New York Yacht Club welcomed the 18HTs on Friday for the Around the Island component of their 150th annual regatta in Newport.
Only 3 HTs were able to take the day off to race (Peter Johnstone, sailing with former collegiate all american Dave Ullrich; Brandy Wood and Charlie Barmonde; and Kris & me). We all had a great time on the water, and then at NYYC's spectacular clubhouse - a mansion called Harbor Court overlooking Newport Harbor - where the post race party for 1000 sailors included lots of rum drinks (too many in my case as I was racing a J105 on Saturday) and a gourmet buffet.
The fleet included most of the top boats and crews in the US, who are in Newport for this Friday's start of the bi-annual Newport to Bermuda race. The big boat fleet included the Reichel/Pugh 81 Carrera, the R/P 66 Blue Yankee, and 5 new TransPac 52's - super fast and light boats designed to a box rule with no concern for rating. Also racing were the Farr 40 One Designs - the top offshore one design class with lots of America's Cup pros on board. And finally there were the beautiful classic yachts - including old 12 Meters, 8 Meters, and 2 reproduction bermuda sandbaggers.
The Around the Island [Jamestown] Race is basically a `26 mile windward/leeward in most conditions, and it did not dissappoint this time. The Big boats got started in a dieine northerly and made slow progress while the other classes started at 5 minute intervals. We were scheduled to start with the last class, the Mumm 30s so the big boats had a 50 minute head start. But by the time we started we had a light breeze from the east and a tight spinnaker reach off the line.
We all had to sail around a lot of boats as we drifted a lot faster than they did. When we got to castle hill, about 1 mile into the race, the southerly filled in. Peter Johnstone on the Jamestown side of the channel got it first and as we sat in NOTHING we could see him trapped out about a 1/4 mile to leeward - he rounded Beavertail on the south end of Jamestown about a mile ahead and we never had a chance to catch him.
We had passed most of the Farr 40s (who started only 5 minutes ahead of us) by Beavertail, and as the southerly freshend we were fully powered up downwind and sailed our angles through the fleet. We rounded the north end of the island in the thick of the Big Boat fleet. [It was actually a little hairy as a 20+ gust came through while we were beam reaching - those boats throw off a BIG SQUARE wake!] Nevertheless, we made it around and started beating up the east side of the island with the Farr Designed Swan 45s, and a bunch of 50 something footers all with top crews. We were their guests so we sailed conservatively and stayed clear. The highlight for Kris and I was going from ahead and to leeward to more ahead and to windward of the very well sailed Swan 56 Nova. I don't think they expected that from a catamaran!
The last mile we were slightly cracked off -- traveller down, sheet on and back on the wire. We flew past ~5 big race boats with their 15 crew sitting on the rail watching.
All in all it was a great day. Peter J had by far the fastest elapsed time; we had the 2 fastest (by about 24 minutes over Carrera)and Brandy and Charlie were right behind us. OK, to be fair to Carrera, they kept sailing out of the breeze on the run - but all is fair in Love, war and sailboat racing.
Most important, I won my wagers of a bottle of rum with Americas Cup Skipper Kenny Read sailing the TP 52 Esmeralda, and with Americas Cup Veteran Linda Lindquist sailing on the top Farr 40 Barking Mad. I was told later that the comment on Barking mad was "Hey Linda- I think your bottle of rum is sailing away"
Many Many thanks to the NYYC for having us, and to all the competitors for their enthusiastic support even after we sailed past them. It is a fabulous place for a regatta or a social event (the 18HT class will be having our annual dinner at the NYYC during the Newport Regatta in July).
Finally, it was a great swhowcase for small catamarans. All those crew sitting on the rail may not be able to buy the boat they are sailing on, but plenty of them can buy a cmall boat. We got a lot of interest, and will be giving rides in NEwport for the rest of the summer based on that one day. As far as growing interest in a cat class, racing with the monohulls may be the best thing we can do.
Hunt
18HT USA 14
