Please select your home edition
Edition
V-DRY-X

Pacific Yankee doubles up at Melges IC37 National Championships

by New York Yacht Club 19 Jul 2021 00:01 PDT 16-18 July 2021
2021 Melges IC37 National Championship © Paul Todd / www.outsideimages.com

Over the first two days of the Melges IC37 National Championship, the defending champion Pacific Yankee team was dominant, winning three of four races and building a substantial lead. But, says skipper Drew Freides, the narrow margin for error in this competitive one-design class doesn't allow for playing it safe.

"If you're not right on [the starting line], you don't get to control your own destiny," says Freides. "That was our secret all week: getting great starts, being on the line going fast, getting poked out, and then we can control where we want to go. If you can't, then it gets really hard. If you're second row, then you're totally hosed."

So even after picking the wrong side of the course in the first race, and finishing seventh, and then starting early in the second race and being disqualified, Freides, co-owner Bill Ruh and tactician Marcus Eagan knew there was only one way to approach the start of the deciding race: push hard and grab the early advantage, which they did en route to another race win and a repeat championship.

The Melges IC37 National Championship was run concurrently with the ORC East Coast Championship by the New York Yacht Club Harbour Court in Newport, R.I. Both events took place July 16 to 18, with the Melges IC37 fleet competing seven buoy races while the ORC divisions sailed six buoy races and one middle-distance race. The two regattas were sponsored by Safe Harbor Marinas, Hammetts Hotel and Helly Hansen.

While the Melges IC37 class rules requires an all-amateur crew, with one exception, Freides and Ruh have modeled their program after successful professional sailing teams. The crew list remains the same from event to event and they always put in the extra time practice, including two full days prior to the national championship.

"We pride ourselves in having a really good team," says Freides. "We've got the crewwork down pretty well. But it's more of shifting gears and always keeping the boat going fast [that separates us from the competition]. I don't think we're faster than anybody, but we're better at getting up to top speed more quickly."

John Brim's Rima37 started the final race tied on points for the lead and finished second in the overall standings with Members Only, a syndicated headed by New York Yacht Club Rear Commodore Jay Cross, Hannah Swett and Ben Kinney, in third.

A subtext to the overall title was the battle for the New York Yacht Club's spot in September's Rolex New York Yacht Club Invitational Cup. Commodore Christopher Culver and Peter Levesque's Blazer II started the regatta with a significant lead over Members Only thanks to a strong performance in the 167th Annual Regatta in June. But by the final race of the National, Blazer II's lead in the qualifying series was down to just four points.

"It was a match race between us and Members Only in the last race," says Culver. "We worked hard and got a good start. We controlled them at the start and that set the tone for the race. It worked out in our favor. We've worked hard at this for years. It's just wonderful. I'm happy for the team, and we really look forward to competing in the Invitational Cup."

ORC Champions Make Strong Statements in Regatta Wins

If there was a common theme to the three division winners in the ORC East Coast Championships is was their comprehensive dominance across a variety of conditions and course configurations. The three winning boats earned 16 of 21 individual race victories and won ORC A, B, and C by 11, 7 and 2 points, respectively.

New York Yacht Club Vice Commodore Paul Zabetakis stretched his personal ORC winning streak to three with his victory in ORC B aboard his Swan 42 Impetuous. After a great opening to the regatta on Friday, with a second and two firsts. Zabetakis and his team faltered during Saturday's distance race, picking up a scoring penalty at the start and then struggling to sixth in the race. Starting the final day of racing, four teams were within two points of the overall lead.

"Today we just said we need to dig deep and get back to the kind of racing we'd been doing," says Zabetakis. "The first race we won, the second race we got second and then the third race we nailed the start and got out front, everybody on the crew was totally focused on our boat. The jibes were great, the sets we great."

Another victory, the team's fourth of the regatta, gave Impetuous a 7-point advantage over Patricia Young's Entropy in second.

Jim Swartz' Maxi72 Vesper also recorded its worst result of the regatta during Saturday's distance race. In this case, however, that was a second. Swartz and his team, which included a number of America's Cup and Volvo Ocean Race veterans, won the other six contests.

Being at least 20 feet longer and significantly faster that every other boat in ORC A meant the Vesper crew was often sailing by itself, measuring success against the clock.

"It's just great to be back sailing and get everybody in the groove," says Swartz, who bought the boat in 2019, but was only racing it for the third time this weekend. "We had a lot of rusty edges to work off. Every race you could see the teamwork getting better and better."

Swartz is no stranger to big race boats, but this current Vesper is the largest he's owned and a different animal.

"The boat's deceptive because it wants to perform, but when it goes wrong, it goes wrong quickly," he says. "The TP52 is much more nimble and you can just maneuver around a lot more to get out of trouble. This one's got it's own momentum. We're learning that."

Among the remainder of the ORC A fleet, all between 44 and 50 feet long, Jim Madden's Stark Raving Mad was the best of the group, finishing second overall.

In ORC 3, it was Sandra Askew's IC37 Flying Jenny that dominated the race wins, taking top honors in the first four races. But a fifth in today's first race brought the overall title into question as Paul Milo's Orion, which was second in each previous race, jumped into a tie for first. Askew and her team rebounded with another two race wins to clinch the title by two points.

