Wild conditions and fast racing - NYYC Race Week

by Barby MacGowan on 25 Jul 2008
The old 'dark and stormy day' cliché applied perfectly to the opener for the second-half of New York Yacht Club's (NYYC) sixth biennial Race Week at Newport presented by Rolex.

Sent to race courses in northern Narragansett Bay to better hide from ocean swells, classes for two IRC, two PHRF and four one-design classes began their four-day racing series but not until after a raging storm had passed them on the water. The weather cell whipped up 30-knot winds, two-foot seas and even a short bout of hail before settling to 18-25 knots for today's two races.

'The Race Committee did a good job of waiting; that was a good idea because the original squalls were so unsettled,' said Joey Bardenheier (Boston, Mass.), crew aboard Chris Bulger's (Brookline, Mass.) Blazer in the NYYC Club Swan 42 class. Bardenheier explained that subsequent weather systems still brought sheets of rain and winds enough to propel them to 'a good 14-15 knots downwind.' And although Blazer settled at mid-fleet today with finish positions of 7-8, Bardenheier said it's anyone's game for the rest of the series, which is serving as the class's U.S. National Championship. 'There were a lot of different lead changes,' he said. 'It was wet but very exciting.' At the top of the scoreboard is Jon Halbert's (Dallas, Texas) Vitesse, which finished third in both races.

Leading overall after finishing 1-2 in IRC Class 1 today was Roger Sturgeon's (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.) STP65 Rosebud/Team DYT. 'We were a bit rough with our maneuvers and boat handling as it has been a while since we have sailed in 25 knots of wind,' said crew member Malcolm Park. 'However, we learned some good lessons that will make us better in the future. We are definitely pleased with the performance of Rosebud in these conditions. It has impressive performance upwind in terms of its ability to point, and we are fast downwind. It is now up to the crew to live up to the boat's capabilities.' Captain Jim Slaughter said Rosebud reached speeds of 21 knots off the wind on races of approximately 10 miles each. 'That's fast,' he said. 'The key was we didn't break anything and we made no major mistakes.'

Hap Fauth's (Minneapolis, Minn.) R/P 69 Bella Mente dropped its spinnaker in the water during the first race and failed to finish. It then withdrew from the second race after the first leg, paving the way for Ron O'Hanley's (Boston, Mass.) Cookson 50 Privateer to secure second overall.

In IRC Class 2, Jim Bishop's (New York, N.Y.) J/44 Gold Digger won both races to lead by two points over Blair Brown's (Newton, Mass.) Taylor 45 Sforzando.

With a 2-1, Tom Rich's Peterson 42 Settler leads in PHRF 1, while Dick Hyde's (Belmont, Mass.) Frers 36 Freightrain leads PHRF 2 Sailing their North American Championship were the J/109s. Donald Filippelli's (Amagansett, N.Y.) Caminos finished 2-1 today for a total of three points. Right on his heels is Al Minella's (Greenwich, Conn.) Relentless with four points.

With two first-place finishes today, Andrew Weiss's (Rye, N.Y.) Christopher Dragon leads the J/122s, and as such leads in that class's East Coast Championship. Likewise, the Northeast Championship for Beneteau First 36.7s is currently seeing John Hammel's (Arlington, Mass.) Elan leading with two bullets.

Joining the racing tomorrow will be both the Melges 32 class, sailing its National Championship, and the J/105 class, sailing its East Coast Championship. All told, 120 boats are entered in this second half of Race Week. Last weekend saw 53 classic yachts competing in Race Week's first half.

2008 New York Yacht Club Race Week presented by Rolex, Newport, RI
July 24, 2008 (Day 1 of 4) -- Two races completed

HANDICAP RATING CLASSES

IRC 1 (6 boats)
Position, Boat, Boat Type, Owner, Hometown, Race 1-2, Total points

1. Rosebud/Team DYT, STP65, Roger Sturgeon, Fort Lauderdale, FL, 1-2, 3 points
2. Privateer, Cookson 50, Ronald O'Hanley, Boston, MA, 4-1, 5
3. Aquarius, Swan 601, Sam Fleet, East Greenwich, RI, 2-4, 6
4. Blue Yankee, R/P66, Bob & Farley Towse, Stamford, CT, 3-3, 6
5. Tomcat, Farr 53, Midn 1/c Kellen Browne, Annapolis, MD, 5-5, 10
6. Bella Mente, R/P 69, Hap Fauth, Minneapolis, MN, 7-7, 14

IRC 2 (11 boats)
Position, Boat, Boat Type, Owner, Hometown, Race 1-2, Total points

