May 28, 2025 Story & Photo by HHS Sailing
Coach Griffin’s 15th Season is Team’s Strongest by Many Measures
In the final week of the 2025 sailing season, Hingham was on the podium in two Boston-based fleet regattas, winning the Carl Zimba Regatta for the first time and placing second in the MIT State Championship.
20 public and private high schools from the Massachusetts Bay League competed in the two-day Carl Zimba Regatta at Community Boating, Inc. It was comprised of four fleets, two in 420s — the class of boat that HHS owns and practices in — and two in Mercurys, which the team only sails at this annual event. Mercs are a bit bigger and can hold three sailors in heavy wind conditions.
Sailing for Hingham on Monday, May 19, were: skipper Madeleine Accettella (junior) with crew Chris Hoppe (senior captain) in the 420 Gold Fleet, skipper Nora Synnott (sophomore) with crew Parker Bradl (senior) in the Mercury Gold Fleet, and skipper Henry Smith (freshman) with crews Colin Cleary (senior) and Carter Driggs (freshman) in the Mercury Silver Fleet. Conditions were rough and very puffy, with northwest winds averaging about 15 MPH and gusting in the mid 20s.
On Tuesday, May 20, it was less windy at 8 MPH, but still a cold, gray day. Sailing for Hingham were: Caroline O’Hara (senior captain) with crew Audrey Smith (junior captain) in the 420 Silver Fleet, skipper Nora Synott with crew Grace Mahoney (freshman) in the Mercury Gold Fleet, and skipper Casey Teahan (freshman) with crew Jess Scipione (sophomore) in the Mercury Silver Fleet.
A highly-competitive regatta, the winner was determined by a tie breaker. “The entire team did an excellent job and our performance was consistent across all four fleets,” said Coach Joe Griffin, Jr.
“This win is a real testament to how strong our whole team is,” added captain Chris Hoppe (senior), “While at many of our other races, one or two good sailors can be enough to win, at the Zimba Regatta, everyone has to step up, and that’s just what we did.”
Then, on Wednesday, May 21 — across the Charles River at the MIT Sailing Pavilion — Hingham went on to place second at the 50th Annual Massachusetts State Championship. Open to any public or private school, 16 teams competed across two fleets, with Division A in FJs — which are the boats most commonly used in collegiate sailing — and Division B in 420s.
Sailing for Hingham in sporty weather, albeit less gusty than Monday, were: skipper Madeleine Accettella with crew Chris Hoppe in Division A and skipper Caroline O’Hara with crew Sally Egan (sophomore) in Division B. Overall, Hingham finished behind only Belmont Hill, and it narrowly missed the top spot in Division B, losing by just 1 point to Milton Academy.
“This has been one of our most successful seasons ever and our victories last week show the depth of talent and hard work on our team,” said captain Audrey Smith.
It was also a particularly demanding season, and the Harbormen rose to the challenge, competing in nearly 100 team races (for a meet to count in NESSA standings, it must be a best of three or higher) and over 80 fleet races in 2025.
Hingham was proud to host three home team meets in 2025 and also — thanks to the Hingham Yacht Club — its first fleet regatta, the qualifier for the NESSA Girls’ Championship for the Herreshoff Trophy. Much of the season was spent on the road, traveling to various lakes in Massachusetts, several trips into Boston, and as far away as Portland, Maine. By Coach Griffin’s calculations, the team traveled over 1,200 miles, the equivalent of Hingham to Florida, in under 9 weeks.
“It’s some long days, but these kids make it so much fun,” said Griffin. “The program has grown so much bigger — in both size and level of competition — than I could’ve imagined 15 years ago.”
“Coaches Erin Devine, James Morrissey and I are super proud of what this team accomplished. We all worked together and continued to excel at the highest levels in New England, earning berths in two prestigious NESSA regattas to compete for the Terk and Herreshoff Trophies.”
Griffin added, “Throughout the spring, both at home and on the road, our sailing and shore support was all-around amazing! The end of our season was particularly intense. We’d never raced five regattas in a row before like we did last week and to end it the way we did is a huge achievement.”
HHS Sailing will celebrate its accomplished season with a banquet on Thursday, May 29, at Ironwood in the South Shore Country Club. Looking ahead, captain Caroline O’Hara said, “We have some amazing underclassmen coming up and I am so excited to see how they will grow and continue the legacy that we have built over the past few years.”