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New York Yacht Club Race Week at Newport Presented by Rolex

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Newport, 21 luglio 2012 - Three new classes joined the racing action today at the New York Yacht Club Race Week at Newport presented by Rolex, switching on to sunshine and light breezes that made yesterday’s rain but a memory. The Melges 32 one designs, which are using this event as a tune-up for their Nationals here next week and their World Championship in September, took their place on the White Course with Swan 42s and J/109s and competed “outside” on Rhode Island Sound along with a Blue Course for four IRC classes.  The J/105 one designs and a PHRF division sailed on a new Green Course that was set “up the Bay” and included the J/111s, which started their racing yesterday, and the Beneteau 36.7s, which started theirs on Thursday when the split-format event’s final four days of racing officially began.

The Melges 32s hit the race course with gusto, and Alec Cutler's (Hamilton, Bermuda) Hedgehog took two bullets in three of its races today to establish a lead, but it had to be determined by tiebreaker rules, since Benjamin Schwartz's Pisces shares the same overall points. "It's real important to get more time at the venue, which makes this regatta really valuable," said Cutler about this opportunity here before the class championships.  "The 32s are a tough fleet to win in consistently, because there are a lot of great crews; the boats are perfectly prepared, so it comes down to little differences. We had a beautiful day today, and it has been wonderful to have nice breeze."

Sean Doyle's (Cos Cob, Conn.) J/105 Kestrel finished the day in the lead after posting two bullets for today’s two races. "The conditions were challenging with fairly light wind and patches," said Doyle, who is only in his second year competing with this boat. "We really enjoy the one-design aspect. Everyone in this class has a great attitude and is very welcoming to us as newcomers."

After their start, the PHRF boats sailed off on a “Navigator’s Course,” purposely designed to attract cruising-type sailboats and those who might prefer the mental challenge of a distance course over the fast moves in around-the-buoys racing.   The Evelyn 32 Bluto was one of the “perfect candidates” for this race, and her owners, Bill Berges and Ben Hall (Tiverton, R.I.), had loaded it with friends for a fun day of sailing.  Unfortunately, the class was unable to finish its race within the time limit, but there is always tomorrow.

In Swan 42s, racing to the first leeward mark in race one saw gybing duels all over the course, including one between yesterday’s leader, John Hele’s (Toronto, CAN/Newport) Daring, and Ken Colburn’s (Dover, Mass.) Apparition in which Daring looked to have the advantage.  By the end of the six-leg windward-leeward race, however, Apparition had proven who’s boss and finished 1:18 ahead of Daring for first. Apparition then received a gift in the form of Daring finishing 13th to its first in the day’s third and final race, giving Colburn and crew, who had also won race two, a 14-point lead.

Art Santry’s (Oyster Bay) Ker 50 Temptation-Oakcliff remains at the top of the scoreboard today after three races in IRC 3.  With 10.5 points overall, the team’s closest competitor is now Jim Bishop’s (Jamestown, R.I.) J/44 White Gold, in second with 13 points. In the first race, the two boats were both declared winners after rating calculations showed them dead-even. White Gold, which had been in third overall yesterday, then proceeded to win the next two races while Temptation-Oakcliff took second place in those.

The two largest boats in the fleet, George David’s (Hartford, Conn.) 90-foot Rambler and New York Yacht Club Commodore Bob Towse’s (Stamford, Conn.) 66-foot Blue Yankee, sailed three longer races today for their two-boat matchup in IRC 1. The first two races featured three windward-leeward laps and saw each team score a victory, but a third two-lap race yielded Rambler as the victor for nine points overall to Blue Yankee’s 13.

 

“It's like you are in a match race with two big maxi boats, so that's a lot of fun,” said Rambler’s navigator Peter Isler (San Diego, Calif.), “but getting off the starting line and dealing with the match-racing tactics was probably the biggest twist for us today; Blue Yankee was very aggressive, and we were on our heels, but we were able to keep clear air and good speed too.”

Austin and Gwen Fragomen’s (Newport, R.I.) IRC 52 Interlodge is closing the gap on Jim Swartz's (Park City, Utah) IRC 52 Vesper, the leader since day one in IRC 2. Behind by nine points at press time yesterday (and later disqualified from their last race, which put them even farther behind), Interlodge is now only four points behind Vesper going into tomorrow’s finals. Interlodge’s fabulous comeback was due to three victories in today’s three races.

"We have to have a really good day tomorrow to hopefully get the win,” said Jamie Haines (Newport, R.I.) who works the pit on Interlodge.  “We are keeping our fingers crossed that we get three races in and there is good breeze. Today was a good day, and it was nice to see the boat performing really well and all our hard work paying off."

Craig Albrecht (Sea Cliff, N.Y.), skipper of the Farr 395 Avalanche, held on to first overall today in IRC Class 4, but only barely.  Andrew Shea’s (Annapolis, Md.) Dolphin seemingly came out of nowhere to challenge him with finish positions of 5-1-1, moving the team up to second from sixth yesterday and leaving Dolphin only one point out of first. Avalanche turned in scores of 3-5-8 today.

 

The J/109 Storm, skippered by Rick Lyall (Wilton, Conn.), took advantage of the building southeasterly on its course to finish the day with a nine-point lead in the J/109 Class, overtaking yesterday’s leader, Gut Feeling, skippered by Ted Herlihy (South Dartmouth, Mass.).

In J/111 Class, Henry Brauer’s (Marblehead, Mass.) Fleetwing continues to lead, as does William Purdy’s (New York, N.Y) Whirlwind in Beneteau 36.7 Class.

Racing concludes tomorrow for all classes, when Rolex timepieces will be awarded for best overall performance in the IRC class, in the One-Design classes and to the winning skippers in the Swan 42 and J/109 classes, which are holding their National and North American Championships, respectively.

For complete results, daily video and blog for the 2012 New York Yacht Club Race Week at Newport presented by Rolex, visit www.nyyc.org.

22/07/2012 09:16:00 © riproduzione riservata

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