1. Gold Digger, J/44, James D. Bishop, New York, NY, 1-1, 2
2. Sforzando, Taylor 45, Blair Brown, Newton, MA, 2-2, 4
3. Avalanche, Farr 395, Craig Albrecht, Sea Cliff, NY, 4-3, 7
4. Act One, MILLS/KING 40, Charlie Milligan, Newport, RI, 3-7, 10
5. Troubador, Express 37, Morton Weintraub, Larchmont, NY, 5-5, 10
6. Sarah, X-41, Greg Manning, Warwick, RI, 7-4, 11
7. Xhibition, X-35, Richard Casner, Dedham, MA, 8-6, 14
8. Havoc, X-35, Adrian Ravenscroft, Duxbury, MA, 9-8, 17
9. Irie, Tripp 47, Brian Cunha, Newport, RI, 6-12, 18
10. Nimbus, Farr 40, Bryan Lawrence, New York, NY, 12-12, 24
11. Katabatic, imx 40, Gordon Hall, Marblehead, MA, 12-12, 24

PHRF 1 (5 boats)
Position, Boat, Boat Type, Owner, Hometown, Race 1-2, Total points

1. Settler, Cust. Peterson 42, Thomas Rich, Middletown, RI, 2-1, 3
2. Gambler, Frers 41 TM, John Downey, Canton, MA, 3,-2, 5
3. Hooligan, Evelyn 42, Peter Brinckerhoff, Riverside, CT, 1-6, 7
4. Integrity, Navy 44, Jahn Tihansky, Annapolis, MD, 4-3, 7
5. White Heat, J/35, Daniel Stone, Providence, RI, 6-6, 12

PHRF 2 (5 boats)
Position, Boat, Boat Type, Owner, Hometown, Race 1-2, Total points

1. Bluto, Evelyn 32, Benjamin Hall, Tiverton, RI, 1-1, 2
2. Bloody Hell, Evelyn 32, Mike Perry, Somers Point, NJ, 2-2, 4
3. Freightrain, Frers 36, Richard Hyde, Belmont, MA, 4-3, 7
4. Wolverine, Frers 33, David Nauber, Higganum, CT, 3-4, 7
5. Brilliant, Frers 33, Arthur Kelley, Centerport, NY, 5-6, 11

ONE DESIGN CLASSES

NYYC Swan 42 (20 boats)
Position, Boat, Owner, Hometown, Race 1-2, Total points

1. Vitesse, Jon Halbert, Dallas, TX, 3-3, 6
2. Tsunami, Preben Ostberg & Bud Dailey, Rockville, MD, 1-7, 8
3. Tiburon, Mark Watson, Newport, RI, 9-2, 11
4. Arethusa, Philip Lotz, New Canaan, CT, 6-5, 11
5. Apparition, Kenneth, Colburn, Dover, MA, 4-9, 13
6. Interlodge, Austin & Gwen Fragomen, Portsmouth, RI, 13-1, 14
7. Impetuous, Paul Zabetakis, Jamestown, RI, 10-4, 14
8. Blazer, Chris Bulger, Brookline, MA, 7-8, 15
9. Daring, John Hele, Rye, NY, 12-6, 18
10. Celeritas, Malcolm Gefter, Newport, RI, 2-17, 19
11. Barleycorn, Brendan Brownyard, Bay Shore, NY, 11-10, 21
12. Conspiracy, Cahoots Syndicate, Greenwich, CT, 5-16, 21
13. Long Echo, Barry Sampson, Chichester, UK, 8-14, 22
14. Bandit, Andy Fisher, Greenwich, CT, 15-11, 26
15. Better Than..., Gosia Rojek, Brooklyn, NY, 17-12, 29
16. Mutiny, Gibb Kane, Rye, NY, 16-13, 29
17. The Cat Came Back, Lincoln Mossop III, Jamestown, RI, 14-15, 29
18. Orbit, Dod Fraser & Sandy Vietor, Rye, NY, 20-18, 38
19. Quintessence, Roger Widmann, Larchmont, NY, 19-19, 38
20. Downhill Express, P. Thomas Hirsch, Jamestown, RI, 18-21, 39

J/122 one design (7 boats)
Position, Boat, Owner, Hometown, Race 1-2, Total points

1. Christopher Dragon, Andrew Weiss, Rye, NY, 1-1, 2
2. Flying Jenny VI, David Askew, Annapolis, MD, 3-2, 5
3. Gambler, Doug Shaffer, Bayview, TX, 2-4, 6
4. Patriot, Stephen Furnary, Rye, NY, 5-3, 8
5. Wings, Mike Bruno & Tom Boyle, Armonk, NY, 4-5, 9
6. Tumbleweed, George Shaw, Denver, CO, 6-6, 12
7. Sundari, Barry Gold, Larchmont, NY, 8-8, 16

J/109 one design (15 boats)
Position, Boat, Boat Type, Owner, Hometown, Race 1-2, Total points

1. Caminos, Donald F. Filippelli, Amagansett, NY, 2-1, 3
2. Relentless, Al Minella, Greenwich, CT, 1-3, 4
3. Gossip, Steve Kenny & Greg Ames, Wainscott, NY, 6-2, 8
4. Gut Feeling, Ted Herlihy, South Dartmouth, MA, 4-4, 8
5. Tastes Like Chicken, Stephen Tedeschi, Alexandria, VA, 3-7, 10
6. Rush, Bill S