NYYCAR: Off to a Good Start

Newport, RI (June 15, 2013) – For today’s opening races of the 159^th New York Yacht Club Annual Regatta presented by Rolex a northeasterly that had kept things moving yesterday in the Around the Island Race slowly died before being replaced by a light southwesterly.  It made for a long day on the water for the record 153 teams competing, but a strong start to the weekend, with multiple buoy races completed in each of 17 classes for IRC boats, One Designs, Classics and 12 Metres and one longer navigator’s race completed (as scheduled) for each of three classes sailing in PHRF.

Posting a perfect three-win score today in IRC 1 was Vesper, Jim Swartz’s (Park City, Utah) TP 52 that also prevailed yesterday as the overall IRC winner in the Around the Island Race. Though the performance looked easy on paper, it was anything but, with the 10-deep fleet so rich with talent. George David’s 90-foot Rambler, in second place, is the largest boat competing in this class (and in the regatta), and James Grundy’s (Horsham, Pa.) 38-foot Farr 400 Grundoom, another class winner from yesterday, is the smallest, in eighth place. Measuring somewhere in between are the two Carkeek 40s –Stephen Murray’s (New Orleans, La.) Decision in third and Steve and Heidi Benjamin’s (Norwalk, Conn.) Spookie in fifth–that have been carrying the torch for the emerging HPR (High Performance Rule), which is being supported at this regatta through a dual-scoring provision for most of the boats in this class.

Pieter Taselaar, of Bliksem fame (the team, most notably, won the 2009 Melges 32 Worlds with Taselaar skippering) chartered the Farr 30 he is sailing here under the name Menace-Bliksem in order to prepare for the Farr 30 North Americans and World Championships, both of which will be held here in Newport later this summer. According to mainsheet trimmer Scott Nixon (Annapolis, Md.), finish positions of 1-4-1 today weren’t so shabby for it being the team’s first time in the boat.  “We started extremely well in all three races and got out clear to tack,” he said, noting that Rives Potts’s (Essex, Conn.) Custom 48 Carina, a multiple Newport to Bermuda Race winner, and Bill Sweetser’s (Annapolis, Md.) J/109 Rush, a J/109 class world champion, are the boats to beat in his class. (They are currently in second and third, respectively.)

“Carina was faster than us upwind today, and several times she passed us, but we did a better job downwind, as they were carrying an asymmetrical spinnaker and couldn’t go as deep as us.” Nixon said that after the first race, the fleet waited for 1 ½ hours before it could start again in the sea breeze.

Several one-design classes are preparing for major championships that will be hosted by the New York Yacht Club later this year: the Etchells for their North Americans; the Swan 42s for their nationals; and the Farr 40s for their Worlds.

The J/80s and J/70s are both preparing for North Americans to be held in Block Island and Annapolis, respectively. Mark Ploch and Mike Bruno’s (Bronx, N.Y.) Sugar Daddy is leading J/70 class while Jeff Johnstone’s (Portsmouth, R.I.) Little Feat leads the J/80s.

“The J/70 class is very tight, and at the blink of an eye you can lose three boats,” said Ploch.  “All the people in the class are competitive and we have a lot of fun. Today was awesome, and we are hoping for more great sailing tomorrow, with lots of steady breeze.”

Results, photos, and nightly videos produced by T2p.tv, will be available online at nyyc.org after each day of racing.

(end)

(Top-three Results Follow)

159th New York Yacht Club Annual Regatta presented by Rolex
Day One, June 15, 2013
Place, Yacht Name, Type, Owner/Skipper, Hometown, Results, Total Points 
Blue Class 1 – HPR (HPR – 8 Boats)
1. SLED (HPR), TP 52, Takashi Okura , Tokyo, JPN – 1, 2, ; 3
2. Grundoom (HPR), Farr 400, James Grundy , Horsham, PA, USA – 3, 3, ; 6
3. Rima2 (HPR), RP 55, John Brim , New York, NY, USA – 6, 1, ; 7

Blue Class 1 – IRC 1 (IRC – 10 Boats)
1. Vesper, TP 52, Jim Swartz , Park City, UT, USA – 1, 1, 1, ; 3
2. Rambler, RP 90, George David , Hartford, CT, USA – 2, 3, 2, ; 7
3. Decision, HPR Carkeek 40, Stephen Murray , New Orleans, LA, USA – 3, 6, 3, ; 12

