New York Yacht Club Annual Regatta - A lively and historical tradition

by Barby MacGowan on 18 Jun 2013 The New York Yacht Club Annual Regatta presented by Rolex—the oldest regatta in the country—has entered the history books for the 159th time after two days of weekend racing (June 15 and 16) preceded by an optional and separately scored competition 'Around the Island' on Friday (June 14). With 153 teams competing, the 2013 edition also was the largest Annual Regatta on record, with enough action on the water and ashore to guarantee the event’s venerable reputation into the next century.

'We are proud and privileged to be able to open our home to this many yachtsman and sailors that come from all over the world, both professional and Corinthian, with great crews,' said Commodore Thomas Harrington after an Annual Regatta dinner that hosted 800 sailors and is as much of a tradition as the racing. 'We extend the hospitality of the New York Yacht Club both on the water and off, because what we are about is sharing in our traditions. And like anything else, to have a great party you need people to come, and they came.'

After winning the Around the Island Race and its prize of a Rolex watch for best performance among all IRC competitors, Jim Swartz (Salt Lake City, Utah) continued to showcase his team’s prowess by winning all but one of five races to dominate IRC 1. Until today, his TP 52 Vesper’s toughest competition in the Annual Regatta was George David’s (Hartford, Conn.) 90-foot Rambler, which turned in top-three performances over three races on Saturday to secure second place and on Friday had taken line honors in the Around the Island Race, which it completed in a record one hour, 40 minutes and 15 seconds. But while Rambler had promised a challenge early-on, it failed to follow through on Sunday, posting an eight to six to allow Takashi Okura’s (Tokyo, Japan) TP 52 Sled to claim a one to four and climb into second overall (from a fourth on Saturday). Sled also claimed the spot at the top of the scoreboard when this class (all but Vesper and Rambler included) was dual-scored under the High Performance Rule (HPR).

'The crew is flawless, and the boat is fast,' said Swartz, who counts this as his third season sailing Vesper. 'It has been a fun boat to sail; it goes upwind beautifully and flies downwind.'

IRC 2, IRC 3 and IRC 4 were won by Ed Freitag/Molly Haley’s (Annapolis, Md.) Summit 40 DownTime, Mike Bruno’s (Armonk, N.Y.) defending J/122 Wings, and Pieter Taselaar’s (Newport, R.I.) Farr 30 Menace-Bliksem, respectively.

Stewart Neff (Wenham, Mass.), skippering Scimitar, held the lead over two days and five races in Etchells class. 'This weekend was full of tricky conditions and tough competition, but we sailed well enough to win the regatta,' said Neff, who won the Etchells North American Championship in 1992 and is preparing for the 2013 event scheduled here next week. 'This weekend was great practice for the North Americans; about half the fleet was here.'

In J/70s, which also are preparing for their North Americans, Joel Ronning’s (Minneapolis, Minn.) Catapult lived up to its name by launching itself into first place on Sunday after winning three of four races to displace Saturday’s leader Sugar Daddy, skippered by Mark Ploch (Armonk, N.Y.).

Classes for J/111 and J/80 and J/105 were won by Henry Brauer’s (Marblehead, Mass.) Fleetwing, Will Crump’s (Annapolis, Md.) R80, and Sean and Susan Doyle’s (Cos Cob, Conn.) Kestrel, respectively.

There was a showdown on Sunday in the Farr 40 class when Alberto Rossi’s Italian entrant Enfant Terrible recorded a comeback victory, decided by a tie breaker, over Jim Richardson’s (Boston, Mass.) Barking Mad, which had led at the end of racing on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. (The class chose to extend its Annual Regatta series to four days in preparation for its World Championship here later this summer.)

Enfant Terrible and Barking Mad were tied on points as the two boats sailed downwind to the finish line of the last race. Enfant Terrible needed to hold second place in order to win the regatta. Meanwhile, Barking Mad had to pick off one boat and move into fourth place to pull out the victory. Enfant Terrible did its job by crossing the line just behind first place Charisma, while Barking Mad came up a couple of boat lengths short of passing Groovederci and had to settle for fifth.

'For as long as I have been sailing in this class, it seems like regattas are always decided by two points or less. It's a tough, tough class and I've been on both sides of it,' said Enfant Terrible’s tactician Vasco Vascotto. 'Our crew had a never-give-up attitude. We said last night and again this morning that we could win this regatta. I'm very proud of what we did because we performed when the pressure was on.'

