Mayhem 2008 IRC East Coast Champion

by Dana Paxton on 5 Nov 2008
With the defending champion, John Kilroy’s Samba Pa Ti, out of the mix, the 2008 IRC East Coast Championship title was up for grabs this past weekend in Annapolis, Md. The three-day regatta, run by the Storm Trysail Club’s Chesapeake Station, consisted of a 29.64nm distance race on Friday and five windward/leeward races on Saturday and Sunday.

In the end, Mayhem, the TP52 owned by Ashley Wolfe (Calgary, CAN), won IRC Class 1 and was crowned the overall 2008 Champion among the 35 competing boats. Arethusa, a NYYC Swan 42 owned by Philip Lotz (New Canaan, Conn.), won IRC Class 2 and finished second overall in fleet.

In Friday’s distance race, Mayhem came on strong and finished a mere two seconds behind Jim Mitchell’s (Zurich, SUI) Reichel/Pugh IRC 52 Vincitore, and corrected to second overall in class and fleet.

The next challenge for the fleet – racing under the guidance of Principal Race Officer Wayne Bretsch – was windward/leeward racing. Mayhem won both of Saturday’s two races with Vincitore close behind in second, but Vincitore incurred damage that prevented it from racing on Sunday. Ennio Staffini’s (Annapolis) Judel/Vroljik 52 Anema & Core turned up the pressure to finish each of Sunday’s three windward/leeward races with enough time allowance to correct time-wise in first place. However, Mayhem’s distance race performance – weighted at 1.5 times the finish position – combined with its scores in Saturday and Sunday’s races to take the 2008 title.

In the remaining classes, it was consistency that paid off for each winning boat. Arethusa, a NYYC Swan 42 owned by Philip Lotz (New Canaan, Conn.) won IRC Class 2; Rush, a J/109 owned by Bill Sweetser (Annapolis) won IRC Class 3; and Foxtrot Corpen, a Beneteau 36.7 owned by James Keen (Solomons, Md.) won IRC Class 4. Class 4 consisted of all Beneteau 36.7s.

'The event is getting good traction,' said Regatta Chair Bill Kardash (Annapolis). 'We’re attracting boats from outside the region, which is what we want to do, and we are constantly looking to improve the regatta. We had four starts and that makes for good racing. We did notice a small decline in entries this year, around 20%, and that is most likely due to the economy. Overall we had pretty close racing and that’s evident by the fact that one third of the boats finished first in a race.

The 2008 IRC East Coast Championship was organized by Storm Trysail Club’s Chesapeake Station and hosted by the Annapolis Yacht Club with sponsorship from Annapolis Yacht Sales and support from Beneteau U.S.A. and Lewmar.

For more information about the 2008 IRC East Coast Championship, including results and a link to online racing photos and videos go to www.stormtrysail.org.

Results - 2008 Storm Trysail Club - IRC East Coast Championship
Oct. 31 – Nov. 2, 2008 – Annapolis, Md.

Finish, Yacht Name, Type, Owner/Skipper, Hometown, Race results, Total Points

IRC 1 (IRC - 5 Boats)

1. Mayhem, TP52, Ashley Wolfe, Calgary, CAN - 3, 1, 1, 2, 3, 3, ; 13
2. Anema & Core, JV 52, Ennio Staffini, Annapolis, MD, USA - 4.5, 4, 3, 1, 1, 1, ; 14.5
3. Sjambok, RP 45, Michael Brennan, Potomac, MD, USA - 6, 2, 4, 3, 2, 2, ; 19
4. Vincitore, RP 52, Jim Mitchell, Zurich, SUI - 1.5, 3, 2, 6/DNS, 6/DNS, 6/DNS, ; 24.5
5. Javelin, Farr 49, Owen Brooks, Annapolis, MD, USA - 7.5, 5, 5, 4, 4, 4, ; 29.5

IRC 2 (IRC - 11 Boats)

