50 footers prepare for Edgartown Race Weekend
by Kirsten Ferguson 13 Jun 2014 18:10 AEST
24-26 July 2014
Sled trails Vesper in the 2013 Edgartown Yacht Club Race Weekend © Michael Berwind
A flock of boats in the 50-foot range are expected to descend upon Edgartown Yacht Club's three-day Edgartown Race Weekend scheduled for July 24-26. The well-known IRC 52s Vesper, Sled and Interlodge will be joined by Hooligan, an IRC 52 with a new owner, and Privateer, Rima2 and Irie 2, a Cookson 50, Reichel/Pugh 55, and Kerr 55, respectively.
"Whenever you can get a group of boats like this on the starting line in a place like Edgartown, it's a good thing," said Interlodge (Newport, R.I.) Captain and Project Manager Kris Matthews. "We sailed this regatta two years ago, and it was a really good experience; the race course is 20 minutes away from the dock at the yacht club, and it's just a perfect place to sail."
Matthews explained that Interlodge is participating in a full slate of East Coast regattas this summer, including the New York Yacht Club's Race Week at Newport, which directly precedes the Edgartown event. "Edgartown is a great weekend to follow up after Race Week. It's not often you get the opportunity to sail almost two weeks as a team at a couple of different venues. We finish Race Week on Saturday (July 19), get the boats to Edgartown on Tuesday and start sailing again."
Contrary to what was previously reported, Rambler, the 90 footer that posted the record-breaking time for the 'Round-the-Island Race last year, will not make the event this year, after all. "That's too bad," said Matthews, recalling that Interlodge was first-to-finish in the Around-the-Island Race two years ago, "but hopefully one of the 50s has a chance to win (the Concord Cup, awarded to the first yacht to finish).
Edgartown's Race Weekend promotes fun, competitive racing for all sizes of boats in IRC, PHRF, Double-Handed, Classic and Cruising divisions and offers two days of Big Boat Buoy Races (July 24-25) prior to the 'Round-the-Island Race on Sunday (July 26).
The Big Boat Buoy Races are sanctioned as part of the prestigious U.S. IRC Gulf Stream Series, and the 'Round-the-Island Race is part of the New England Lighthouse Series for PHRF yachts. Deadline for entry is July 23 for the former and July 25 for the latter. (No registration fee is required for the Big Boat Buoy Races.) For more information, go to www.rtirace.org