On a light-air, four-race day, the final standings in a top-flight competitive fleet are as likely to come down to the mistakes you avoid as the things you do right. That was the case in ORC B at the 170th Annual Regatta. David Team’s Vesper squad fought all day with rival Fox, skippered by Victor Wild, doing most everything as right as can be expected on a very challenging day.
“We felt in the first two races, when it was really light, 6 knots and under, that we had a click of pace on people,” says Team. “But then the wind shifts come into play with that light of a breeze. The first race we got it called right, the second race we were on the wrong side of the shift, but our speed was still good all day.”
As the seabreeze filled for Races 3 and 4, Fox found its groove. Going into the leeward mark rounding of the final race, it appeared everything was going the way of Wild’s crew, which had a two-point lead in the standings and was ahead in the race.
“Fox was leading, we were trying to do our best to figure out how to pass them,” says Team. “They fouled [a boat from another fleet] and they did the right thing, a 360, and that kind of just reshuffled the race.”
The New York Yacht Club’s Annual Regatta was first sailed on the Hudson River on July 16 and 18, 1846. A similar competition the previous year was called a Trial of Speed. With a few exceptions for world wars and other global crises, the event has been held every year since. For the majority of its existence, the Annual Regatta was raced on waters close to New York City. Since 1988, however, the event has been sailed out of the Harbour Court clubhouse in Newport, R.I., and, in 2004, it settled into the current three-day format, which includes a race around Conanicut Island on Friday, two days of buoy or navigator-course racing on Saturday and Sunday and nightly social activities on the grounds of the historic Harbour Court mansion. The 170th Annual Regatta featured an historic fleet of more than 150 boats, including the 10-foot 52 Super Series fleet, competing in North America for the first time since 2017. The Annual Regatta is sponsored by Helly Hansen, Safe Harbor Marinas, Peters & May and Hammetts Hotel.
While the other four boats in the top five were all teams with previous experience in the class, Liebel was encouraged by the three new teams—Glory from the U.S. Coast Guard Academy, Nathan Allman’s Barefoot team and Bill Zartler’s Voodoo Too—that rounded out the top 10.
“It’s exciting to see those new people coming into the class and doing well,” says Liebel. “A lot of people, a lot of different boats, had some very good finishes. It’s great to have those people come into the class, see success and hopefully they’ll want to come back.”
ORC B (One Design – 5 Boats)
1. Vesper, USA52007, David Team – 1 -3 -2 -1 ; 7
2. FOX, USA55052, Victor Wild – 2 -1 -1 -4 ; 8
3. Prospector, USA52052, Larry Landry Paul McDowell – 3 -2 -3 -2 ; 10
4. Azulito, USA4501, Wendy Schmidt – 4 -4 -4 -3 ; 15
5. Summer Storm 52, USA520, Andrew Berdon – 6 -6 -6 -6 ; 24
ORC C (One Design – 13 Boats)
1. Vamoose, Uni52443, Bob Manchester – 1 -3 -1 ; 5
2. Entropy, USA4235, Patricia Young – 4 -6 -2 ; 12
3. Jax, USA 2022, Øivind Lorentzen – 2 -4 -7 ; 13
4. Settler, USA8668, Thomas Rich – 6 -2 -5 ; 13
5. Impetuous, USA4206, Paul Zabetakis – 3 -7 -3 ; 13
52 Super Series (One Design – 10 Boats)
1. Gladiator, GBR11152X, Tony Langley – 2 -1 ; 3
2. PLATOON, GERGER-52, Harm Müeller-Spreer – 1 -9 ; 10
3. Interlodge VII, USA5210, Austin Fragomen – 3 -7 ; 10
4. SLED, USD5095, Takashi Okura – 6 -4 ; 10
