Another Dark and Stormy Please....well maybe not!

Dark and Stormy!
There is some debate if it is the "Ramos Fizz" or "Mudslide" that is the signature drink for visitors at St. Francis Yacht Club races. There is little doubt that at New York Yacht Club's Harbor Court outstation, the drink of the day is the "Dark and Stormy".

It also was the order of the day for the finals of this year’s Hinman Masters Regatta as rain clouds and gusty southeast winds met the 12 teams on Sunday morning and lasted throughout. Noroton YC, from Darien, Connecticut, was the overall winner of the regatta.

An incredible regatta management group got over 80 individual 3 on 3 races off in the three day regatta with masters (skippers over 45 years of age and crew over 40) racing in a fleet of Sonars and J22's. The racing was always intense and StFYC did a bit better than last year, but still only managed to pick off one other team, the Royal Thames YC.

As it turned out, the final match for StFYC paired us against RTYC and it was Team St Francis' finest moment, as we had a frantic final leeward mark rounding that we used our "picks" "passbacks" and all the other skills learned at home from the "Team Race 101" sessions this year to finish 1, 2, 3 to win the round.

It is very exciting that StFYC is building our own fleet of J22's that we will be able to host similar team racing events and many of the teams at this year’s Hinman Masters have been hearing of it and hinting (or demanding!) to be included on the invite list!


TEAMS
Twelve yacht clubs competed this year:
• St. Francis YC
• Boston
• Eastern
• Larchmont
• Noroton
• New York
• Royal Thames
• Seawanhaka Corinthian
• Southern
• Annapolis
• Storm Trysail / Ida Lewis
• Texas Corinthian

TEAM MEMBERS (left to right in photo)

Dan Pingaro
John Siegel
Paul Manning
Theresa Brandner
Mark Adams (team captain & skipper)
Beau Vrolyk (skipper)
Peter Lane (2 days too young to be a skipper!)
Kellie Fennessy
Jennifer Dunbar
Mike Priest
Bill Dana (skipper)

Hinman Grandmasters Team Racing Regatta - Newport, RI

Not to be confused with the Hinman Masters regatta (with younger minimum age limits) the inaugural Grandmasters Team Race was sailed last weekend at NYYC’s Harbour Court in Newport with an impressive group of sailors. Veteran Americas Cup competitors, world champions and just plain old fast guys were abundant.

Targeted to offer continuing high level competition to the large number of experienced veteran team racers, the Grandmasters event saw great breezes, friendly camaraderie and intense competition. Skippers were at least 55 years old, with crew in the 45+ range.

Some stats from the weekend:

TOTAL Competitors - 60
TOTAL number of races - 51 (three round-robins and a mini championship round-robin)
TOTAL Advil consumed - 517
Average age - ageless!

Place TEAM RR1 RR2 RR3 Mini RR TOTAL
1st Noroton YC 4 10 8 4 26
2nd New York YC 2 8 8 4 22
3rd American YC 4 4 6 4 18
4th Southern YC 2 4 4 0 10
5th St. Francis YC 2 2 4 8
6th St. Pete YC 1 2 0 3

Even thought the results were not what we hoped for, the team racing bug was set in motion and the desire for improvement and vindication is burning. We were so close, so often. Due to a scoring mishap we ended up fifth when a final tally should have put us in 4th and a chance to sail the final mini round robin for a possible 3rd. Lesson learned...keep track of your scores! Mark, Bill and Jennifer are returning this weekend to Newport, RI for the well known Hinman Masters regatta. Wish us good luck with the fresh experience of the Grandmasters!

The format was 3-on-3 team racing in Sonars with no spinnakers

StFYC Team Members
Mark Adams
Bill Dana
Jon Andron
Jennifer Dunbar
Tad Lacey
Paul Heineken
Rick A Wallace
Roland Van der Meer
Spencer Fulweiler