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Scuttlebutt News: International Rolex Regatta 2009
Zero hour at St Thomas Recycling and Fleet-building in the Islands Arethusa recovers and thrives High School sailors win Commodore’s Cup Brand-New Second Hand wins by a point in the IC 24’s History, Hospitality and the Old Farts (March 26, 2009) Many pasty white New Englanders left snow and chilly winds behind and took a direct flight to sunshine and paradise to be greeted by island hospitality and their friends from St. Thomas Yacht Club, Rolex and Yacht Haven Grande. The 2009 International Rolex Regatta begins on Friday and runs through Sunday and over 65 boats full of sun seekers and wind worshippers are registered. As always, a world-class race committee that lends its talent to so many regattas in Southeast Florida and the Caribbean is here also, even Arthur “Tuna” Wullschleger is here with his International Jury. Reportedly Wullschleger is 92 years old. While he may not be as nimble as he used to be at getting around in a boat, he is still sharp as a tack. I’m not sure that Wulfslager would ever deign to be called an “old fart”, but there are a group of self-proclaimed old farts at the St. Thomas Yacht Club. They even have a sign on the wall inside the clubhouse that reads “STYCOF” – St. Thomas Yacht Club Old Farts. Everyday the old farts gather for their coffee and solve the world’s issues. When it comes to sailing, however, they are much more than a bunch of windbags blowing hot air.
Back to the Old Farts – They don’t just sit there and take up the best seats in the house after they retire from their flag officer positions. They often find themselves back on committees. Why wouldn’t they? They are proud of what their small club has done. It’s produced incredible sailors. Peter Holmberg brought home the US Vi’s first Olympic medal, a Silver, from the Finn competition in 1988 and the list of international championship titles continues to grow. This decade has belonged to the club’s junior sailors, especially Taylor Canfield, Cy Thompson, Thomas and Ian Barrows. They have been dominant Opt, Laser, Club 420, team racing and fleet racing sailors, with Thomas Barrows carrying the club’s burgee and representing the US Virgin Islands at the Olympics in Qingdao. The Old Farts even helped to sponsor a crew of eight “rank novices”, from the Ivanna Eudora Kean High School on St. Thomas. The students enrolled in classes taught by Stan Lorbach. Lorbach and the students/crew have been repairing a donated Cal 30 and sailing it occasionally during the past month and a half and are sure to be in for a bit of excitement as they cross a starting line in a sailboat for the first time in their lives. Thank goodness for the Stan Lorbach’s, the Old Farts and the 120 club volunteers who are on hand for the 35th running of this leading International Rolex Regatta. Event website: http://www.rolexcupregatta.com Results by yachtscoring.com: http://yachtscoring.com Video by t2p.tv: http://www.t2p.tv/viewers/irr09 Photos at Scuttlebutt: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/09/0329 back to top Zero hour at St Thomas
The six divisions will compete on a variety of courses in these gorgeous waters. Azure blue, sea foam, turquoise and frothy white are among the colors on everyone’s horizon whether they are racing, snorkeling, kayaking or taking in the sights from the scenic overlooks along the mountainous roads of St. Johns, St. Thomas, or smaller islands such as Great St. James, Little St. James, Dog Island, and The Stragglers. Daggerboard and deep draft boats such as Arethusa, Donnybrook, Privateer, Three Harkoms, Vincitore, and Yeoman XXXII in the IRC Division will be doing their best to avoid the rocks so that they can return to shore for an event-filled shore-side schedule. The International Rolex Regatta 2009 starts on Friday and continues through Sunday. Event website: http://www.rolexcupregatta.com Results by yachtscoring.com: http://yachtscoring.com Video by t2p.tv: http://www.t2p.tv/viewers/irr09 Photos at Scuttlebutt: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/09/0329 back to top Recycling and Fleet-building in the Islands (March 27, 2009) The IC 24 Division at the International Rolex Regatta 2009 hosted by St. Thomas Yacht Club is by far the most exciting to view. As the final division in the starting sequence, the 14-boat fleet studied the other five divisions fight for the pin during the first start. It seems as if everyone shared the “win the pin” strategy. It was a blood bath, no one got hurt, but several boats were shut out and had to scramble to find a clear lane. Even after they sailed a leg in light air with a lot of chop, they converged on the top mark overlapped. While the second and third races started differently, the results were the same. Difficult tactical decisions had to be made during the approach to the weather mark to avoid collisions, and it was a good thing that there was an offset mark. Puerto Rico’s Jorge Santiago, whose team has been sailing their new boat for the past month and a half said, “These IC 24’s are hard core. We lost a boat on a shift right at the finish line.” The IC 24’s are not exactly new boats. They have been around since 2000 when St. Thomas Yacht Club members, Chris Rosenberg and Morgan Avery collaborated to modify a J 24 by fitting an open cockpit, Melges 24-type deck on it and retaining the J 24 rig. After two years of fleet building and experimenting, they placed spinnaker gear on board and the class started to growing faster.