Blue Class 3 – IRC 2 (IRC – 8 Boats)
1. DownTime, Summit 40, Ed Freitag / Molly Haley , Annapolis, MD, USA – 1, 1, 3, ; 5
2. White Witch, King 40, Larry Landry , North Kingstown, RI, USA – 4, 2, 1, ; 7
3. Interlodge, Swan 42, Austin and Gwen Fragomen , Newport, RI, USA – 2, 3, 2, ; 7

Blue Class 4 – IRC 3 (IRC – 8 Boats)
1. Wings, J 122, Mike Bruno , Armonk, NY, USA – 1, 1, 2, ; 4
2. Dolphin, J 122, Neil McMillan , Annapolis, MD, USA – 2, 2, 5, ; 9
3. Gold Digger, J 44, James D. Bishop , Jamestown, RI, USA – 4, 5, 1, ; 10

Blue Class 2 – Swan 42 (One Design – 12 Boats)
1. Apparition, Swan 42, Ken Colburn , Dover, MA, USA – 2, 3, 7, ; 12
2. Arethusa, Swan 42, Phil Lotz , Newport, RI, USA – 1, 2, 10, ; 13
3. Impetuous, Swan 42, Paul Zabetakis , Jamestown, RI, USA – 8, 1, 5, ; 14

Blue Class 5 – J/111 (One Design – 5 Boats)
1. Fleetwing, J 111, Henry Brauer , Marblehead, MA, USA – 2, 2, 1, ; 5
2. Wicked 2.0, J 111, Douglas Curtiss , South Dartmouth, MA, USA – 3, 3, 2, ; 8
3. Velocity, J 111, Martin Roesch , Ellicott City, MD, USA – 1, 5, 3, ; 9

Green Class 3 – CRF (non-spin) (CRF – 4 Boats)
1. Spartan, NY50, Charles Ryan , Providence, RI, USA – 2, 1, ; 3
2. Black Watch, Custom Yawl 68, Black Watch Alliance LLC , Newport, RI, USA – 1, 2, ; 3
3. Sonny, S&S 53, Joseph Dockery , Newport, RI, USA – 3, 3, ; 6

Green Class 4 – CRF (spin) (CRF – 2 Boats)
1. SYCE (spin), 6 Metre, Bob & Farley Towse , Stamford, CT, USA – 1, 1, ; 2
2. Vixen (spin), 15 Square Metre, Andrew Norris , Wilton, CT, USA – 2, 2, ; 4

Green Class 5 – CRF (non-spin) (CRF – 5 Boats)
1. Chips, P-Class Gaff Sloop 50′, Jed Pearsall , Newport, RI, USA – 2, 1, ; 3
2. Ruweida, R Class 38, Joseph Huber , Wynnewood, PA, USA – 1, 2, ; 3
3. Belle, L-24, Joe Loughborough , Newport, RI, USA – 4, 3, ; 7

Green Class 1 – 12 Metre M/GP (One Design – 5 Boats)
1. New Zealand (GP), 12 Metre, Gunther Buerman , Newport , RI, USA – 1, 1, ; 2
2. Victory 83, 12 Metre, Dennis Williams , Hobe Sound, FL, USA – 2, 2, ; 4
3. KZ5 Laura (GP), 12 Metre, Kip Curren , Warwick, RI, USA – 4, 3, ; 7

Green Class 2 – 12 Metre Traditional (One Design – 3 Boats)
1. Nefertiti, 12 Metre, Jon Wullschleger , Sarasota, FL, USA – 1, 2, ; 3
2. Columbia, 12 Metre, Alain and Daniel Hanover , Weston, MA, USA – 3, 1, ; 4
3. American Eagle, 12 Metre, Anthony Chiurco/ Rich McGinn , Princeton, NJ, USA – 2, 3, ; 5

Green Class 6 – Navigators (spin) (PHRF – 10 Boats)
1. Passion 4 C, Tripp 56, Stefan Lehnert , Bremen, GER – 1, ; 1
2. Samba, Quest 30, Tristan Mouligne , Boston, MA, USA – 2, ; 2
3. Moonshine, Melges 32, Dennis Ziemba , Highlands, NJ, USA – 3, ; 3

