CASTINE – After a cold, blustery Saturday of sailing, Sunday dawned bright and warm for both the high school teams in the 2001 Downeast Fleet Racing Championships and George Stevens Academy senior skipper J.M. Modisette.

Modisette had struggled at times Saturday, including trouble at the starting line in three of his six races, and he had to deal with a protest logged against him and his crew Marisol Trowbridge.

On Sunday, the matter of the protest was dealt with early – it was disallowed following a discussion on a motorboat in the middle of Smith Cove here – and Modisette kicked off the races with a third-place finish.

In fact, Modisette didn’t finish lower than fourth. He got off cleaner starts. And on this day, Modisette was the one who filed – and won – a protest against another boat.

His racing Sunday, plus a strong effort from GSA’s B team, gave George Stevens the State of Maine High School Sailing Championship, its second in three years.

Modisette sailed his A team boat to a regatta-low 33 points and the GSA senior was named the individual champion.

Duxbury High School of Duxbury, Mass., won the regatta, scoring a low of 72. George Stevens recorded 77 points, and Marblehead (Mass.) High was third with 87 points.

The scores were determined by adding up all of the finishes of each school’s A and B team in both days of racing. The team with the lowest amount of points was the winner and the top Maine team won the state title.

There were 15 boats from 13 schools (GSA and Mount Desert Island brought along junior varsity boats).

The race course consisted of three buoys set up in a modified triangle. The sailors competed in 420s owned by Maine Maritime Academy. MMA sailing coach Butch Minson was the head sailing judge.

The teams were divided into two teams of two sailors – one skipper and one crew member – with the top two sailors the A team, and the next crew as the B team. Saturday started with two A team races, after which the boats sailed back to the changing float, where boats and crews rotated.

Modisette and Trowbridge came from behind at the final buoy to win the first race Saturday. But in three out of six races, the GSA team lost time at the start because Modisette and Trowbridge broke the plane of the starting line before the whistle, and had to go back behind the line to get clear.

“I was inconsistent. I would have a good race and a bad race … but it was OK. As a team we were second going into [Sunday],” Modisette said.

On Sunday, racing twice with Marisa Benoit as his crew, Modisette stayed further back from the starting line and succeeded. He got off clean starts in all three of his races.

Duxbury’s A team won the final two races to boost the school past George Stevens and Tabor, which had been first after Saturday’s races. GSA played it a little more conservatively.

“I wasn’t over [the line], and that helped,” said the MIT-bound Modisette. “That was my goal going into today. I just couldn’t go over, because that was killing me. I didn’t win any races, but I was consistent.”

He teamed back up with Trowbridge for the final A race of the regatta, and finished third. But GSA succeeded in protesting Tabor and moved up to second place.

Although Sunday had none of Saturday’s chill, it also didn’t have as much wind. The boats actually stalled for about 30 minutes while the boats were on their way to the second buoy during the first A race.

“Today was a great day except the wind died, and we totally weren’t moving,” said Benoit, who will sail for Yale. “It’s really hard when that happens.”

The George Stevens B boat was skippered by Will Reuter, and Melina Markos served as the crew. Reuter and Markos finished third among the B teams.

MDI High School’s team was seventh overall. Casco Bay, a team made up of students from Freeport, Cape Elizabeth and South Portland high schools, wound up eighth.

“This is different than other races,” said Elly Pepper, who crewed MDI’s A boat with skipper Colby Meehan. “It’s more friendly competition. You don’t have a lot of talking between the teams [at other regattas]. That’s sort of nice.”

Rowan Frawley skippered MDI’s B boat, with Ben Thibodeau and Rachel Robinson sharing the crewing duties.

GSA’s top sailors were pleased with their finish, but they had their minds across the country. Last year Morisette, Trowbridge, Markos, Benoit, Reuter, and coach Henry Clews were at the National High School Double-Handed Championships in Long Beach, Calif. and did not sail in the Downeast regatta. This year GSA did not qualify for the national championships.

2001 Downeast Fleet Racing Championship

Overall: Duxbury 72, George Stevens varsity 77, Marblehead 87, Tabor 97, St. Georges 123, Manchester 129, MDI varsity 137, Casco Bay 137, Dover-Sherborn 139, Wellsley 144, MDI JV 169, Brewster 178, George Stevens JV 212, Lincoln Sudbury 219, South Portland 268

A division: George Stevens varsity 33, Marblehead 41, Duxbury 42, Casco Bay 48, St. Georges 50, Tabor 60, Dover-Sherborn 72, MDI varsity 77, Wellsley 79, Manchester 79, Brewster 84, MDI JV 96, George Stevens JV 108, Lincoln-Sudbury 112, South Portland 115

B division: Duxbury 30, George Stevens varsity 37, Marblehead 46, Manchester 50, MDI varsity 60, Wellsley 65, Dover-Sherborn 67, MDI JV 73, St. Georges 73, Casco Bay 89, Brewster 94, George Stevens JV 104, Lincoln-Sudbury 107, South Portland 153