1. Arethusa, NYYC Swan 42, Philip Lotz, New Canaan, CT, USA - 1.5, 1, 3, 4, 1, 4, ; 14.5
2. Catapult, J/122, Marc Glimcher, New York, NY, USA - 6, 2, 5, 1, 3, 2, ; 19
3. Tsunami, NYYC Swan 42, Preben Ostberg / Bud Dailey Jr. , Rockville, MD, USA - 7.5, 3, 4, 3, 2, 3, ; 22.5
4. Flying Jenny VI, J/122, David Askew, Annapolis, MD, USA - 4.5, 7, 7, 2, 4, 1, ; 25.5
5. N/A, Farr 40, Kevin McNeil, Annapolis, MD, USA - 10.5, 6, 2, 6, 7, 8, ; 39.5
6. Act One, King 40, Bill Titus Stern, Milligan, Roche, Newport, RI, USA - 3, 4, 10/SCP, 12/DNS, 6, 5, ; 40
7. Sundance, Farr 40, Gary Beer, Washington, DC, USA - 9, 10, 8, 5, 5, 9, ; 46
8. Endorphin, Farr 40, Erik Wulff, Washington, DC, USA - 12, 5, 1, 8, 11, 10, ; 47
9. Yellow Jacket, Farr 40, Larry Bulman & Jeff Scholz , Bethesda, MD, USA - 13.5, 8, 10, 7, 8, 7, ; 53.5
10. Convictus Maximus, Farr 42, Donald Nicholson, Scotch Plains, NJ, USA - 15, 11, 11, 10, 9, 6, ; 62
11. Upgrade, Farr 395, Peter and Debbie Gibbons-Neff, Rosemont, PA, USA - 16.5, 9, 9, 9, 10, 11, ; 64.5

IRC 3 (IRC - 10 Boats)

1. Rush, J/109, Bill Sweetser, Annapolis, MD, USA - 1.5, 1, 1, 4, 7, 4, ; 18.5
2. Kalevala II, Grand Soleil 37, Tapio Saavalainen, Washington, DC, USA - 10.5, 4, 3, 1, 3, 1, ; 22.5
3. Saykadoo, J/109, Stephen McManus, Severna Park, MD, USA - 7.5, 3, 4, 3, 2, 7, ; 26.5
4. Swift, Navy 44, Andrew Poulin, Annapolis, MD, USA - 3, 5, 8, 5, 4, 5, ; 30
5. DownTime, Beneteau First 40.7, Ed/Molly Freitag, Annapolis, MD, USA - 10.5/SCP, 2, 6, 10, 1, 3, ; 32.5
6. Overlap, Beneteau First 40., Andrew Roberts, Moorestown, NJ, USA - 12, 7, 5, 2, 6, 2, ; 34
7. Flirt, Navy 44, Kellen Browne, Annapolis, MD, USA - 6, 6, 7, 7, 5, 8, ; 39
8. Mummbles, M30, Brad Kauffman, Annapolis, MD, USA - 9, 8, 2, 8, 8, 6, ; 41
9. Defiance, Navy 44, James Licata, Annapolis, MD, USA - 13.5, 9, 9, 6, 10, 10, ; 57.5
10. Integrity, Navy 44, Maile Cornish, Annapolis, MD, USA - 15, 10, 10, 9, 9, 9, ; 62

IRC 4 (IRC - 9 Boats)

1. Foxtrot Corpen, Beneteau First 36.7, James Keen, Solomons, MD, USA - 4.5, 2, 1, 2, 1, 1, ; 11.5
2. KA'IO, Beneteau First 36.7, Art Silcox, West River, MD, USA - 3, 1, 2, 7, 4, 2, ; 19
3. Vitesse, Beneteau First 36.7, Gary & Melanie Tisdale, Lewiston, NY, USA - 1.5, 3, 5, 4, 3, 3, ; 19.5
4. Dreamboat Annie, Beneteau First 36.7, Chip Devine, North Potomac, MD, USA - 6, 6, 4, 5, 2, 4, ; 27
5. Team Aegis, Beneteau First 36.7, Jim Kershaw, Leesburg, VA, USA - 7.5, 5, 7, 1, 7, 5, ; 32.5
6. Jubilee, Beneteau First 36.7, Keith Mayes, Tracys Landing, MD, USA - 9, 8, 8, 3, 5, 7, ; 40
7. Shock Wave, Beneteau First 36.7, Jeffrey Caruso, Crofton, MD, USA - 10.5, 7, 6, 8, 8, 6, ; 45.5
8. Amritha, Beneteau First 36.7, Nathaniel Tower, Baltimore, MD, USA - 12, 4, 3, 9, 9, 9, ; 46
9. Pegasus, Beneteau First 36.7, Peter Firey, Vienna, VA, USA - 13.5, 9, 9, 6, 6, 8, ; 51.5

About the Storm Trysail Club
The Storm Trysail Club, reflecting in its name the sail to which sailors must shorten when facing adverse conditions, is one of the world’s most respected sailing clubs, with its membership comprised strictly of skilled blue water and ocean racing sailors. In addition to hosting Block Island Race Week presented by Rolex in odd-numbered years, the club holds various prestigious offshore racing events (among them the annual Fort Lauderdale to Key West Race and the Pineapple Cup Montego Bay Race); annual junior safety-at-sea seminars; and a regatta for college sailors using big boats.