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Newport Regatta Images by Rod Harris. July 8, 2013
Hurry up and wait!” was the mantra today at Sail Newport’s Newport Regatta as sailors were delayed onshore until noon waiting for a sailable breeze.
Circle One Race Officer Tom Duggan (E. Sandwich, MA) located the race course south of Prudence Island and said the southerly finally came in, albeit light, around 1:30 p.m. with enough to start racing for the 12 Metre and IC 37 classes.
“We only had about seven to eight knots, but it was a steady southerly,” Duggan added. As the afternoon progressed, the breeze built to the low teens for the second of two races to be completed.
Finishing at the top of the 12 Metre Modern Class is Peter Askew (Key Largo, FL) and crew on “Enterprise.” The boat finished two races in second and first place respectively with an overall score of three.
“I grew up watching the 12 Metres, and it’s so enjoyable to sail the boat because of the technical challenge,” He added. “The team is just trying to get the boat going faster and faster.”
The crew onboard “Enterprise” has been sailing together for many years on several different boats but recently has been focused on getting to the World Championships. “We set out this year to do a number of things in preparation. The Newport Regatta is our final event before the Worlds,” he adds.
“Courageous” sailed by Oakcliff Sailing is tied with “Enterprise.” It was a game of cat-and-mouse around the course with the legendary boats, but Askew said, “We’re pretty comfortable with the boat, and even though “Courageous” passed us at the weather mark in the first race, we managed to stay ahead in the second race and watched them around the course.”
The 12 Metre Traditional/Vintage Class is led by “Oniwa,” skippered by Mark Watson (Newport, RI).
Racing continues tomorrow and the class is preparing for the 12 Metre Worlds on Narragansett Bay from July 31 through August 5.
A second racing circle was located North of the Newport Bridge, at Potter Cove, with one-design classes including Formula 18 Catamarans, VX Ones, 505s, and Thistles. The RC team, including PROs Mike Levesque (Uxbridge, MA) and Kevin Reeds (Annapolis, MD), set the course quickly to start racing at 1:00 pm with a six to seven knot southerly. The wind only built to eight to nine knots towards the end of the day but enabled four races for each of the four fleets.
Mike Levesque noted, “The light breeze and strong tidal current combined to challenge the sailors and the race committee. Despite a number of individual recalls, the fleets were exciting to watch. There were many crowded mark roundings and photo-finishes across all fleets in every race.”
In the F-18 class, no one could touch Michael Easton (Burlington, MA) and Tripp Burd (Marblehead, MA) on “Surf Club Newport.” The team has been sailing together for many years and won every race today.
“We managed to string it together,” Easton said. “We had really good starts, and the wind built over the day, so it wasn’t the same race every time. Racing is very tight in the fleet. One wrong move and you’d get swallowed up. It was definitely an exciting day.”
VX One sailors Iain Jaeger (Basking Ridge, NJ) and Zach Champney (Newport, RI) on “Magnum” are in first place with twelve overall points. This fleet is also tight, with Jeff Hayden (Newport, RI) in second place and Doug Clark and Trevor Parekh (Mystic, CT) in third place. Only one point separates the three boats.
“We’ve only been sailing together for a year,” Jaeger says, and we’re continuing to work tuning the rig.” He says today was challenging due to the chop and the current. “We ran into a lot of seaweed and had to clear the blades a lot during racing,” he adds.
In the second race, “Magnum” held the third position most of the way but chose to get out of the ebbing current and went inshore away from the pack and won the race on the downwind leg. For tomorrow, he says, “We’re planning to be more aggressive on the start and get in early in the game.”
Also on the leaderboard is David Kirkpatrick (Newport, RI), firmly in front of the 505 Class, and Scott Pakenham (Portsmouth, RI), leading the Thistle class.
Racing continues tomorrow for all classes.