New York Yacht Club Race Week looming

by Dana Paxton on 3 Jul 2010 New York Yacht Club's (NYYC) Race Week at Newport presented by Rolex is July’s most anticipated sailing regatta and the count down has begun.

Scheduled for July 17-24, the split format biennial regatta offers One-Design, Classic, 12 Metre and PHRF racing in the beginning of the week (Saturday, July 17-Monday, July 19), while the second half of the week (Wednesday, July 21- Saturday, July 24) is devoted to IRC racing and doubles as the Rolex US-IRC National Championship.

The entry deadline is Friday, July 9. Online registration, preliminary entry lists and the Notice of Race are available at www.nyyc.org.

'New York Yacht Club Race Week at Newport presented by Rolex was designed to accommodate multiple configurations, depending on the boats competing,' said Peter Cummiskey, who serves as NYYC’s event chair and will crew aboard the NYYC Swan 42 Daring, owned by John Hele (Toronto, CAN).

'For the first time we are grouping all of the One Design, PHRF and Classic classes into the first half of the week, giving owners a chance to switch into IRC mode for the second half of the week and race for the Rolex US-IRC National title.

With only two weeks until the entry deadline, we are already seeing many of the best professional and amateur racers entered, including those with experience in the America’s Cup, the Volvo Ocean Race and a number of winners from the recently completed Bermuda Race.'

The One Design fleets are growing stronger by the day, with the NYYC Swan 42 Class expecting 14 boats for its national championship, including defending champion Arethusa, owned by Phil Lotz, who with the national title earned a berth at the inaugural NYYC Invitational Cup in September, 2009, which he won.

'The NYYC Swan 42 class racing is extraordinarily tight every time we get together,' said Roger Widman, who sails his Quintessence. 'During the Annual Regatta, our fleet was often separated by only 1-2 boat lengths. It was exciting sailing and at any given moment anyone can win. It’s tough to say who is favored for Race Week, but you’d have to say Arethusa and Blazer, the Annual Regatta winner.'

Blazer is owned by Chris Culver (New York, NY) and will be on the starting line along with Glen Darden’s (Fort Worth, TX) Hoss, which finished second.

The J/109 class is holding its North American championship and expects to see 10 boats on the starting line to challenge defending champion Storm, owned by Rick Lyall (Wilton, Conn.) and 2008 champion Gut Feeling, owned by Ted Herlihy (South Dartmouth, Mass.).

Additionally, the Beneteau 36.7, J/105, J/122 classes will join the One Design fleet, while the Classics division counts the S Class and 12 Metre classes.

After taking a one-day break on Tuesday, July 20 to allow boats to switch to IRC configuration, the second of half kicks off on Wednesday, July 21 featuring four days of IRC racing with a mix of short course and middle-distance racing planned.

The Rolex US-IRC National Championship will end with a Rolex gala and awards party on Saturday, July 24.

George David’s (Hartford, Conn.) Custom 90-foot Rambler is a favorite for the overall IRC title, however it will face competition from Vela Veloce, the Southern Cross 52-footer, owned by Richard Oland (Rothesay, NB, CAN), which won the IRC class at the 2010 International Rolex Regatta, Ron O’Hanley’s Cookson 52, Privateer, winner of the RORC Caribbean 600’s IRC Super Zero Canting keel division, and from Australian Ray Roberts and his STP65 Evolution Racing.

Making a return to IRC competition is Dan Meyers’ (Boston, Mass.) J/V 66 Numbers, which typically counts a number of America’s Cup sailors on its crew such as Brad Butterworth, the four-time Cup winner and Hall of Famer.

With the concept of moving the Rolex US-IRC National Championship around the country to encourage growth in IRC fleets, the 2009 championship was run in conjunction with St. Francis Yacht Club’s Rolex Big Boat Series, in San Francisco, Calif. and crowned a winner in Vincitore, the Custom 52 owned by Jim Mitchell (Zurich, SUI/Chicago, Ill.).

In 2008, the championship was sailed in conjunction with the 48th Little Traverse Yacht Club Regatta and One Design Series, in Harbor Springs, Mich. and won by Stripes, the Great Lakes 70 owned by Bill Martin, (Ann Arbor, Mich.), and in 2007, the inaugural championship was held as part of the Storm Trysail Club’s Block Island Race Week presented by Rolex and won by Blue Yankee the Reichel/Pugh 66 owned by Bob and Farley Towse (Stamford, Conn.).

The event is part of the 2010 US-IRC Gulf Stream Series http://www.us-irc.org.

Both segments of Race Week will feature NYYC’s notable race management team, beautiful sailing on the waters of Narragansett Bay and Rhode Island Sound, convenient access to the largest concentration of world class offshore racing support facilities in North America, daily social gatherings and the hospitality of the New York Yacht Club’s membership and staff.

Rolex timepieces will be awarded for best overall performances in Classic, One-Design and IRC divisions.

Rolex Watch U.S.A. has been the exclusive presenting sponsor of NYYC events since 1994.