(Newport, RI)- The 165th Annual Regatta will run June 14 to 16 out of the New York Yacht Club Harbour Court in Newport, R.I. All classes will enjoy the traditional race around Conanicut Island on Friday, June 14, followed by two days of buoy and navigator racing over the weekend for PHRF, IRC, and J/109 one-design class.
The social program is always a highlight of this event and includes Friday’s Around the Island Awards Party presented by the 2020 ORC/IRC World Championship, the Annual Regatta Dinner on Saturday and another awards party on Sunday for the weekend series. For New England sailors eager to shake off a long winter—and in this case, an inclement spring—the Annual Regatta is always a great way to kick off the Newport sailing season. Furthermore, the weekend forecast is looking pretty awesome, with mostly southwesterly winds in the 15 to 25 kts range and sunny! Get out the shorts and shades!
The regatta enjoys strong support from enthusiastic J/Teams looking to start their summer sailing seasons. Thirty J/Crews are participating in the fleet of ninety offshore keelboats- J’s are 30% of that fleet!
In the IRC 3 Class, Joe Brito’s J/121 INCOGNITO will be up against a quartet of Farr 40s in both the Round Island and offshore W/L racing.
The IRC 4 Class is a veritable den of thieves, comprised mostly of fast J/111s, J/44s, and J/122s. Many of the teams have won their class or major championships over the years; the betting parlour at Ladbroke’s would have a very tough time handicapping this class. Nevertheless, some great sailing will be had by these crews; the teams include two J/111s (Doug Curtiss’s WICKED 2.0 & Andrew/ Sedge Ward’s BRAVO), two J/44s (Commodore Bill Ketcham’s MAXINE & the US Coast Guard’s GLORY), and three J/122s (Paul Milo’s ORION, Robin Team’s TEAMWORK, and Jack Gregg’s TARAHUMARA).
The PHRF Random Leg classes will be racing inside Narragansett Bay. In the PHRF 2 division is Greg and Sarah Manning’s J/121 SARAH, John Thouron’s J/122 DUNDER, Abhijeet Lee’s J/111 VARUNA, and Bob Manchester’s J/120 VAMOOSE.
The PHRF 3 division of fourteen boats has nine J/crews! Watch out for the new J/99 AGENT 99 sailed by Jeff Johnstone, they are the top rated boat n class and are up against a rogue’s roost of J/105s and J/29s. The three J/105s include Don Santa’s SANTAS REIGN DEAR, Mark Lindquist’s STERLING, and the trio of Joyce/ Reservitz/ Wagner on DARK’N’STORMY. EC Helme will be in the mix with his J/92S SPIRIT. The two dark horse J/29s are Jack McGuire’s DIRTY HARRY and Steve Thurston’s MIGHTY PUFFIN. Then Dan Stone’s J/80 HOT STREAK, the lowest rated boat in the class, will be watching from the bleacher seats hoping to stay close to the fleet and do well on handicap time.
The J/109s have a half-dozen good boats sailing all weekend. Similar to the IRC 4 class, virtually every team is capable of getting podium finishes, the question will be who’s clicking tactically with good boat speed and boat handling after the dust clears. The protagonists include familiar names like Tom Sutton’s LEADING EDGE, Bill Sweetser’s RUSH, Carl Olsson’s MORNING GLORY, Brooke Mastrorio’s URSA, and Ted Herlihy’s GUT FEELING. For more New York YC Annual Regatta sailing information
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