The 12 Metres were divided into Modern/Grand Prix and Traditional classes, and the standouts in those, respectively, were Gunther Buerman’s (Newport, R.I.) New Zealand and Alain and Daniel Hanover’s (Weston, Mass.) Columbia. New Zealand was bought by Buerman only recently and he was pleased with its performance. 'It’s a fast boat, but it’s like someone threw me the keys to the space shuttle and said ‘figure it out.’ Everyone was fast in our class; we were lucky and won every race.

Three Navigator classes gave sailors the option of one long course, around government marks, each day. Mallory Cushman’s (Boston, Mass.) Elite 37 Sparkle Pony won spinnaker Class 7 and Stefan Lehnert’s (Bremen, GER) Tripp 56 Passion 4 won spinnaker Class 6, while Gerald Harris’s (Rowayton, Conn.) Columbia 50 Hermie took non-spinnaker Class 8.

'This was my first Annual Regatta sailing on my own as a young member,' said 26-year-old Cushman, who chartered Sparkle Pony for the regatta. 'We had perfect weather this weekend and great competition. The J/29 Meddler beat us on Friday in the Around the Island Race, but we came back on Saturday and Sunday. The Navigator Races were about six to seven miles long, so they were short enough that you still had to make snap decisions and be spot on tactically. I was lucky to have a great crew onboard with me. Overall, it was a great weekend with great competition.'

One spinnaker class and two non-spinnaker classes comprised the Classics division, which found the custom yawl Black Watch (Newport, R.I.), Bob and Farley Towse’s (Stamford, Conn.) SYCE and Joseph Huber’s (Wynnewood, Pa.) Ruweida at the top of the leaderboard in Classes 3, 4 and 5, respectively.

It’s appropriate that one of the oldest one-design class continually races in the oldest regatta in the country, and this year it was Geoffrey Davis’s (Providence, R.I.) Aquila that topped the impressive, and elegantly beautiful, 10-strong S Boat fleet.

In Swan 42s, Impetuous, skippered by Paul Zabetakis (Jamestown, R.I.) turned in an impressive performance to top 12 teams, five of which are vying for a berth at the New York Yacht Club’s Invitational Cup later this year. The winner of that event in 2009, Phil Lotz’s Arethusa, finished third overall while Ken Colburn’s (Dover, Mass.) Apparition took second.

The tradition of the Annual Regatta began at the New York Yacht Club’s original clubhouse in Hoboken, N.J., in 1845, during its second year of existence. Racing takes place on Narragansett Bay and Rhode Island Sound, with daily awards and social activities at Harbour Court, the New York Yacht Club’s on-the-water clubhouse in Newport, R.I. Engraved overall trophies in each class were given at Sunday Night’s Rolex Awards Party. Rolex also awards a timepiece to the overall winner (determined by the organizers) of Saturday’s and Sunday’s combined series of races, which officially constitutes the 159th New York Yacht Club Annual Regatta presented by Rolex. This special prize, as well as the Great Corinthian Trophy for yacht club teams of three or more boats posting the best class finishes, will be awarded at the Annual Awards Dinner, held on November 14, at the New York Yacht Club’s main clubhouse in New York City.

(Top-three Results Follow)

159th New York Yacht Club Annual Regatta presented by Rolex

Final Results after two days, June 16, 2013

Place, Yacht Name, Type, Owner/Skipper, Hometown, Results, Total Points

Blue Class 1 - HPR (HPR - eight boats)
1. SLED (HPR), TP 52, Takashi Okura , Tokyo, JPN - 1, 2, 4, 1, 1, ; 9
2. Spookie (HPR), HPR Carkeek 40, Steve eight Heidi Benjamin , Norwalk, CT, USA - 4, 4, 1, 4, 2, ; 15
3. Rima2 (HPR), RP 55, John Brim , New York, NY, USA - 6, 1, 3, 3, 4, ; 17

Blue Class 1 - IRC 1 (IRC - 10 Boats)
1. Vesper, TP 52, Jim Swartz , Park City, UT, USA - 1, 1, 1, 2, 1, ; 6
2. SLED, TP 52, Takashi Okura , Tokyo, JPN - 4, 4, 6, 1, 4, ; 19
3. Spookie, HPR Carkeek 40, Steve and Heidi Benjamin , Norwalk, CT, USA - 5, 5, 4, 4, 2, ; 20

