MATTAPOISETT — With arms aloft in victory and to the cheers of about 40 well wishers, Cooper Newton sailed into Mattapoisett Town Wharf Saturday afternoon May 21, the last leg of a nearly 3,000-mile trip that began on Labor Day weekend.

“It’s good to be back,’’ the 19-year-old from Mattapoisett said as he stepped off his boat and onto the dock. “I feel great.’’

A smoky fog that had enveloped the wharf less than an hour earlier lifted in time to provide a clear view of Why Worry as the vessel sailed for home. 

The homecoming signaled the end of nine-month adventure. 

Newton took the sailboat as far as Turks and Caicos Islands, located south of the Bahamas about 1,380 miles away, before making the trek north to a much more familiar setting. 

He didn’t arrive alone. Newton’s boat was escorted into his home port by members of the Old Rochester Regional High School sailing team, which he belonged to in high school, and by the Mattapoisett Harbormaster’s boat, which sounded its siren to signal Newton’s arrival.

“It was so cool to have the sailing team come in with me,’’ he said, seconds after arriving on dry land.

Newton made the trip primarily on his own, adding a crew member only for a short time around Charleston, S.C., he said. 

The journey filled his gap year, after his graduation from Old Rochester Regional High School in 2021. He was accepted into University of Rhode Island, but deferred entry to take on the sailing trip.

Sailing has been a family interest for many years, his father, Peter Newton, said.

“I have a picture of him in his car seat on a sailboat,’’ his mother Marley Newton said with a smile.

During his freshman year, he “really took to it,’’ Peter Newton said. “Sailing turned rapidly into a passion.’’

Shortly after his 17th birthday, Cooper Newton used his work earnings and life savings to purchase a 1967 Bristol 27 sailboat from a seller in Maine.

After buying the boat, he commuted between Mattapoisett and Portland on weekends and days off from school to work on the vessel and get her sea-ready.

The boat was named Why Worry. But his parents of course had their moments of concern as he sailed the vessel solo and so far from home. 

They were  able to follow his movements through a tracking device that could also transmit communication between them and their sailor son.  

His father remembered  when Newton contacted him while he sailed off the coast of  Florida in a lightning storm and asked him to alert the Coast Guard of his location.

“That was a crazy night,’’ Marley Newton said. “But he endured. He’s very resilient.’’

His parents stood together on the dock, beaming with pride as their son returned home.

“It’s been a long time,’’ Peter Newton said. “It’s good to have him home.’’

“I don’t know a lot of young people who would do this,’’  Marley Newton said. “I’m very, very, very proud.’’

Cooper Newton expects to work a summer job at the harbormaster’s office, where he has spent the last few summers. 

Then he plans to begin studying at the University of Rhode Island.

He has another goal there: He hopes to join the sailing team.