(Stratford, CT)- The Riverside Yacht Club in Connecticut ran the annual
Stratford Shoal Light regatta last weekend. It is a popular event for
those who enjoy offshore racing as it all takes place from mid-Long
Island Sound to eastern Long Island Sound. If you sail it fast enough,
you can even be back to the Riverside YC in time for cocktails and
dinner!
This year’s race took place on a fairly windy Saturday, sailing in the
same conditions as the J/70s in the Bacardi Newport Sailing Week
regatta. Strong easterlies made for big waves on Long Island Sound.
With such a long “fetch”, the beat upwind to the first marks were rough,
but the effort was well worth it for those crews that stuck it out
(some boats DNF’d) to enjoy crazy-fast surfing and planing conditions
all the way home to the Riverside YC finish line. The two courses the
fleet had to sail include Course I- the Stratford Shoal Light Course of
45.5nm and Course II- the Cable & Anchor Bell Course of 28.5nm.
In these challenging conditions, every J/Team in their division
performed well and finished at the top of their respective classes! In
the PHRF Doublehanded class, Todd Aven’s J/92 THIN MAN relished the
conditions and simply sailed away with their class win.
PHRF 1 Class had Steve Chronert’s J/109 ZUMA win over another 35 foot
classic- the J/35 IMPROMPTU skippered by Brian Warner that took 2nd in
class. Fifth place was taken by Mark Parry’s J/35 BLUE MOUSE. Of note,
“lightweights” like the MC 38 Carbonado got killed in the heavy upwind
going.
In such demanding sailing, it’s not surprising the J/105s swept the
podium in PHRF 2 class. Marcus Wunderlich’s team on STRATOS took class
and J/105 honors. Second was the American YC Junior Big Boat Team on
YOUNG AMERICAN- another fantastic performance for this young crew.
Then, giving the two leaders anxiety attacks was yet another junior
crew, the Larchmont YC Junior Offshore Team sailing PRIVATEER into third
overall.
In the shorter Cable & Anchor Bell Race, the J/105 STRANGE BREW
sailed by Randy Bourne won the PHRF Non-Spinnaker I class. Not far off
the pace was Ken & Drew Hall’s J/100 NEVERMORE, taking 3rd in class.
For more Stratford Shoals Race sailing information