Record Year for Vineyard Race

Records are meant to be broken and this year was no exception in the 83rd running of the 238nm Vineyard Race, hosted by the Stamford YC over Labor Day weekend. Six boats beat the elapsed time record of 20 hours, 20 minutes held by Bob and Farley Towse’s Blue Yankee since 2007.

Starting on September 1, The course stretches from Shippan Point through the swirling currents of Plum Gut past Block Island, and on to the light tower at the entrance to Buzzard’s Bay. Once reached, sailors return by leaving Block Island to starboard in route to the finish in Stamford Harbor.

Fujin, the Bieker 53 cat sailed by Greg Slyngstad out of Seattle Yacht Club, completed the race in 15:06:50 and now owns the course record. Warrior, the modified Volvo 70 sailed by the Stephen Murray Jr., and the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, now owns the monohull record after finishing in 17:42:09. (Warrior also won the Northern Ocean Racing Trophy for her performance in several long distance races this past summer.)

The four other boats to beat Blue Yankee’s record were Spookie (Steve and Heidi Benjamin’s TP 52), Prospector (the Mills 68 sailed by the Shelter Island YC Transatlantic Team), Nala (Jim Voss’s HH 66) and Tribe (Greg Gigliotti’s Gunboat 62.)

“The Vineyard Race has always been one of the East Coast’s premier events and this year was no exception with 118 entries and a new course record,” said Jonathan Asch, Vineyard Race chairman.

Spookie, sailing out of Noroton Yacht Club, won the Vineyard Lightship trophy for best corrected time for IRC boats.

Gemini, a Hanse 375 sailed by James Coffman of Cedar Point Yacht Club, won the Dotty Lorentzen trophy for best corrected time for boats racing under PHRF. Gemini also won the New England Lighthouse Series, which is the cumulative results of a number of distance races sailed over the entire season.

Event details – Race information – Results – Facebook

Source: Charles Barthold