(Greenwich, CT)- One of the more popular end-of-season offshore races on
Long Island Sound is the Indian Harbor YC’s infamous “Gearbuster
Race”. The race sounds easy, just a 46.0nm course eastward down the
Sound from Greenwich, CT to Stratford Shoal and return. Some years, the
fleet can take a beating on swift-moving storm fronts. This year, it
was pretty benign and very quick for some boats.The report from Drew Hall’s J/88 NEVERMORE was similar to their colleagues on HORNET. Said Drew, “we had a scream in the IHYC Gearbuster on our J/88. We were 1st in PHRF 3 Class beating 49-foot boats and were 11th overall.
We sailed very fast to Stratford Shoal and back. The wind was 8-14 knots with flat water. We were using a small flat Code 0 for 90% of the race with angles 45-75 AWA. Kerry Klingler from Quantum Sails designed the sail for us, my goodness it was quick! We wanted something to fill the gap when you are cracked off with the jib and not into the larger code sails. Worked like a charm! Especially when we could double-slot with our jib, too!”
In addition to the J/88, other J/crews had a great race. In the PHRF Doublehanded Class, Barry Purcell’s J/27 LUCIDA won their fleet of eleven boats. Then, in PHRF 2 Class, Brian Spears’ J/120 MADISON took the bronze on the podium. Add to Flipboard Magazine.
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