NEW YORK YC ANNUAL REGATTAConditions at the 149th annual New York YC Regatta, which was held on the waters of Rhode Island Sound last weekend, could best be described as “adequate.” The sun didn’t shine until the fleet was heading in late Sunday afternoon, it rained a bit and the wind died on Saturday, Sunday’s breezes were stronger, but shifty, and the temperature wasn’t exactly summer-like. Despite these impediments, race committees on the two race circles, which held a total of 91 boats between them, were able to get three races off.Consistency was the theme in the 6-boat IMS 1 class. Bob Towse’s Blue Yankee (a 66-foot Reichel/Pugh design), scored three firsts to top the class, while Steve Munger’s Carroll Marine 60 Harrier (nee Carrera) racked up a trio seconds, and John Brim’s CM-60 Rima tallied three thirds to take second and third, respectively. Scratch boat in the class was Bob McNeill’s MaxZ86 Zephyrus V, which didn’t have enough racetrack to correct out against the smaller boats in any of the three windward-leeward races that were held, and finished last overall in the class. One of the more impressive sights of the weekend was the eight-boat 12-Meter class, which boasted four America’s Cup winners [Columbia, 1958; Intrepid, 1967, 1970; Courageous, 1974, 1977; Freedom, 1980]. The rest of the class was made up of some only slightly lesser known names, Nefertiti, American Eagle, Hissar (ex KZ-5, one of only two fiberglass 12-Meters ever made), and Fiddler (nee America II). Edgar Cato’s Hissar, staffed by a veteran crew of 12-Meter sailors, won the class with 3 points, the wooden-hulled Intrepid took second, and its heir, Courageous, placed third.In IMS Class 2, IMS-50s were the headline act: Marko Birch’s Talisman, a Farr 53, won, beating second-place Canvasback (Farr 49) by one point. Larry Dickey’s Ptarmigan, a Nelson/Marek 47, began and ended the series with firsts, but stumbled in the first race Sunday with a sixth-place finish. IMS Cruiser/Racer Class 3 was a Swans-only affair, with two 56s and 4 of the speedy 45s competing. The 56-footer Nova, owned by Mark DiStefano, won all three races. Second overall was Goombay Smash, a 45, and in third its sistership Alliance.For complete results and images, see http://www.nyyc.orgAMERICA’S CUP: KOSTECKI STILL THINKINGIn an email received by Grand Prix Sailor earlier today, 2002 Rolex Yachtsman of the Year John Kostecki stated that he has not despite reports to the contrary, signed with Team New Zealand. He did say he has been, “exploring my options with several teams.” SWEDISH MATCH TOUR-MATCH RACE GERMANYMany pundits were convinced that the end of the America’s Cup and the return of those sailors to the world match-racing circuit would spell doom for rising stars like Jesper Radich and Jes Gram-Hansen. The Toscana Elba Cup-Trofeo Lochman event in mid May did little to discredit this sentiment as Magnus Holmberg, formerly of the Victory Challenge, and OneWorld skipper James Spithill advanced to the final, with Holmberg winning. But then Radich bit back, winning the ACI HT mobile Cup in Split, Croatia, two weeks ago. This weekend the 27-year-old Dane won again at the Match Race Germany on Lake Constance, knocking off Luc Pillot in 3-0 in the final. Pillot had defeated Jochen Schumann in the semis, while Radich eliminated Ed Baird. Baird then knocked out Schumann 2-0 to take third.For complete results, www.swedishmatchtour.comSPENDING TOO MUCH FOR YOUR SAILING SUNGLASSES?Are the price tags on your sunglasses hurting your eyes? Dirty Dog offers the highest quality polarized lenses and flexible frames that won’t snap during that windward take down, for lots less than the other brands. According to Sailing World’s June issue, the “price is right” for the new Wet Glass model. We offer the new Wet Glass to Grand Prix Sailor readers at 25 percent off only through http://www.dirtydog.com/product.phtml?ID=150 Enter this code “swgps” at check out, for discount to apply.GRAND PRIX SAILINGSailing World magazine debuted a new section in its June issue dedicated to the coverage of high performance boats more than 50 feet long. The inaugural Grand Prix Section featured a story from the 2003 Millennium Cup, a profile of the 90-footer Alfa Romeo, and an interview with Transpac veteran Roy E. Disney. An exclusive, extended version of the interview is now available on www.sailingworld.com_SW_: Your last three boats have been successively faster. What’s the lure of the new tricked-out 86-footer you have under construction? RD: Oh god, I don’t know. It’s the disease. Bigger is better obviously. The technology has come so far in recent years. Part, our kind of boats, big boats, and in part the America’s Cup, has influenced a lot