Impetuous maintains edge over Leading Edge in Race Week at Newport presented by Rolex

166th Annual Regatta's Round the Island Race © Paul Todd / Outside Images

Last weekend, Impetuous, skippered by New York Yacht Club Rear Commodore Paul Zabetakis (Jamestown, R.I.), and Leading Edge, skippered by Tom Sutton (Houston, Texas), battled for top honors in the ORC 2 class during Race Week at Newport presented by Rolex, with Impetuous taking the win by two points.

For this weekend's 166th Annual Regatta, the class breaks in the ORC division place the two boats in different classes. But when it came to overall honors in the race around Conanicut Island, which has become a fixture on the Friday of North America's oldest annual sailing competition, the same pair found itself at the head of a 14-boat ORC division that features top racing programs from as far away as California. Again, it was Zabetakis and his crew (above) taking the win.

The Annual Regatta was first sailed on the Hudson River on July 16 and 18, 1846. A similar competition the previous year was called a Trial of Speed. With a few exceptions for world wars and other global crises, the event has been held every year since. For the majority of its existence, the New York Yacht Club held its Annual Regatta on waters close to New York City. Since 1988, however, the event has been sailed out of the Harbour Court clubhouse in Newport, R.I., and has settled into the current three-day format, which includes a race around Conanicut Island on Friday and two days of buoy racing or navigator-course racing on Saturday and Sunday. The Annual Regatta is traditionally held in early June, at the start of the Newport sailing season. But due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it was pushed back first to late August before finally settling on the first weekend in October. The 166th Annual Regatta, which is sponsored by Hammetts Hotel and Helly Hansen, will also include the 2020 Melges IC37 National Championship.

A total of 47 boats raced around Conanicut Island today, battling a shifty, puffy breeze that gusted as high as 20 knots and dropped as low as 5 knots, and a moon tide. Rain showers loomed on the horizon throughout the day, but never quite pushed across lower Narragansett Bay. Fleets of Sonars and Shields enjoyed their debut at the Annual Regatta with four buoy races off Goat Island while the 13-strong Melges IC37 Class grunted through an equal number of contests on lumpy Rhode Island Sound.

Other overall winners for the Round the Island Race included Mike Toppa's W-37 Cavalino (Newport, R.I.), which took top honors among the 28 boats racing under the PHRF rating system. Cavalino's bigger brother, the W-76 Wildhorses, skippered by Donald Tofias (Newport, R.I.), won the PHRF Non-Spinnaker division.

While the Shields and Sonar classes each completed four buoy races off Goat Island—in lieu of the 19-mile journey around Conanicut Island—today's results will be scored separately from the weekend series.

166th Annual Regatta's Round the Island Race - photo © Paul Todd / Outside Images

In the Shields class (above, right), John Burnham and Reed Baer's Grace (Middletown, R.I.) took the win courtesy of a tiebreak over Ken Deyett's Bit-O-Honey (Marion, Mass.), each team scoring two firsts and two thirds today. John Bainton's Jager (Rowayton, Conn.) won the first two races in the Sonar class and claimed the day by three points. Both of those classes will enjoy a number of new entries for the weekend series.

Finally, the Pacific Yankee team (at left) co-skippered by Drew Freides (Los Angeles) and Bill Ruh (Newport Beach, Calif.) jumped out to a commanding 11-point lead after four races in the second Melges IC37 National Championship. Blazer II, skippered by Vice Commodore Christopher J. Culver (Newport, R.I.), is second with 18 points. Four boats have between 20 and 22 points. This regatta was initially scheduled as a stand-alone event, and today's results will carry over to tomorrow.

166th Annual Regatta's Round the Island Race - photo © Paul Todd / Outside Images

Racing for the 166th Annual Regatta will continue through Sunday, with racing starting at 11 am each day, weather depending.

166th NYYC Annual Regatta

Place, Yacht Name, Sail, Owner/Skipper, Results, Total Points

Melges IC37 National Championship (One Design - 13 Boats)

1. Pacific Yankee, USA022, Drew Freides / Bill Ruh - 1 - 3 - 1 - 2; 7
2. Blazer II, USA012, Christopher Culver - 6 - 1 - 8 - 3; 18
3. Waka Jawaka, USA006, Michael Goldfarb / Laura Grondin - 2 - 6 - 5 - 7/ZFP; 20

ORC 1 (ORC - 2 Boats)

1. Vesper, TP52, David Team, Newport Beach, CA, USA - 1; 1
2. FOX, TP52, Victor Wild, San Diego, CA, USA - 2; 2

ORC 2 (ORC - 6 Boats)

1. Impetuous, Swan 42, Paul Zabetakis, Jamestown, RI, USA - 1; 1
2. Rikki, R/P 42, Bruce Chafee, Boston, MA, USA - 2; 2
3. Pterodactyl, R/P 45, Scott Weisman, White Plains, NY, USA - 3; 3

ORC 3 (ORC - 6 Boats)

1. Leading Edge, J 109, William Sutton, Houston, TX, USA - 1; 1
2. Entropy, Tripp 41, Patricia Young, Jamestown, RI, USA - 2; 2
3. Vento Solare, J 109, Bill Kneller, Newport, RI, USA - 3; 3

PHRF 1 (PHRF - 11 Boats)

1. Vamoose, J 133, Bob Manchester, Barrington, RI, USA - 1; 1
2. Intrepid, 12 Metre, Michael Patterson, Middletown, RI, USA - 2; 2
3. Weatherly, 12 Metre, Steven Eddleston, Bristol, RI, USA - 3; 3

PHRF 2 (PHRF - 10 Boats)

1. Cavalino, W-37, Mike Toppa, Newport, RI, USA - 1; 1
2. Incognito, J 121, Joe Brito, Bristol, RI, USA - 2; 2
3. Das Blau Max, Farr 30, Cory Sertl, Jamestown, RI, USA - 3; 3

PHRF 3 (PHRF - 7 Boats)

1. Scoundrel, 6 Metre, Jamie Hilton, Tiverton, RI, USA - 1; 1
2. Mischief, Lyman-Morse 40, David Schwartz, Bristol, RI, USA - 2; 2
3. Odyssey, S&S 48, David Brodsky/ Alfred Van Liew, Middletown, R.I., USA - 3; 3

PHRF - Non-Spinnaker (PHRF_ToT - 7 Boats)

1. Wildhorses, W Class 76, Donald Tofias, Newport, MA, USA - 1; 1
2. Jazz Fish, Freedom 35, Paul Koch, East Greenwich, RI, USA - 2; 2
3. Star Dancer, Freedom 35, David Pedrick, Newport, RI, USA - 3; 3

Shields (One Design - 14 Boats)

1. Grace, John Burnham/ Reed Baer, Middletown, RI, USA - 3 -3 -1 -1; 8
2. Bit~O~Honey, Ken Deyett, Marion, MA, USA - 1 -1 -3 -3; 8
3. Mahi, David Bush-Brown, Newport, RI, USA - 2 -2 -2 -4; 10

Sonar (One Design - 10 Boats)

1. Jager, John Bainton, Rowayton, CT, USA - 1 -1 -2 -4; 8
2. Fast Attack, Matthew Bergantino, Fairfield, CT, USA - 6 -2 -1 -2; 11
3. Resonance, Brian Doyle, Hanover, NH, USA - 4 -3 -4 -1; 12

Full Results: Round-the-Island Race | Melges IC37 National Championship | Shields | Sonars.