(Milwaukee, WI)- The Queen's Cup is the one of the oldest cups in world
of yachting that is still offered for competition every year. The
history of the cup dates back to an age when both British Victorian
silver-work and English sailing yachts were without rival anywhere in
the world.American shipyards of this era were turning out very fast sailing vessels called Clipper ships. These craft were extreme designs built to out perform the fast new breed of ships powered by steam. The American racing sloop SILVIE was built during this era using this radical new technology. On August 19, 1853, the American yacht SILVIE won second place in a regatta scheduled by the Royal Yacht Squadron that was raced off Cowes, England. First prize, a cup valued at 100 guineas, was won by the English yacht GAILY, followed within 6 minutes and 38 seconds by the American sloop SILVIE. This outstanding performance by SILVIE caused the Squadron to award a special prize to her, a 50 guinea cup, now known as the Queen's Cup. The cup was brought back to the New York Yacht Club, SILVIE's home port, and went into obscurity until 1874, when JH Godwin of New York gave the cup to his friend Kirkland Barker, Commodore of the International Yacht Club of Detroit. The cup was to be offered as an international challenge, to be known as the Godwin Cup. There was only one challenge, ANNIE CUTHBERT of Hamilton, Ontario, but she lost. Not soon after, Barker died and the cup went into storage. Later, his son-in-law- Walter Hull- rediscovered it and ultimately deeded it, at the behest of his good friend Bill Lawrie, to SSYC "for an annual race across Lake Michigan, always starting off South Shore Yacht Club, and ending at a point in Michigan, open to all yachts of a recognized yacht club on the Great Lakes".
This
year marked the 73rd sailing of the storied race providing 149 boats
with an overnight 67 mile sprint across Lake Michigan from Milwaukee
(WI) to Muskegon (MI). Conditions at the start on July 1 were about 20
knots, with the fleet ranging from former J/44 owners Dick and Doug
DeVos' MaxZ 86 WINDQUEST to a fleet of J's including J/130s, J/109s,
J/105s and J/30s. It was basically a sprint across the Lake this year
as the breeze held strong most of the way. The "sleds" made it across
66 miles to finish by midnight, averaging nearly 12.0 knots!In Division 2, Bob McManus's J/130 EDGE won their class by 8 minutes corrected over fellow J/130 owner Doug Petter sailing WILLIE J sailing at an average of 9.0+ knots! WILLIE was fourth boat to finish on elapsed in class behind the fast, red J/145 MAIN STREET sailed by Bill Schanen and his family crew that finished first boat-for-boat (and 7th on corrected time). In Division 4, the J/105 LATIS sailed by Dorothy Mietz was fourth in her class ahed of Conrad Deeter's J/42 ANOTHER J, Larry Taunt's J/35 BAD DOG in 10th, Larry Schell's J/35 TOUCH OF GREY in 12th and Tom Anthony's J/35 SHEARWATER in 13th. For Division 5, Mark Gurney's J/105 BUZZ was second, Al Wilson's J/100 SHEK O finished third and Mike Stewart's J/110 LADY K fourth. In Division 7, the two J/30s had a fast passage, sailing the 66.3 nm in just over nine hours. Tomm Heinrich's HULLABALOO finished 5th and Dennis Dryer's FRANK LLOYD STARBURST was 7th. Finally, in the Short-handed (double-handed) division, Brendon Doherty's J/105 OCH! was 5th and Whitney and Alison Kent's J/30 RAFIKI was 9th. Ed Buerger's J/130 FAST EDDY was 11th, George Petritz's J/29 TFWB RELENTLESS was 12th and Dana Felton and Tim Ker's J/35 NEMESIS was 13th. Sailing Photo credits- Chris Gribble. For more Queen's Cup sailing information