St. Thomas Yacht Club’s John Holmberg is driving a boatload of juniors and Alec Anderson is subbing in as the helm for Mark Plaxon on Intac. The average age of his team is 18 years old, and 10-year old Jason Putley does not bring down the average by much. “He’s our bilge boy. He’s always around the club and he loves sailing. Jason has sailed a few regattas with us. He took a day off from school and gets to travel with us. Everyone is very supportive of our sailing these boats. We’re have fun and the competition is great,” said Anderson. Colin Rathbun’s Lime, from the British Virgin Islands, is leading after the opening day’s first four races with 13 points (click here for results). Orion, a Puerto Rican team with Fraito Lugo driving, is one point behind in second place. Intac, from the British Virgin Islands is in third with 17 points and six teams are stacked up less than 10 points behind them. It’s sure to be a close regatta as the recycled new fleet battles for a Rolex timepiece. Event website: http://www.rolexcupregatta.com Results by yachtscoring.com: http://yachtscoring.com Video by t2p.tv: http://www.t2p.tv/viewers/irr09 Photos at Scuttlebutt: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/09/0329 back to top Arethusa recovers and thrives (March 29, 2009) Arethusa, Phil and Wendy Lotz’s NY42 won the first race in the IRC Division of the International Rolex Regatta 2009 in St. Thomas. Not bad, considering it was touch and go for the week as to whether Arethusa would race in the regatta. Arethusa had been port tacked by a charter boat about a week before the regatta and Team Lotz went into overdrive to make repairs to their carbon fiber mast and a section of the hull between the two aft port stanchions. Trying to make the repairs to the boat was their best option. They had already charted a mothership to house most of their talented crew. Plane reservations were made and everyone was looking forward to a week or two of racing in the Caribbean. There was a frenzy of activity around the boat, and a team of craftsmen from Rhode Island and the Virgin Islands completed the repairs with over a day to spare before the start of the regatta. “We were really pleased with the way the repairs came together. There is a nice talent pool to draw from here,” said Wendy Lotz. There were numerous times in the regatta when the winds peaked over 20 knots. At first they were a little tentative and cautious about throwing up as much sail area as they normally would, but as it turned out, their NY42, the smallest boat in the IRC Division, was in contention to win the division. Ultimately, Vincitore, Jim Mitchell’s brand new Reichel Pugh stitched together a string of bullets. With breeze on, their eye-catching 52 footer is fitted out for cruising and complies with the IRC rule and boy, could Vincitore hop on waves, power up and zip around the islands. Although Vincitore was well beyond the horizon by the time Arethusa would pass the final turning mark of the course, the consensus from the rail of Arethusa was, “You can’t beat sailing in the Caribbean.” You always have wind. The water is warm. The mountainous islands are scenic and the hosts are incredibly enthusiastic to show everyone a fantastic time. There are plenty of direct flights to St. Thomas from the US and if you are a US citizen, there is no need for a passport. English is spoken throughout the islands and above all, if someone in your party is not a sailor, there is such a variety of things to do that everyone can stay busy. You can relax on any of dozens of beaches, snorkel, kayak, snuba, dive ledges and reefs, parasail, hike, shop 'til you drop in duty-free stores, play tennis or golf, wine, dine and even spend your vacation comparing spas. Rick Merriman, Arethusa’s tactician for the International Rolex Regatta, noted one other quality about the regatta. Said Merriman, “Sailing among the islands offers a nice change up from windward leeward courses.” Bill Canfield, who has been the regatta chair numerous times, has spent many a late night looking and the charts and designing the macramé-like courses that show off this great sailing area. As Wendy Lotz and the Arethusa team gathered to accept their second place trophy, she said, “It’s so nice to have finished second. It was almost a foregone conclusion that we would finish third behind those two big boats (Vincitore and the canting keel Privateer).” Arethusa is looking forward to another week of racing in the BVI Spring Regatta and Sailing Festival. Event website: http://www.rolexcupregatta.com Results by yachtscoring.com: http://yachtscoring.com Video by t2p.tv: http://www.t2p.tv/viewers/irr09 Photos at Scuttlebutt: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/09/0329 back to top High School sailors win Commodore’s Cup (March 29, 2009) Stan Lorbach didn’t have much time to prepare his 1972-vintage Cal 30, Winds Glory, and crew for the International Rolex Regatta 2009 hosted by St. Thomas Yacht Club, but at least he didn’t have to scour the coves, beaches and docks of St. Thomas for a pick-up crew. Lorbach took up sailing less than a decade ago and is sharing his passion with local high school students.