of things too. And there really is a desire to get there quicker. I’m really following Bob McNeil, who was first one to say why don’t we get together and find a way to have bigger, faster boats, but not have too much of an arms race. Of course it’s an arms race, give me a break, but at least with this association we can say, this is far enough, we can’t go any further with this, and race each other boat for boat.SW: You can put some parameters around it.RD: Right, and not go home next week and say, “OK, I’ve got to have a bigger boat.” Which is still going to happen with other people, I’m sure, but maybe at least we can build a fence around ourselves.SW: If speed is part of your quest, why not race a multihull?RD: Stan Honey of course has been charging around with Steve Fossett on that big thing [PlayStation], and he comes home with his eyes awfully large. It’s never appealed to me for some reason. My idea is that the keel is still down there for the monohull to keep you from falling over.SW: You’ve built a strong, loyal crew. What’s the No. 1 characteristic you look for in a prospect?RD: Obviously, they’re all good sailors. There’s a comradeship that goes with it. We’ve had people on the boat on and off through the years that didn’t fit. We knew it and they knew it. That was the end of that. No word spoken or sour grapes or anything. It is a gang of people that’s been together and had a lot fun and been through a lot over quite a long period of time now. I think it’s a kind of a pride in ourselves as a group that people become attached to it when they see it. If you talk to somebody who sails with us and hasn’t been with us before, like last summer going to Bermuda; they all get off boat and say, “Wow, you guys really work together well.” I don’t think anybody can say anything that’s nicer than that. SW: Are you going to need more people for the bigger boat?RD: We’re looking at probably 18; we’re generally 12 or 13 now. Last year around the buoys in the Caribbean we had 23 or 24.For John Burnham’s complete interview with Disney, www.sailingworld.com/sw_article.php?articleID=1853COLLEGE NORTH AMERICANSAfter 18 of 36 races, Harvard University has a commanding 38-point lead in the Inter-Collegiate Sailing Association Coed Dinghy Nationals. Led by skippers Clay Bischoff and Cardwell Potts and crews Lema Kikuchi, David Darst, Michelle Yu, and Gabe Dorfman, the Crimson are winning in both A and B division. In second place is St. Mary’s College of Maryland with Tufts in third. Three West Coast schools, USC, Stanford, and Hawaii, are tightly packed in fourth through sixth. The Seahawks of St. Mary’s are no doubt bent on avenging their narrow loss at the ICSA Team Racing Championships held over the weekend. After just sneaking into the final four with a last-minute win over Tufts, St. Mary’s blazed through the final 4-boat round robin. They were poised to win the regatta, but the wind, which had been fickle all day, died completely and final race wasn’t sailed by the 5 p.m. cutoff so the scores reverted to the end of the previous round robin. Harvard took the title with a 5-2 record in that round robin and St. Mary’s edged USC and Hobart and William Smith Colleges’ each school had a record of 4-3 for second.In the first of the three ICSA spring championship, it was Ken Legler’s Tufts Jumbos who won the women’s dinghy championship. St Mary’s was second, (anyone sensing a trend here?) and Old Dominion third.For complete results, reports, and photos, www.collegesailing.orgJAMIE BOECKEL MEMORIAL GOLF TOURNAMENTThe Jamie Boeckel Memorial Foundation raised over $40,000 to benefit youth sailing at the first Jamie Boeckel Memorial Golf Tournament. The tournament was played at the Grassy Hill Country Club in Orange, Conn., on May 30. Boeckel, a professional sailor who sailed with the America True team in the 2000 America’s Cup, was killed during the 2002 Block Island Race.”We were more than pleased,” said Will Wurm, a close friend of Boeckel’s and one of the driving forces behind the foundation. “This is the first tournament and we had a waiting list. It was probably double what we expected. It’s definitely going to be an annual event.”According to Wurm, the money raised will be used to established an annual college scholarship for a talented sailor and to raise Safety at Sea awareness among junior sailors. Custom life vests, embroidered with flags representing Jamie’s initials, will be awarded to deserving young sailors.Aside from the foundation, the big winner of the day was John Gower, who hit a hole in one on the 175-yard, par-3 third hole and earned himself a 3-year lease on an Infinity FX35, or the cash equivalent (approx. $18,000).Major contributors from the sail and