litos and Nia Rodrigues look at the navigation.
Bella Furey coming out from below deck.
Richard Feeney, left, and Scott Bancroft steer the boat.
Anayis Mendes, Peter Herlihy, Shealin Palmer, Sophia Litos and Bella Furey.
Climbing the mast.
Shea Palmer, Anayis Mendes and Richard Feeney.
For nearly four days, 12 sailors from the Community Boating Center faced weather, navigational challenges and a fair amount of seasickness on a 636-mile-long race from Newport, Rhode Island to Bermuda.
Unlike most of the approximately 150 teams that competed in the more than 100-year-old race, eight of the team’s sailors were college-aged, making this their first major overnight race and among just a handful of youth teams competing.
“I feel like sailing is mainly older people, mostly men, and I think it’s really special that our team is youth and also majority girls,” said 19-year-old Dartmouth resident Sophia Litos.
Litos, who has been sailing with the Community Boating Center since her sophomore year of high school, said people have told her they’re “super proud of us,” noting it “makes us feel more special than we give ourselves.”
Nia Rodrigues, 19 of New Bedford, said she doesn’t think her and her teammates “give ourselves enough credit,” recalling how the coaches told them even just finishing the race is an accomplishment.
“We’re all just like, ‘Oh yeah, whatever,’ but then we’re sitting there … and you see other boats from our class start to finish, and I’m like, ‘Guys, there’s only grown adults. We are maybe half their age.’ It’s so insane,” she said.
Competing in the Newport-Bermuda Race was a project five years in the making, with each sailor required to have at least three years of sailing experience. This included completing safety training, learning the fundamentals and racing in local overnight races.
Shealin Palmer, 21 of Somerset, said she remembered when the organization first considered competing in the race. At the time, it was “just our end goal.”
“It’s just so cool that we were able to go and do it,” she said. “It’s such a wonderful thing to do.”
Richard Feeney, the Community Boating Center’s youth offshore coach, said the race has some of the most stringent safety requirements for overnight races, as it crosses the Gulf Stream where weather can be “fickle.”
“There’s lists upon lists. There’s hundreds of checklists, thousands of items,” he said of the safety measures.
Rodrigues said while the race is a straight line from Newport to Bermuda, there are still “so many more technical components that are part of it.”
These include understanding the navigation software and facing an 18-hour stretch with no wind in their sails.
“The days that it was absolutely no wind was very rough, and we played a lot of games,” Palmer said.
Feeney, who has competed in the Newport-Bermuda race several times, said sailing with a youth team is “definitely different because youthful people bring youthful energy.”
“They’re less experienced with their own bodies, and there’s a whole element of that, which is fun to work them through,” Feeney said.
This included working through fatigue, managing seasickness and understanding how to stay hydrated, fed and protected from the sun.
“Those are things that you learn with age,” Feeney said. "You get better at managing all that.”
Litos said they were doing prep work until the hour they embarked, such as making final food preparations.
“We were preparing the boat every single day for a long, long amount of time, but it takes an effort from everybody as well because everybody has their own specialties,” she said.
Feenery said the Community Boating Center’s program is built on teamwork and communication, which he said are two key factors for a successful race.
“So as long as those are working, everything else falls into place,” he said.
He said that while on the water, the sailors were able to solve every problem and challenge that arose because they were “really good” at building up their teamwork and communication.
“Once you’re on the water, everyone has their part and you can see it so well with our team,” Rodrigues said.
She added, “It’s a sport surrounded by teamwork.”
Feeney said he’s seen the challenge build strong bonds between teammates during previous races, and noted, “You build these beautiful ties for life, and I think that happened all around.”
He added, “Everybody felt successful, and part of a project that’s much bigger than themselves, and it’s a beautiful thing.”