Blue Class 3 - IRC 2 (IRC - eight boats)
1. DownTime, Summit 40, Ed Freitag / Molly Haley , Annapolis, MD, USA - 1, 1, 3, 1, 3, ; 9
2. Interlodge, Swan 42, Austin and Gwen Fragomen , Newport, RI, USA - 2, 3, 2, 2, 1, ; 10
3. White Witch, King 40, Larry Landry , North Kingstown, RI, USA - 4, 2, 1, 4, 2, ; 13

Blue Class 4 - IRC 3 (IRC - eight boats)
1. Wings, J 122, Mike Bruno , Armonk, NY, USA - 1, 1, 2, 5, 2, ; 11
2. Dolphin, J 122, Neil McMillan , Annapolis, MD, USA - 2, 2, 5, 2, 1, ; 12
3. Orion, J 122, Paul Milo , Leesburg, VA, USA - 5, 4, 3, 1, 3, ; 16

Blue Class 2 - Swan 42 (One Design - 12 Boats)
1. Impetuous, Swan 42, Paul Zabetakis , Jamestown, RI, USA - 8, 1, 5, 1, 2, ; 17
2. Apparition, Swan 42, Ken Colburn , Dover, MA, USA - 2, 3, 7, 8, 1, ; 21
3. Arethusa, Swan 42, Phil Lotz , Newport, RI, USA - 1, 2, 10, 6, 3, ; 22

Blue Class 5 - J/111 (One Design - five boats)
1. Fleetwing, J 111, Henry Brauer , Marblehead, MA, USA - 2, 2, 1, 2, 1, ; 8
2. Velocity, J 111, Martin Roesch , Ellicott City, MD, USA - 1, 5, 3, 1, 3, ; 13
3. Wicked 2.0, J 111, Douglas Curtiss , South Dartmouth, MA, USA - 3, 3, 2, 4, 2, ; 14

Green Class 3 - CRF (non-spin) (CRF - four boats)
1. Black Watch, Custom Yawl 68, Black Watch Alliance LLC , Newport, RI, USA - 1, 2, 1, 1, 1, ; 6
2. Spartan, NY50, Charles Ryan , Providence, RI, USA - 2, 1, 3, 3, 3, ; 12
3. Sonny, S&S 53 Custom 53.3, Joseph Dockery , Newport, RI, USA - 3, 3, 2, 2, 2, ; 12

Green Class 4 - CRF (spin) (CRF - two boats)
1. SYCE (spin), 6 Metre, Bob and Farley Towse , Stamford, CT, USA - 1, 1, 1, 2, 1, ; 6
2. Vixen (spin), 15 Square Metre, Andrew Norris , Wilton, CT, USA - 2, 2, 2, 1, 2, ; 9

Green Class 5 - CRF (non-spin) (CRF - five boats)
1. Ruweida, R Class 38, Joseph Huber , Wynnewood, PA, USA - 2, 2, 1, 1, 2, ; 8
2. Chips, P-Class Gaff Sloop 50', Jed Pearsall , Newport, RI, USA - 3, 1, 3, 2, 1, ; 10
3. Belle, L-24, Joe Loughborough , Newport, RI, USA - 1, 3, 2, 3, 3, ; 12

Green Class 1 - 12 Metre M/GP (One Design - five boats)
1. New Zealand (GP), 12 Metre, Gunther Buerman , Newport , RI, USA - 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, ; 5
2. Victory 83, 12 Metre, Dennis Williams , Hobe Sound, FL, USA - 2, 2, 5, 3, 3, ; 15
3. Courageous, 12 Metre, Ralph Isham Alexander Auersperg , New York, NY, USA - 3, 5, 2, 2, 5, ; 17

Green Class 2 - 12 Metre Traditional (One Design - three boats)
1. Columbia, 12 Metre, Alain and Daniel Hanover , Weston, MA, USA - 2, 1, 1, 1, ; 5
2. Nefertiti, 12 Metre, Jon Wullschleger , Sarasota, FL, USA - 3, 2, 2, 2, ; 9
3. American Eagle, 12 metre, Anthony Chiurco/ Rich McGinn , Princeton, NJ, USA - 1, 3, 3, 4/DNF, ; 11

Green Class 6 - Navigators (spin) (PHRF - 10 Boats)
1. Passion 4 C, Tripp 56, Stefan Lehnert , Bremen, GER - 1, 5, ; 6
2. Pursuit, Custom 48, Norman Dawley , Lusby, MD, USA - 6, 1, ; 7
3. Spirit, J 92S, EC Helme , Newport, RI, USA - 7, 2, ; 9