marine industry included the Towse Family, Joe Dockery, North Sails, Storm Trysail Club, and Brendan Brownyard. Other generous contributors included Jim and Mary Slattery, Pierce Cohalan at Cohalan Holdings, Larry & Luisa Kane, and Clare Rose Inc. (Anheuser-Busch distributors). Best Cleaners, New England Boatworks, Sail Martha’s Vineyard, Team One Newport, Hathaway, Reiser & Raymond (Sailmakers and Riggers), and MacDonald Yacht Rigging were all tee box sponsors. Prizes for the raffle were also donated by SeaRay, Mercury Marine, Surfside III, Harken, Team One Newport, OneWorld, West Marine, North Sails, Oracle Racing, and Stars & Stripes. Other sponsors included Golfsmith, NEC Mitsubishi, Roberto’s, and Greenvale Vineyards.For more information on, or to contribute to, the foundation, Jamie Boeckel Memorial Fund, C/O CWF, Will Wurm, 880 Third Ave., 16th Floor, New York, NY 10022.BERMUDA ONE-TWOBy Joe CooperA near-record 31 entries crossed the starting line June 7 for the 12th edition of the biannual Bermuda 1-2. The 1978 brainchild of OSTAR veteran Jerry Cartwright, the race has been run under the auspices of Goat Island YC in Newport, R.I., in collaboration with St. George’s Dinghy and Sports Club in Bermuda. In 1992 the Newport YC joined GIYC as co-organizer at the Newport end. The race is named for the singlehanded leg from Newport and the doublehanded return passage from Bermuda. The race offers the opportunity to make this classic passage in company, yet permitting participants to race at the level that suits their personalities, desires, their budgets and boats. This year the PHRF rating spread runs from from -31 (the Open 60 AmericaOne skippered by Vendee Globe aspirant Tim Troy of Maryland) to 210, a Pearson Wanderer 30. Many of the same faces sign up every year like veteran Juan Perez of Virginia who will be starting for the 12th time in his Tartan 33. “The Chesapeake is nice,” said Perez, “but ocean sailing is fun and Bermuda is a wonderful destination.” The race has been used as the training ground for many of the competitors in such high profile events as the OSTAR, BOC and Around Alone. Lining up against Troy will be Tim Kent of Michigan in Everest Horizontal, the Open 50 in which Kent has just completed the latest Around Alone.Judging by the weather briefing offered at Friday’s skippers meeting this year’s southbound fleet could be in for a straightforward and quick, if somewhat damp, trip to Bermuda across the southwesterly flow of the Azores high. The Doublehanded leg starts in Bermuda on June 20.Go to www.newportyachtclub.org/bermuda1-2/ for position updates and information.JUDGES MANUALUS SAILING has released an updated version of the Judges Manual. The book, which can be purchased from US SAILING for $25, covers all aspects of judging a sailing event. Topic include standards and practices, preparing for an event, conducting a protest hearing, and redress. It’s a valuable resource for local protest committees, judges or anyone wishing to become a judge, or sailors hoping to gain a better understanding of the protest process. To order a copy, contact US SAILING at (800) US SAIL 1 or visit www.ussailing.org/merchandiseJOBSON: OWNERS AND CREW SHOULD SHARE EXPENSESA growing culture of demanding pay and expecting every expense to be covered has taken root in some areas of racing. It’s pushing many owners away from big-boat sailing: While there are larger economic factors, it’s one reason that very few big boats are being built or even campaigned. If owners and crew agree on a healthier formula of who should pay for what, this could be different.I’ll give you some examples of what I’ve heard from owners recently. One Long Island Sound owner of a 40-footer was disappointed to learn that several of his crew went out for an expensive dinner after a regatta. It wasn’t a crew dinner or a function at the yacht club. The group (not the entire crew) rolled up a big tab and then sent him the bill expecting payment, even though he had no knowledge of the dinner. Another owner told me that he was quitting sailing because he was tired of his crew sending in expenses that included mileage for driving to regattas and receipts for McDonalds.For Jobson’s complete column, www.sailingworld.com/sw_article.php?articleID=1854 And don’t forget to vote on the www.sailingworld.com poll on what you expect from an owner at big regattas.GRAND PRIX SAILOR is compiled by the editors of Sailing World magazine. If you’d like to subscribe, see http://https://www.sailingworld.com/ Contributing Editors: Tony Bessinger (tony.bessinger@sailingworld.com), Dave Reed (dave.reed@sailingworld.com), Stuart Streuli (stuart.streuli@sailingworld.com), John Burnham (john.burnham@sailingworld.com)
