Windy New York YC Annual Regatta

(Newport, RI)- With the exception of maybe a little more sun and a little less rain, Robin Team has a hard time imagining a better Father’s Day. The J/122 skipper from Lexington, N.C., spent Sunday sailing with his two sons in testing conditions and putting the finishing touches on a near flawless weekend of racing at the 165th edition of the New York Yacht Club Annual Regatta including the Swan American Regatta.

“What better way to way to spend Father’s Day than racing offshore with your two sons and getting the opportunity to walk across the stage at the New York Yacht Club,” says Team. He didn’t add winning, but maybe he didn’t have to. That was merely the cherry on top.

The Teamwork crew, which also includes Team's brother, started the long weekend with a convincing win in IRC 4 in Friday’s Around-the-Island Race, and carried that winning feeling into two days of buoy racing in big breeze and cresting waves on Rhode Island Sound. Teamwork won three races yesterday and the first race today. With the overall title all but in the bag, Team and his crew were a little cautious in the final race in order to preserve their assets for Block Island Race Week, which starts a week from Monday.

“We were in a J3 [jib] all day long and we ended up running three different spinnakers based on the conditions,” says Team. “We just changed gears based on the wind intensity. All of that made it really, really fun. Toward the end of the regatta, we got a little bit conservative because we did have a lead and we didn’t want to break anything. So we ran a [smaller high-wind spinnaker] on one leg and ran a [reaching spinnaker] on the final leg to the finish.”

A fourth in that final race was the lone blemish on an otherwise perfect scorecard. But finishing that race overlapped with another competitor after 90 minutes of hard racing just emphasized how competitive it was in IRC 4, which made the overall victory that much sweeter.

“That was one of the beautiful things about this regatta,” says Team. “The rating band was really tight and you knew how you did at the end of the race instead of waiting for the corrected times to come out. It was fun to have two other J/122s there, they were really well-sailed boats, we love sailing against them. The J/111s and the J/44s were all great competition as well. We’ll be back.”

Behind TEAMWORK in the IRC 4 Class comprised of all J/Boats was New York YC Commodore Bill Ketcham’s J/44 MAXINE in second, followed by Andrew & Sedge Ward’s J/111 BRAVO in third place.  Rounding out the top five were two J/122s- Jack Gregg’s TARAHUMARA in 4th and Paul Milo’s ORION in 5th position.

In the J/109 division, Bill Sweetser’s RUSH defeated a highly competitive fleet with a 3-1-1-2-2 record for 9 pts.  Taking the silver was Carl Olsson’s MORNING GLORY on a tie-breaker at 12 pts each over Ted Herlihy’s GUT FEELING.  The rest of the top five included Tom Sutton’s LEADING EDGE in 4th and Brian Kiley’s GAMBIT in 5th place.

John Thouron’s J/122 DUNDER from Burlington, VT won PHRF 2 Class of nine-boats.  Third was Bob Manchester’s J/120 VAMOOSE and fifth was Abhijeet Lee’s J/111 VARUNA.

PHRF 3 class was loaded with nine J/Teams.  In the end, Jeff Johnstone’s new J/99 AGENT 99 took second place with Mark Lindquist’s J/105 STERLING securing third.  The trio of Joyce/ Reservitz/ Wagner took 5th on their J/105.  Sixth was yet an other J/105, Don Santa’s SANTAS REIGN DEAR from Annapolis, MD and 7th was EC Helme’s J/92S SPIRIT.

PHRF 4 class saw J/crews take 3 of the top 5 spots.  Top boat was Steve Thurston’s J/29 MIGHTY PUFFIN i second.  Fourth was Jack McGuire’s J/29 DIRTY HARRY and fifth went to Daniel Stone’s J/80 HOT STREAK.

In IRC 3 Class racing offshore, Joe Brito’s J/121 INCOGNITO sailed well, improving every race in their first regatta of the year, closing on high note with a 2-1 on the last two races on Sunday.  Sailing photo credits- Bill Shea Photography.  For more New York YC Annual Regatta sailing informationAdd to Flipboard Magazine.


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