2021 ORC East Coast Championship: (complete results here)
Place, Yacht Name, Type, Owner/Skipper, Hometown, Results, Total Points

ORC A (ORC - 7 Boats)
1. Vesper, IRC 72, Jim Swartz , Forked River, CA, USA - 1 -1 -1 -2 -1 -1 -1 ; 8pts
2. Stark Raving Mad IX, Carkeek 47, Jim Madden , Newport Beach, CA, USA - 2 -2 -4 -1 -2 -4 -4 ; 19pts
3. Interlodge, Botin 44, Austin and Gwen Fragomen , Newport, RI, USA - 3 - 3 -2 -8 -5 -3 -2 ; 26pts

ORC B (ORC - 8 Boats) 1. Impetuous, Swan 42, Paul Zabetakis , Jamestown, RI, USA - 2 -1 -1 -8 -1 -2 -1 ; 16pts
2. Entropy, Swan 42, Patricia Young , Jamestown, RI, USA - 7 -3 -2 -2 -3 -1 -5 ; 23pts
3. Cool Breeze, Mills 43, John Cooper , Cane Hill, MO, USA - 4 -4 -3 -1 -5 -5 -3 ; 25pts

ORC C (ORC - 7 Boats) 1. Flying Jenny, IC 37, Sandra Askew , Annapolis, Md, USA - 1 -1 -1 -1 -5 -1 -1 ; 11pts
2. Orion, J 122, Paul Milo , Leesburg, VA, USA - 2 -2 -2 -2 -1 -2 -2 ; 13pts
3. Trim, J 105, William Sutton , Annapolis, MD, USA - 3 -3 -3 -4 -3 -3 -7 ; 26pts

Melges IC37 National Championship: (complete results here)
Place, Yacht Name, Type, Owner/Skipper, Hometown, Results, Total Points

Melges IC37 (One Design - 18 Boats)
1. Pacific Yankee, IC37, Drew Freides / Bill Ruh , Los Angeles, CA, USA - 1 -4 -1 -1 -7 -[19] -1 ; 15pts
2. Rima37, IC37, John Brim , Palm Beach, FL, USA - 2 -1 -8 -5 -3 -3 -[15] ; 22pts
3. Members Only, IC37, Cross / Kinney / Swett , Newport, RI, USA - 5 -2 -5 -14 -2 -2 -[17] ; 30pts
4. Das Blau Max, IC37, Cory, Mark and Nick Sertl , Jamestown, RI, USA - [8] -7 -4 -3 -8 -6 -7 ; 35pts
5. Gamecock, IC37, Peter McClennen , Newport, RI, USA - 6 -8 -7 -6 -[12] -4 -8 ; 3pts

Related Articles

Rolex New York Yacht Club Invitational Cup Day 1
Despite hurdles, familiar faces surge to the fore With a punchy 15-knot easterly and six-foot seas, the first day of the ninth edition of the Rolex New York Yacht Club Invitational Cup was a trial by fire for the 20 all-amateur crews pursuing Corinthian yachting's most treasured prize. Posted today at 3:42 am
9th Rolex NYYC Invitational Cup starts tomorrow
After today's second and final day of mandatory practice racing April showers bring May flowers, but September showers, especially in New England, often leave behind a spate of dry late-summer perfection: crisp evenings, warm days and pleasant breezes. Posted on 8 Sep
Defending champions highlight list of favorites
San Diego Yacht Club is top of the list at the 2025 Rolex Invitational Cup With three consecutive podium finishes, culminating in a highly rewarding win in 2023, the San Diego Yacht Club (above, in 2023) is at the top of the list of favorites for the 2025 Rolex New York Yacht Club Invitational Cup. Posted on 4 Sep
Youth movement at Rolex NYYC Invitational Cup
Numerous teams are relying on their respective yacht club youth training programs Among the bigger surprises from the 2023 edition of the Rolex NYYC Invitational Cup was the preponderance of youth on the podium, particularly at the helm. Tyler Sinks, of the winning San Diego Yacht Club team, was the eldest of the three at 36. Posted on 28 Aug
2025 Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup Preview
This year's edition takes place from 7-13 September at Yacht Club Costa Smeralda Each September, the waters off Sardinia's Costa Smeralda come alive with an exceptional spectacle: the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup. More than a regatta, it is a celebration of human achievement, innovation and, most crucially, teamwork. Posted on 28 Aug
Inaugural Great Grandmasters Team Race
The New York Yacht Club team went undefeated throughout the competition The inaugural Great Grandmasters Team Race proved that age is just a number as competitors aged 60 and greater battled it out in gusty conditions spurred by nearshore passage of Hurricane Erin late last week. Posted on 25 Aug
Brazil to join Rolex NYYC Invitational Cup
20 teams from 13 countries will compete in the ninth edition Returning competitors are a reliable barometer when it comes to measuring the quality of a regatta experience. New competitors are the lifeblood that keeps an event vibrant. Posted on 21 Aug
Texas Corinthian YC wins Grandmasters Team Race
In addition Texas Corinthian Yacht Club won the Peter L. Wilson Trophy It's been six years since Texas Corinthian Yacht Club finished worse than second in the New York Yacht Club Grandmasters Team Race. The team made sure that streak would continue with a dominating run in the round-robin portion of this year's event. Posted on 18 Aug
NYYC wins 4th consecutive Hinman Masters Title
A convincing win in the 23rd edition of the event Familiarity is often the not-so-secret sauce that binds together successful team racing squads. Posted on 10 Aug
Rolex New York Yacht Club Invitational Cup preview
More than half of the 20 teams have traveled to Newport this summer to practice One of the best ways to track the intensifying competitiveness of the Rolex New York Yacht Club Invitational Cup is the number of teams taking time to train in Newport in advance of this year's edition. Posted on 7 Aug
V-DRY-XBarton Marine Pipe GlandsHyde Sails 2024 - One Design