19 Jun Around The Island In 165th NYYC Annual Regatta
The first day of the 165th NYYC Annual Regatta consisted of a race around Conanicut Island. With the breeze steadily blowing in the low to mid 20s, it was a quick circumnavigation and the race officials joked afterwards that they should’ve sent the boats around twice.
The teams on Farr 40 Red and Blue started the race on a crowded line in IRC3 just South of the Newport Bridge. They went into full upwind mode heading clockwise around the island to the first turning mark off Beavertail Point, the southern tip of the island. They got a piece of some ocean rollers before rounding the mark and heading North up the West side of the island. Red led Blue around the mark but Blue was able to pull ahead. They reached out and set their kites while surfing down waves. Red went with their A2 while Blue chose the A3. It looked like Red made the better decision as they started to reel in Blue but then a big puff caused a wipeout. They weren’t the only one though; up ahead the Volvo 70 Wizard wiped out. It was a pretty impressive sight to see the behemoth of a racing machine round up and broach until the crew got the boat under control.
Red and Blue continued along the course which included a short fetch leg between two marks at the North end of the island. They doused their kites and went back into full upwind mode headed towards finish off of Fort Adams. Blue trusted the local knowledge of the IC37s and followed them closely along the shore of the island while Red cracked off a bit. The breeze was extremely puffy with oscillations between 10 and 25 knots. Blue had two people actively trimming the main sheet and traveler and one person on jib trim. They pushed hard and found that extra gear to hold their lead and cross the line 33 seconds ahead of Red. In the end Red finished ahead by 4 seconds on corrected time which put them in 5th and Blue in 6th in their division. Both teams had hoped for and expected a better result overall but were still happy with their performance and everybody had a great time.
They debriefed together on the dock and then headed to the NYYC Harbour Court for the Awards Party. Now the crews are shoving off the dock and heading out to the race course for the first of two days of buoy racing outside Newport Harbor.