Castine — Established in 2008, the annual Port of Los Angeles (POLA) Harbor Cup brings together the nation's top collegiate sailing teams.
The Maine Maritime Academy Offshore Sailing Team, which competed in the three-day race, won this year's Cup, ending a 14-year losing streak.
“I think we went out there and left nothing on the water,” said sophomore Ellis Braga, a Stockton Springs native and jib trimmer and spinnaker for the MMA offshore sailing team.
The team traveled more than 3,000 miles from the waters of Castine to California to compete in the annual Pola Harbor Cup.
“No one has a real advantage in that spot,” Braga said.
The race is part of the university's sailing program and is sponsored by the Los Angeles Yacht Club and the Port of Los Angeles.
Teams competing against MMA this year included USC, U.S. Naval Academy, University of Hawaii, and California Maritime Academy.
Each team uses the same Catalina 37 keelboat to level the playing field and showcase the abilities of those operating the boats.
The regatta begins on March 8th and runs for three days. At the end of the first day, the MMA team was in 6th place.
“As a team, we try not to worry too much about the score and just row the boat,” Braga said.
However, going into the final set of races, only three points separated him from the leader. Only USC, Navy, and MMA remain in serious contention.
“Even though we knew how many points we had to make up,” said Courtney King, a Pitt senior on the team from the Camden area. “It doesn’t change the way we navigate.”
As they made the final turn, everyone on the boat knew victory was at hand.
“We knew the boat and each other really well,” Braga said.
“When I crossed the finish line, I breathed a huge sigh of relief,” King said. “It was the perfect way to end my college sailing career.”
MMA won the 2024 Pola Harbor Cup by seven points. The final scores were 32 points for MMA, 39 points for USC, and 41 points for Navy.
Mixed martial arts head sailing coach Patrick DiLara, who took over a little more than a year ago, said this year's team is a special culmination of talent.
“I felt like they were going to win,” Dilara said. “Still, it was a surreal feeling.”
A win will earn the team an automatic invitation to next year's Paula Harbor Cup and Kennedy Cup.
As they begin preparing for the next chapter of the season, some must say goodbye to the team that has become family.
“I hope they value trust and communication,” Dilara says. “I hope that’s what it brings to them.”
“Throughout the last five years, I've seen a lot of variation in coaches and this team. I've seen a lot of people come and go,” King said. “When I went to California, I thought, 'We're going to bring the best people we can.' It was a demonstration of what I could do.”
