Coach Chuck Fontaine has words of praise for two cadets at Massachusetts Maritime. One, Sean McLaughlin, hails from Fairhaven and is the son of Kevin McLaughlin of the Fairhaven Shipyard. The other, Daniel "Bud" Barry, comes from Dartmouth. Both are freshmen (4th class), and both have helped advance the sailing programs at MMA.

"McLaughlin has come in and filled several holes," said Fontaine, in both the dinghy and offshore sailing programs. Barry, on the other hand, has "focused entirely on the dinghy program."

Both cadets are helping to build solid dinghy and offshore teams for the next three years of sailing at the Buzzards Bay maritime school.

"Sean and Bud are providing an influx of new local blood to MMA sailing" said Fontaine. "They are welcome additions to the team and will be building blocks for future years."

The dinghy program, where Barry excels, pits the MMA teams against schools in New England with team and individual dinghy racing programs including URI, Harvard, Yale, Tufts, BU, Maine Maritime, Roger Williams, Salve Regina, Providence, Brown and the Universities of Vermont and New Hampshire. The college teams compete in Fall and Spring races in Club 420's, the mainstay sailboat for junior programs at area yacht clubs and local secondary schools, such as Dartmouth and Tabor Academy.

Barry's approach to competitive sailing has "dramatically improved" the MMA dinghy teams, according to Fontaine. Both Barry and McLaughlin are doing "much better than they did in high school," he said.

McLaughlin has jumped from the 420 program to bow man in the offshore sailing program. With McLaughlin tending the bow, MMA large offshore boats went from a fifth place finish in last year's U.S. Naval Academy regatta in Annapolis to third place this year.

That leap was due "in large part," according to Fontaine, to McLaughlin. "He's up there consistently doing a good job." McLaughlin garnered a lot of experience aboard his father's J-44 Spice.

Before joining the MMA dinghy and offshore sailing programs, McLaughlin sailed Lasers and 420's for local clubs. In addition to crewing on Spice, he has crewed aboard J-24's out of Newport, and he did some frostbite sailing in New Bedford Harbor. Since this summer, McLaughlin has sailed for Mass. Maritime on Wednesdays at the Beverly Yacht Club.

"He is a very accomplished dinghy skipper and crew," said Fontaine, adding he shows "great skill as a bow man on bigger boats."

McLaughlin's skill on larger boats led him to sail for MMA on the Marblehead to Halifax race this summer. Barry and McLaughlin recently wrapped up competition in the Penobscot Bay Open, Barry in the Harmon Cup dinghy races and McLaughlin in the sloop competition.

Barry competed last weekend for the Smith Trophy at MIT, while McLaughlin headed to Bowdoin College to compete for the Hewitt Trophy. In mid-September, McLaughlin served as bow man once again aboard the MMA entry in the Shield Trophy competition at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis. This weekend, the MMA offshore team is competing in the Storm Trysail Intercollegiate Offshore Regatta in Larchmont, NY. Next weekend, Barry will sail at home at the Great Herring Pond Open October 15 and 16, and travel to southern Maine for another trophy event. Both McLaughlin and Barry will represent MMA at the New England Freshman Dinghy Championship races and the Nickerson Trophy races in Connecticut later this season.

U.S. Sailing News

U.S. Sailing named MMA's sailing coach and director of the yacht and boat donation program Chuck Fontaine as "Sailor of the Week" for Sept. 15-21. Fontaine, who began his sailing career at the Low Tide Yacht Club in New Bedford in 1968, has been on the water every year since. He is the son of Dick Fontaine, longtime sailing judge for local regattas and LTYC committee boat chairman.

Said Fontaine, "It's not about me"¦it's about the cadets who sail in our programs at Mass. Maritime. It's all about them."

In addition, U.S. Sailing's Roadshow Crew sailed with the MMA Varsity Offshore Sailing team during the Buzzards Bay Regatta aboard the Natalie J. The Roadshow Crew created a video that highlights the benefits of the team and its relationship with the academy's boat donation program.