UK-HALSEY’S BUTCH ULMER WINS IN THE CARIBBEAN PRO-AM

The skippers of the 2006 Vineyard Vines Pro-Am sailed at the Bitter End YC. Front Row: left to right: Keith Musto, Butch Ulmer, Lowell North, Rod Johnstone, Bruce Kirby. Back Row: Tom Farquhar (Chief Umpire), Dave Perry, Russell Coutts, Paul Cayard, Dawn Riley, Ken Read, Tom Leweck, Barbara Farquhar (Umpire).

     The Vineyard Vines Pro-Am Regatta at the Bitter End Yacht Club was sailed for the 20th time this past October. The event consisted of some fleet racing and some match racing. For the first time both Masters (peers of the racing world) and Juniors (reigning champions) sailed in IC 24's (modified J-24s).
     The event is truly unique in that the hotel guests get to select with which pro they’d like to sail with and the skipper/crew combinations are changed every day. A lot of great sailors have been part of this regatta over the past 20 years and the Pro-Am honor roll includes such names as Ted Hood, Tom Blackaller, John Bertrand and Scuttlebutt Founder Tom Leweck. This year’s cast was no exception (see attached picture).
     Masters and Juniors are teamed up in pairs and this year’s winning team was Paul Cayard and Keith Musto. Individual winners were Ken Read (Junior Match Race Winner), Paul Cayard (Junior Fleet Race Winner) and Butch Ulmer (both Masters Fleet and Match Race Winner).
     For more about this great event, click here: www.beyc.com

IC 24s provided close action and big comfortable cockpits for the crews. Neil Rabinowitz photos

Information courtesy of the December 2006 issue of the UK-Halsey newsletter