Green Class 7 – Navigators (spin) (PHRF – 6 Boats)
1. Sparkle Pony, Elite 37, Mallory Cushman , Boston, MA, USA – 1, ; 1
2. Meddler, J 29, Brian Kiley , Edgewood, RI, USA – 2, ; 2
3. Nighthawk, J 24, Richard Barker, Jack McVicker, Mike Ryan , Newport, RI, USA – 3, ; 3

Green Class 8 – Navigators (non-spin) (PHRF – 8 Boats)
1. Jazz Fish, Freedom 35, Paul Koch , East Greenwich, RI, USA – 1, ; 1
2. Windigo, Rhodes Reliant 40, Mark Treat , Barrington, RI, USA – 2, ; 2
3. Hermie, Columbia 50, Gerald Harris , Rowayton, CT, USA – 3, ; 3

Red Class 1 – J/70 (One Design – 11 Boats)
1. Sugar Daddy, J 70, Mark Ploch Mike Bruno , Bronx, NY, USA – 2, 1, 4, ; 7
2. Catapult, J 70, Joel Ronning , Minneapolis, MN, USA – 1, 7, 1, ; 9
3. MUSE, J 70, Joe / Heather Bardenheier / Gregg-Earl , Boston , MA, USA – 5, 2, 3, ; 10

Red Class 2 – J/80 (One Design – 7 Boats)
1. Little Feat, J 80, Jeff Johnstone , Portsmouth, RI, USA – 2, 2, 3, ; 7
2. R80, J 80, Will Crump , Annapolis, MD, USA – 5, 1, 2, ; 8
3. Pressure, J 80, Guy Nickerson , Tilton, NH, USA – 4, 5, 1, ; 10

Red Class 3 – S Class (One Design – 10 Boats)
1. Aquila, Herreshoff S, Geoffrey Davis , Providence, RI, USA – 2, 1, 1, ; 4
2. Osprey, Herreshoff S, Dyer/Sheldon/Michael Jones/Whitehouse/McCaffrey , Newport, RI, USA – 1, 3, 3, ; 7
3. Firefly, Herreshoff S, Alan Silken , Newton, MA, USA – 4, 2, 7, ; 13

White Class 2 – IRC 4 (IRC – 11 Boats)
1. Menace-Bliksem, Farr 30, Pieter Taselaar , Newport, RI, USA – 1, 4, 1, ; 6
2. Carina, Custom 48, Rives Potts , Essex, CT, USA – 6, 1, 2, ; 9
3. Rush, J 109, Bill Sweetser , Annapolis, MD, USA – 2, 3, 5, ; 10

White Class 1 – Farr 40 (One Design – 9 Boats)
1. Barking Mad, Farr 40, James Richardson , Boston, MA, USA – 4, 1, 3, 2, 2, 5, 3, 3, ; 23
2. Charisma, Farr 40, Nico Poons , Monaco, MON – 1, 8, 1, 1, 5/TLE, 7, 1, 2, ; 26
3. Enfant Terrible, Farr 40, Alberto Rossi , Ancona, ITA – 2, 4, 8, 4, 1, 2, 2, 5, ; 28

White Class 3 – J/105 (One Design – 6 Boats)
1. Two Feathers, J 105, Mark & Jolene Masur , Dallas, TX, USA – 1, 4, 1, ; 6
2. Kestrel, J 105 , Sean Doyle / Susan Doyle , Cos Cob, CT, USA – 4, 1, 2, ; 7
3. Tonto, J 105, Fred Darlington , Cumberland, RI, USA – 2, 2, 3, ; 7

White Class 4 – Etchells (One Design – 13 Boats)
1. Scimitar, Etchells 30, Stewart Neff , Wenham, MA, USA – 6, 1, 1, ; 8
2. Midlife Crisis, Etchells 30, Bruce Golison , Rossmoor, CA, USA – 4, 2, 2, ; 8
3. CAN1396, Etchells 30, Hank Lammens , Norwalk, CT, USA – 5, 4, 3, ; 12

Media Contact:
Media Pro International
Barby MacGowan
barby.macgowan@mediapronewport.com
Tel: +1 401-849-0220
Mobile: +1 401-225-0249