Donnybrook takes line honours in Newport

by Dana Paxton on 14 Jun 2005 For the fourth time since 1993, Donnybrook, Jim Muldoon’s custom 72-footer from Annapolis, has taken line honours as the first yacht to finish the Annapolis to Newport Race.

At 17:39:26 on Sunday, June 12 local time, Donnybrook crossed the finish line off Castle Hill Rock at the mouth of the Narragansett Bay in 12 knot breezes flying her trademark shamrock-logo asymmetrical spinnaker.

With an elapsed time of 53:24:08, Michael Brennan’s TP 52 Sjambok from Newport, RI finished second across the line less than 15 minutes behind.

According to the IRC Rule under which both yachts were racing, Sjambok, with a rating of 1.336, beat Donnybrook, with a rating of 1.442, by 5:18:26.4 on corrected time.

Sailing for the Annapolis Yacht Club team, Donnybrook experienced her lightest breezes and lowest boat speeds of seven to eight knots at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay after leading the fleet down the Bay, according to navigator Bert Collins.

Collins said as Donnybrook sailed upwind down the Chesapeake Bay, she worked the current, sailing to the Eastern Shore south of Cove Point and over to the middle and then the Western Shore south of Smith Point as the current shifted.

‘It was a great race; fairly straightforward,’ said Collins. ‘We were expecting sweat and drift. It was one of the more fun Annapolis to Newport Races we’ve done.’ Donnybrook’s elapsed time was 53:09:26.

Aboard Sjambok, watch captain Matt Beck credits increased breeze for the last 100 miles, as well as splitting with Donnybrook to sail around the east side of Block Island for the close on-the-water finish with Donnybrook.

According to Beck, Donnybrook was faster upwind coming down the Bay, and Sjambok kept all the crew on the rail as they played their tactics to not lose Donnybrook and work with the current as it changed.

‘We started watches when we were out of the Bay,’ said Beck. As they left the Bay, ‘Donnybrook did a good job of sailing downwind,’ according to Beck, ‘but when the breeze picked up in the last 100 miles, we were able to take a big chunk out of them by the finish.

'On the back side of Block Island, we had up to 25 knots of wind. This race was lovely fun.’

Sjambok hugged the high, rocky eastern coast just south of Castle Rock as they approached the finish with their red asymmetrical spinnaker to finish at 17:54:08 this evening.

Full fleet race tracking is available online at www.annapolisyc.org/newport05.

The Internet-based tracking program, provided through a sponsorship by T. Rowe Price Investment Services, has equipped each boat with an iBoat Track GPS transponder that is mounted on the deck. Course positions will be updated every two hours, providing position, speed, fleet and class positions during the entire length of the course.