Lorbach’s crew of eight during the first day of racing dwindled down to four for Saturday’s race into the harbor at Charlotte Amalie and return race back to a finish line near St. Thomas Yacht Club. Most of the crew is high school juniors and Lorbach is hoping that more students will not just enroll in the course, but sign up for a second and third offering. “It has been my dream to see local children sailing,” says Lorbach. “I hope that more will become interested in the maritime trades, too.” Lorbach’s goal for the regatta, according to a personal friend and supporter of the program, was “not to break the boat and not to break any of his students’ enthusiasm for the sport.” The Commodore’s Cup, a special annual award, was presented to Stan Lorbach and his faithful crew, Kendrick Brown, Jamal Industrious, Mitchell Hubert and Jeremy Ronan. In a short period of time, a couple of students have distinguished themselves as being a bit more fearless than the others. Kendrick Brown was on the bow and Jemal Industrious was at the helm for the series. Prior to the regatta, they had been out sailing in 18 knots of breeze, and they certainly saw more than that during the three-day regatta. Even sailing in the non-spinnaker division can be a bit intimidating, especially when the wind comes up, the rollers come on and big boats are passing you right and left. Said Brown while he was holding the sparkling crystal decanter, “It has been a very rewarding experience. I’m glad that we were part of this.” Event website: http://www.rolexcupregatta.com Results by yachtscoring.com: http://yachtscoring.com Video by t2p.tv: http://www.t2p.tv/viewers/irr09 Photos at Scuttlebutt: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/09/0329 back to top High School Sailors win Commodore’s Cup (March 29, 2009) Going into the last day, it looked as if Fraito Lugo would be collecting his eighth Rolex timepiece for winning a division in the International Rolex Regatta, but it was not to be. Lugo closed out the incredibly hard-fought regatta in the IC24 class with a DNF and and DNS and said, “I have never sailed so poorly in my life.”
Closing out the regatta with a string of three bullets was Alec Anderson and a group of youngsters from the British Virgin Islands. Alec Anderson replaced the owner, Mark Plaxton, as the driver and certainly did Plaxon proud. Sporting the Intac uniform, which included white long sleeved wicking shirts and smiles, they sailed like pros. Anderson’s secret for the final day – “We kept the same strategy throughout the day. We started in the same place on the line in every race and we went the same way on each leg. It worked except for the race when the wind died and we ended up 10th.” The fleet was bunched up at every start, overlapped at every first mark, surfing and gybing to break overlaps on the runs and more often than not, leaving it up to the person calling the line on the race committee boat to determine what the order of finish was for each race. Colin Rathbun’s Lime was 11 points behind Intac, with 68 points and then there was a gap of 12 points. When the smoke cleared, Russ O’Rielly’s Young Guns finished fourth and five teams scrambled for fifth to ninth place with only six points separating them. The battle in the IC 24’s will continue next weekend during the three-day BVI Spring Regatta and Sailing Festival at the Nanny Cay Marina. Event website: http://www.rolexcupregatta.com Results by yachtscoring.com: http://yachtscoring.com Video by t2p.tv: http://www.t2p.tv/viewers/irr09 Photos at Scuttlebutt: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/09/0329 back to top |
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