Sjambok overall winner for Annapolis to Newport

by Dana Paxton on 15 Jun 2005 With the final boats in PHRF II Class approaching the 2005 Annapolis to Newport Race finish line, Sjambok has been declared the overall IRC winner and Euro Trash Girl takes the honors for PHRF.

Honahlee of IRC II, Euro Trash Girl of PHRF I and Dolphin of PHRF II have joined Sjambok of IRC I as the winners of their respective classes.

Race conditions were better than predicted before the start, with consistent southerlies prevailing over the race course. Competitors experienced a 10-15 knot upwind leg down the Chesapeake Bay and a downwind leg in reported breezes of 10-28 knots up the Atlantic seaboard to the mouth of the Narragansett Bay.

According to H. L. Devore, skipper of IRC II winner Honahlee, a J/44 out of Watch Hill, RI, the beat down the Chesapeake Bay against foul current was a ‘good weather leg’. Nicole Christie, skipper of the PHRF I winner Euro Trash Girl from Annapolis, Md., declared the race a ‘dream’. Matt Beck, watch captain aboard the IRC fleet winner Sjambok, Michael Brennan's TP52 from Newport, RI, called the race a ‘lovely ride’.

Christie, a first-time Annapolis to Newport Race competitor and the PHRF fleet winner aboard her J/120 Euro Trash Girl, said, ‘It was a nice ride, just about the right length.’ For Christie and other first-time competitors, they may be in the honeymoon phase of their Annapolis to Newport racing, as these conditions are not historically typical.

Half the entered fleet competed in the newly established Club Challenge, with six teams of four yachts each vying for the title. With class finishes of second by Farr 53 Yellow Jacket, third by Donnybrook, fourth by Pamlico, Bob Muller's Andrews 38 and sixth by Ed Freitag's Beneteau First 40.7 Downtime, the Annapolis Yacht Club Black Team won the inaugural Annapolis to Newport Race Club Challenge. The new trophy, contributed by the City of Annapolis, will be presented by Annapolis Mayor Ellen Moyer at tomorrow's awards ceremony.

With the IRC Rule introduced for the first time this year, the Annapolis to Newport Race was one of the first US distance races to use the offshore rating system quickly gaining worldwide popularity. Just fewer than half the fleet entered under the IRC rating rule.

The 2005 Annapolis to Newport Race was also one of the first of the longstanding East Coast offshore distance races to offer online GPS race tracking for every boat in the fleet. Through a sponsorship by T. Rowe Price Investment Services, each boat was provided with an iBoat Track GPS transponder that was mounted on deck, and positions are being relayed to an Internet site.

Course positions have been updated every two hours, providing position, speed, fleet and class positions during the entire length of the race. Interest in the tracking has been higher than expected and, due to the large number of Internet visitors, the site servers were upgraded during the race.

According to Jim Muldoon, past president of US Sailing and skipper of Donnybrook, ‘Everyone our crew has called since we finished has been tracking the race. It was even the topic of dinner conversation at a retirement home. This is phenomenal for this race and our sport.’

‘The online race tracking made the race more accessible to families, friends, and fans, and generated more excitement in this race than we've had in a long time,’ said Mark Myers, Commodore, Annapolis Yacht Club, and skipper of Tonic, a Swan 51 competing in IRC I.

In IRC I, Sjambok corrected over second place Yellow Jacket, a Farr 53 skippered by Larry Bulman of Annapolis, Md., by 4 hours, 43 minutes and 15 seconds. Donnybrook, Jim Muldoon's custom 72-footer out of Annapolis, finished in third place in corrected time by 5 hours, 18 minutes, 26 seconds, after capturing line honors Sunday evening.

Honahlee captured line honors and first in IRC II Class over second place finisher Dame Blanche by 14 minutes 57 seconds corrected time. Dame Blanche, a Beneteau First 40.7 from Annapolis, Md., was skippered by Othmar Muller von Blumencron. Ariel, James Thompson's Swan 47 from Oxford, Md., finished in third on corrected time by 3 hours 20 minutes and 43 seconds.

Euro Trash Girl won PHRF I over fellow J/120 competitor Flying Jenny V by 16 minutes 42 seconds on corrected time. Flying Jenny V, skippered by David Askew of Annapolis, Md., crossed the finish ahead of Euro Trash Girl by seven minutes. The third J/120 in the race, Windborn of Annapolis, Md., skippered by Rick Born, finished in third place on corrected time of 53 minutes 34 seconds behind the class winner.

The PHRF II winner, Dolphin, a J/42 skippered by Henry Morgan and sailing for the New York Yacht Club Team, finished ahead of second place Navy 44 Lively, skippered by Midshipman 1st Class of Joe Dyckman, sailing for the Naval Academy Sailing Squadron, by 7 hours 37 minutes 6 seconds on corrected time.

Akela III, a Swan 43 skippered by Djoerd Hoekstra and racing on the Corinthian Club of Philadelphia Team, finished in third on corrected time of 9 hours 10 minutes 18 seconds.
Four-time line honors winner Donnybrook was also first-to-finish in 2003, and on a previous Donnybrook, a Santa Cruz 70, in 1993 and 1995.

An ‘All-Hands Party’ for all competitors is being hosted on Tuesday by the Rhode Island State Yachting Committee, headed by Robin Wallace, at the New York Yacht Club's Newport Clubhouse, Harbor Court.

The Awards Ceremony, with dignitaries including Janet Baxter, President of US SAILING, and Ellen Moyer, Mayor of Annapolis, will be at 4:00 p.m. Wednesday, June 15, 2005 at the Ida Lewis Yacht Club in Newport, RI.


About the Annapolis to Newport Race

The Annapolis to Newport Race is one of the most historic and well-known of the U.S. East Coast blue water races. Linking two seaports dating from our nation's birth, Annapolis and Newport, the race provides challenging diversity over different bodies of water, as well as convenient ports of refuge along the entire course. As a result, the race is a favorite for first-time off-shore competitors, as well as experienced blue water racers. The record time for the 58-year-old race is held by Carrera, Joseph Dockery's Farr 60 skippered by Chris Larson, which set a new course record in 2001 of 42 hours, 58 minutes, 12 seconds. The race is organized by the Annapolis Yacht Club, with assistance from the Naval Academy Sailing Squadron, New York Yacht Club and Ida Lewis Yacht Club.

More information about the 2005 running of the Annapolis to Newport Race, including the Notice of Race, Entry Form, history, a complete list of entrants, club teams, and results is available at www.annapolisyc.org/newport05.