5. Phoenix, RSA5211, Hasso Plattner – 4 -6 ; 10
Classics 1 (CRF MkII – 5 Boats)
1. Intrepid, US22, Jack Curtin – 2 -2 -1 -1 ; 6
2. Onawa, US 6, Mark Watson – 1 -1 -4 -2 ; 8
3. American Eagle, US 21, jeffrey randall – 3 -3 -2 -4 ; 12
4. Nefertiti, US19, Jack Klinck – 4 -4 -3 -3 ; 14
5. Gleam, US11, Dennis Gunderson – 6 -6 -6 -6 ; 24
Classics 2 (CRF MkII – 3 Boats)
1. Marilee, NYYC 13, Ken Colburn – 1 -1 -1 -1 ; 4
2. Dorade (spinnaker), 16, Matt Brooks – 2 -3 -2 -2 ; 9
3. Gesture, USA102, Alexander Mehran – 3 -2 -3 -3 ; 11
PHRF 2 (PHRF – 14 Boats)
1. Crossfire, BER125, Brian Hillier – 1 -1 -1 -5 ; 8
2. Acadia, USA45002, Erik Asgeirsson – 3 -2 -8 -1 ; 14
3. The Cat Came Back, USA35001, Lincoln Mossop – 2 -6 -3 -4 ; 15
4. Incognito, USA1, Chris Brito – 5 -3 -5 -2 ; 15
5. Oakcliff Farr 40 Black – HFOR Racing, USA51695, Oakcliff Sailing – 4 -5 -2 -7 ; 18
PHRF 3 (PHRF – 10 Boats)
1. Varuna, Usa88, Abhijeet Lele – 2 -5 -1 -3 ; 11
2. Das Blau Max, USA683, Mark and Cory Sertl Sertl – 1 -4 -2 -5 ; 12
3. Divided Sky, USA3503, Vincent & Kristina McAteer – 3 -2 -6 -2 ; 13
4. AFRICA B-Squad, 707, Jud & Cindy Smith – 7 -1 -5 -1 ; 14
5. Wicked 2.0, USA30, Douglas Curtiss – 5 -3 -4 -6 ; 18
PHRF 4 (PHRF – 17 Boats)
1. Gallant, 24, Nathan Broomfield – 5 -1 -2 ; 8
2. Mischief, USA1976 (s), David Schwartz – 4 -5 -1 ; 10
3. Dark Star, 53194, Roger Lowlicht – 1 -3 -10 ; 14
4. Defiance, 23, Elliott Brandicourt – 11 -2 -4 ; 17
5. AGENT 99, USA141, Jeff Johnstone – 3 -12 -3 ; 18
Classics 3 (CRF MkII – 8 Boats)
1. Arete, USA1, tim palmer – 1 -1 -5 -1 ; 8
2. Squaw, 57, Angus Davis – 2 -2 -2 -2 ; 8
3. Osprey, S8, Sheldon Whitehouse – 9 -3 -1 -3 ; 16
4. Surprise, S 5, Fred Roy – 4 -7 -4 -4 ; 19
5. Aquila, USA51, Geoffrey Davis – 3 -9 -3 -5 ; 20
Shields (One Design – 10 Boats)
1. Bit~O~Honey, 237, Ken Deyett – 1 -5 -2 -4 -1 ; 13
2. John Dory, 217, Jamie Hilton – 2 -6 -8 -1 -2 ; 19
3. Karaselet, USA74, Darden/ Shore – 5 -1 -11 -3 -4 ; 24
4. Weetamoe, 17, Peter Fernberger – 3 -8 -5 -2 -8 ; 26
5. Tinky, 258, Clayton Deutsch – 9 -4 -9 -5 -3 ; 30
PHRF 1 (PHRF – 7 Boats)
1. After Midnight, USA1201, Paul Jeka – 4 -4 -1 -1 ; 10
2. Siren-Oakcliff, USA50069, William Hubbard – 1 -3 -2 -7 ; 13
3. OUTLIER, USA151, Harvey Jones – 3 -1 -5 -4 ; 13
4. Courageous, USA 26, Oakcliff Sailing – 5 -2 -6 -3 ; 16
5. IRIE 2, GRE55, Brian Cunha – 6 -6 -3 -2 ; 17
PHRF 5 (PHRF – 3 Boats)
1. Blackwing, SK 19, Scott MacLeod – 1 -1 -1 -1 ; 4
2. Eider, 42053, Daniel Pesch – 2 -3 -2 -4 ; 11
3. No Worries, USA31905, Matthew & Diane Beaulieu – 3 -2 -4 -4 ; 13
PHRF Non-Spinnaker (PHRF – 5 Boats)
1. Frolic, NA5, Bill Doyle – 1 -1 -3 -2 ; 7
2. Osprey, 56644, Beth Van der Eems – 2 -2 -4 -3 ; 11
3. Caneel, 40968, Chip Hawkins – 6 -6 -1 -1 ; 14
4. Ponyo, 18, Paul Koch – 6 -6 -2 -4 ; 18
5. FIDELIA, USA61368, Barbara Vietor – 6 -6 -6 -6 ; 24
ORC A (One Design – 4 Boats)
1. Proteus, US60722, George Sakellaris – 1 -1 -2 ; 4
2. Vesper, CAY007, Jim Swartz – 3 -2 -1 ; 6
3. Temptation/Oakcliff JV66, USA119, Art Santry Oakcliff – 2 -3 -3 ; 8
4. FOGGY, USA2829, Richard Cohen / Jay Cross – 4 -4 -4 ; 12
ORC D (One Design – 14 Boats)
1. PACIFIC YANKEE, USA31062, Drew Freides – 2 -2 -3 ; 7
2. Cool Breeze, USA31072, John Cooper – 7 -1 -2 ; 10
3. Dingbat, USA70, Miles Julien – 6 -5 -1 ; 12
4. The ROCC, 64, Al Minella – 3 -6 -4 ; 13
5. Rima98, USA8198, John Brim – 1 -7 -7 ; 15
IC37 (One Design – 23 Boats)
1. New Wave, USA023, Steve Liebel – 5 -9 -2 ; 16
2. Kuai, USA027, Daniel Thielman – 2 -6 -8 ; 16
3. MENACE, NZL006, HOWARD SPENCER – 1 -3 -17 ; 21
4. Skeleton Key, USA022, Peter Wagner – 15 -1 -6 ; 22
5. Qubit, GBR017, Chris Lewis – 19 -2 -3 ; 24
