J/120s Sweep Top Five in PHRF Division(Newport, RI)- The 475nm Annapolis to Newport race is one of the most historic and well-known of the US East Coast blue water races. Linking two seaports dating from our nation's birth, Annapolis and Newport, the race provides a contrast between the country's largest estuary, the Chesapeake Bay, and the Atlantic Ocean. The course heads south for 120 miles from Annapolis to the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel, then east to the Chesapeake Light and hence northeast to Newport. After navigating the shallows and currents of the Bay, navigators have to decide if they want to sail the rhumbline to Newport, go in towards the shore or head further into the Ocean.
This
year’s 35th edition was one of the most demanding races on record.
Both fleets, the Thursday start for smaller boats and the Friday start
for the bigger boats, saw rain and northerly winds in the 12-14 kts
range. Virtually all boats started with their pretty spinnakers and
headed down the Chesapeake Bay in the 7-10 kts boatspeed range, eager
for an early exit from the Chesapeake to head north. However, most
boats didn’t imagine how rough the seas would be once they headed off
into the Atlantic Ocean, with monster swells and the wind hard on the
nose as they beat for Newport. For some, the race went from a rough
ride with everything from strong winds, breaking seas and powerful
squalls to slatting sails in a huge leftover swell crawling towards the
finish off Castle Hill Light at the entrance to the East Passage of
Narragansett Bay. "We were beating into 18 to 25 knot winds almost the whole way. It was rough and we got banged around quite a bit," one sailor told The Capital after reaching the docks at Ida Lewis Yacht Club on Sunday evening. "It finally eased up this morning. Today was light and slow. It was hard to keep the boat moving."
"We
had a plan based on the weather information we were presented, and for
the most part we followed it," said another sailor. "We believed the
wind was going to go east so we put ourselves in position to capitalize
on that shift." The main tactical decision was how soon to tack from
port onto starboard when the forecasted easterly shift arrived; some
boats anticipated that move well and held on long enough to clear Block
Island on the way into the finish off Newport.In the IRC 2 class, it was Paul Milo’s crew on the J/122 ORION that fought hard to secure third overall in their class, just behind the famous 48 ft CARINA sailed by New York YC Commodore Rives Potts. Taking 5th in class was Chris Lewis’ J/44 KENAI and fellow J/44 GLORY sailed by US Coast Guard’s Jack Neades to 8th.
Perhaps
the story of the race was the performance by the J/120s, simply
dominating the PHRF 1 class with a sweep of the top five. Leading
everyone home was Stephen McManus’ SAYKADOO. They were followed by
stablemates SHINNECOCK (James Praley), HERON (Greg Leonard), WINDBORN
(Richard Born), and CHAOTIC FLUX (James Chen). Kristen Berry’s J/World
Annapolis team sailed their J/120 EUROTRASH GIRL into 7th. And, Mike
Boylan’s pretty J/46 MEDLEY took 8th.In PHRF 2 class, Robert Fox’s crew managed to sail their J/42 performance cruiser SCHEMATIC to a 9th in class. Finally, Will Passano’s J/37 CARINA took second in Performance Cruising 1 class.
A significant influx of performance cruising designs has enabled the Annapolis-to-Newport race committee to introduce a new competition – the Manufacturer’s Trophy – to promote friendly rivalry battles between production boat types. Though not announced yet, it appears the J/Teams performed well enough for them to garner that trophy?? Check out the A2N Facebook page here. For more Annapolis-Newport sailing information
|