Green Class 7 - Navigators (spin) (PHRF - six boats)
1. Sparkle Pony, Elite 37, Mallory Cushman , Boston, MA, USA - 1, 2, ; 3
2. Meddler, J 29, Brian Kiley , Edgewood, RI, USA - 2, 3, ; 5
3. Fidelio, Sparkman & Stephens 39, Chuck Townsend , Middletown, RI, USA - 5, 1, ; 6

Green Class 8 - Navigators (non-spin) (PHRF - eight boats)
1. Hermie, Columbia 50, Gerald Harris , Rowayton, CT, USA - 2, 1, ; 3
2. Jazz Fish, Freedom 35, Paul Koch , East Greenwich, RI, USA - 1, 4, ; 5
3. Duck Soup, C&C R/XL, William Clavin , Warwick, R.I., USA - 3, 3, ; 6

Red Class 1 - J/70 (One Design - 11 Boats)
1. Catapult, J 70, Joel Ronning , Minneapolis, MN, USA - 1, 7, 1, 2, 1, 1, 1, ; 14
2. Sugar Daddy, J 70, Mark Ploch Mike Bruno , Bronx, NY, USA - 2, 1, 3, 4, 2, 2, 4, ; 18
3. MUSE, J 70, Joe / Heather Bardenheier / Gregg-Earl , Boston , MA, USA - 5, 2, 2, 7, 5, 4, 3, ; 28

Red Class 2 - J/80 (One Design - seven boats)
1. R80, J 80, Will Crump , Annapolis, MD, USA - 5, 1, 2, 3, 1, 1, 1, ; 14
2. Rumor, J 80, John Storck, Jr , Huntington, NY, USA - 1, 4, 5, 1, 2, 2, 2, ; 17
3. Little Feat, J 80, Jeff Johnstone , Portsmouth, RI, USA - 2, 2, 3, 2, 3, 3, 3, ; 18

Red Class 3 - S Class (One Design - 10 Boats)
1. Aquila, Herreshoff S, Geoffrey Davis , Providence, RI, USA - 2, 1, 1, 1, 2, 2, ; 9
2. Osprey, Herreshoff S, Dyer/Sheldon/Michael Jones/Whitehouse/McCaffrey , Newport, RI, USA - 1, 3, 3, 3, 1, 1, ; 12
3. Firefly, Herreshoff S, Alan Silken , Newton, MA, USA - 4, 2, 7, 2, 6, 3, ; 24

White Class 2 - IRC 4 (IRC - 11 Boats)
1. Menace-Bliksem, Farr 30, Pieter Taselaar , Newport, RI, USA - 1, 4, 1, 1, 2, ; 9
2. Rush, J 109, Bill Sweetser , Annapolis, MD, USA - 2, 3, 5, 5, 1, ; 16
3. Carina, Custom 48, Rives Potts , Essex, CT, USA - 6, 1, 2, 7, 7, ; 23

White Class 1 - Farr 40 (One Design - nine boats)
1. Enfant Terrible, Farr 40, Alberto Rossi , Ancona, ITA - 2, 4, 8, 4, 1, 2, 2, 5, 2, 2, ; 32
2. Barking Mad, Farr 40, James Richardson , Boston, MA, USA - 4, 1, 3, 2, 2, 5, 3, 3, 4, 5, ; 32
3. Charisma, Farr 40, Nico Poons , Monaco, MON - 1, 8, 1, 1, 5/TLE, 7, 1, 2, 6, 1, ; 33

White Class 3 - J/105 (One Design - six boats)
1. Kestrel, J 105, Sean Doyle / Susan Doyle , Cos Cob, CT, USA - 4, 1, 2, 1, 3, ; 11
2. Tonto, J 105, Fred Darlington , Cumberland, RI, USA - 2, 2, 3, 4, 1, ; 12
3. Two Feathers, J 105, Mark and Jolene Masur , Dallas, TX, USA - 1, 4, 1, 3, 4, ; 13

White Class 4 - Etchells (One Design - 13 Boats)
1. Scimitar, Etchells 30, Stewart Neff , Wenham, MA, USA - 6, 1, 1, 2, 3.5, ; 13.5
2. Midlife Crisis, Etchells 30, Bruce Golison , Rossmoor, CA, USA - 4, 2, 2, 5, 3.5, ; 16.5
3. CAN1396, Etchells 30, Hank Lammens , Norwalk, CT, USA - 5, 4, 3, 3, 2, ; Event website