Winter Tradition Continues for Etchells

As one of the major Etchells regatta series since 1994, the Etchells Biscayne Bay Series 2016-17 got underway with the Louis Piana Cup Regatta on December 10-11 in Miami, FL. With 41 boats, Luke Lawrence kept it clean with all but one top two scores through the five race series to take the title.

Report and photos by John Payne:

Saturday’s weather was nobody’s choice, not even the ducks. Rain poured down most of the day with lots of gusty wind and low visibility. The first race went off in 11-12 knots from the north. By the third race the wind clocked to 095 degrees and was a full on 24 knots with gusts to near 30. It was crazy and a bit frightening.

As Tony Rey best summed it up, “We were cheating death at every tack. It was like Cowes conditions on Biscayne Bay.” Tony was using this event as a team building practice for his new TP52 ride, Provezza IX.

According to PRO Stuart Childerley, the conditions were “unreal.” Continuing, he said, “We only saw the downtown Miami skyline a couple of times all day. It took a lot of blind navigation. We were very sympathetic to the possibility of gear damage, so we wanted the sailors to test themselves, but not break things.”

The leader after the first day was Luke Lawrence sailing on Phil Lotz’s Arethusa with finishes of 2-1-8. Sailing with his usual Star crew of Ian Coleman, Luke was joined by his younger brother Eric. That turned out to be a lucky choice as the conditions favored the heavier teams.

When asked to what he attributed his success, Luke said, “We put a lot of hard work into the boat, and spent three days setting everything up, and it paid off. On the water just hiked hard, and were lucky to find some good shifts.”

Finishing second for day one was Jim Cunningham on Lifted with a score line of 1-4-9. He had Bryn Bachman, Mark Ivey and Jeff Madrigali on board. Rounding out the top three was Ante Razmilovic on Swedish Blue with a 7-8-3. Stuart Finn and Andy Mills joined Ante on the boat.

Sunday dawned with less rain, warm temperatures in mid-seventies, and a blustery breeze topping 24 knots. After a one hour postponement on shore, PRO Cilderley brought the fleet out to the bay to face the day. Commanders’ Weather had forecast the winds to subside, and for a while that’s what happened. Race four of the regatta went off with the breeze at 16 knots and a weather leg of 1.5 miles.

Luke Lawrence led the race from start to finish with Steve Benjamin nipping at his transom the entire race. Shannon Bush, sailing on La Tormenta with Brad Boston and Phil Trinter, rounded out the top three.

Steve Benjamin commenting on race four said, ”We had a good battle with Luke for the pin at the start. Just after, we tacked out to port and crossed the fleet. Luke continued left and we met up at the weather mark. We chased him the rest of the way but couldn’t get past him.”

By the fifth race the conditions had taken their toll as only 32 boats of the 42 boat fleet answered the starting horn. By now the winds were down in the upper teens, as forecast, but we were still seeing gusts into the low 20’s, especially in the occasional showers.

Jim Cunningham carved out a comfortable lead on the first upwind leg and never looked back winning the race wire to wire. Rounding out the top four were Luke Lawrence, Ante Razmilovic, and Steve Benjamin.

Winning the 2016 Louis Piana Cup was Luke Lawrence. Boat owner Phil Lotz was unable to race due to his commitments at the New York Yacht Club annual meeting. He was reached by text with the news, and graciously agreed to carry on the brilliant Biscayne Bay Series tradition of opening up the bar for everyone to enjoy a free libation.

Finishing second through fifth were, Jim Cunningham, Steve Benjamin, Ante Razmilovic, and newcomer Charles Kenahan.

Charles started sailing the Etchells in the final two regattas of last season, but this was his first Piana Cup. Veterans Mark Mendleblatt and Brian Ledbetter rounded out a team that certainly will be one to watch for the remainder of the season. Charles opined, “The conditions were gnarly! It was important to have good boat speed off the line so you could punch out, but the downwinds were fantastic. We were planning the boat today.”

This regatta featured is a glimpse of what is to come in Etchells sailing. There were 39 participants younger than 35. Luke and his crew are all younger than 30! So what has often been referred to as an older gentlemen’s boat is catching on with the younger generation.

Sarah Lihan (2012 U.S. Olympic participant in the 470) crewing for her dad Tom was overheard talking down the boat before the first race. Afterwards, nursing a cold beer and several new aches and pains, she said, “That was a lot more challenging and exciting sailing than I anticipated.”

Final Results (Top 10 of 41 (5 races, 1 discard)
1. Arethusa, Phil Lotz / Luke Lawrence , USA – 2 -1 -[8] -1 -2 ; 6
2. Lifted, Jim Cunningham , USA – 1 -4 -[9] -8 -1 ; 14
3. Terripin, Steve Benjamin , USA – [13] -2 -7 -2 -4 ; 15
4. Swedish Blue, Ante Razmilovic , GBR – 7 -[8] -3 -5 -3 ; 18
5. Mahalo, Charles Kenahan , USA – [25] -3 -4 -6 -13 ; 26
6. Provezza, Peter Holmberg , USA – [11] -6 -6 -9 -5 ; 26
7. China Wight, James Howells / Nicholas Stagg , GBR – [28] -5 -5 -10 -9 ; 29
8. Skanky Gene, Jay Cross , USA – [19] -11 -1 -11 -12 ; 35
9. La Tormenta, Shannon W Bush , USA – 10 -13 -10 -3 -[14] ; 36
10. KGB, Ben Kinney / Senet Bischoff , USA – 9 -18 -[42] -4 -8 ; 39

Event details – Final results

First – Arethusa, Phil Lotz / Luke Lawrence

Second – Lifted, Jim Cunningham

Third – Terripin, Steve Benjamin

Fourth – Swedish Blue, Ante Razmilovic

Fifth – Mahalo, Charles Kenahan

2017 Etchells Biscayne Bay Series
Louis Piana Cup Regatta – December 10-11, 2016
Sidney Doren Memorial Regatta – January 7-8, 2017
Florida State Championship – February 4-5, 2017
Mid-Winter’s East Regatta – February 24-26, 2017

Series Details: To qualify for the overall 2017 Etchells Biscayne Bay Series prizes, boats must include their place in the Mid -Winters Regatta and any two of the other three individual regattas (Piana Cup, Sidney Doren Memorial, Florida State Championship). Place scores from each individual regatta of the series will be used with the Low Point Scoring System (1st Place = 1 point, 2nd Place = 2 points, 3rd Place = 3 points, etc.). The boat with the lowest score will be declared the overall winner of the 201 7 Biscayne Bay Series.