Eight boats found
their way to the west passage of Narragansett Bay last weekend for the 2012
Wickford Regatta. The breeze started out from the Northeast but was quickly
shut down by an approaching southerly. The southerly and the northerly seemed
to fight each other for the majority of the day. In fact, the seagulls were
thermalling in the updraft created by the converging breezes. Eventually, the
southerly finally won the battle and brought us 6-10 knots and the race
committee was able to get four races in on the first day. We started with
rabbit starts and a 30 second gate and raced on short windward leeward courses
for the entire day.
The breeze was fairly
consistent but with small shifts that had to be managed well with respect to
the rest of the fleet and the next oscillation. More often than not we found
ourselves looking at a compass reading of 240 degrees rounding the leeward mark
which meant it was important to find the right shift to take up the course.
Zagol/Buttner dominated the day with great boat speed and they always seemed to
be on the right side of the shift. Or if they missed a shift they were able to
manage the fleet and find their way back into the mix very quickly. The fleet
was sit running downwind and it was possible to sail very deep angles since the
breeze was just too light to wire with. As always, Wenderoth/Murphy were
sailing well in the light air and despite a small blemish in the second race
they found themselves in second behind Zagol/Buttner after the first day.
Olav found himself in third followed by Komar.
At first, day two
appeared to be a repeat of day one, however the southerly filled in a little
earlier and slightly stronger. The race course was the same as day one in terms
of breeze and direction. Olav found his way to the right in the first race
where a righty and some breeze were waiting for them which put them in the top
of the pack at the weather mark. They successfully wire ran on the downwind on
the same side of the coarse but it didn’t necessarily pay as they were passed
by Wenderoth/Murphy who went for the sit run approach. On race two,
Duncan/Taylor followed the likes of Olav and the two boats battled whole race.
On the first run the entire fleet was able to wire run for the fastest leg of
the regatta. However, by the time the second downwind came along, the only boat
still wire running was Olav. He converged with Duncan/Taylor right at the
finished for a good battle at the end of the race. The last race was dominated
by Wenderoth/Murphy with their light air boat speed however Olav squeezed out
the win on the last run. Several boats were scored as DNS for gating too late,
however with no gate bouy or horn to signify the end of the line it left all the
competitors a little puzzled.
Congratulations to
Wenderoth/Murphy for their first regatta victory. A big thanks goes out to the
Wickford Yacht Club for hosting the event. As always, they put on a great event
and hopefully we will have a bigger turnout in the 505 class next year. We
might also see an event happen in the middle of the summer in coming years when
the class is not sailing BBR in Marion. A few summers ago the club hosted the
West Passage Regatta which had some great breeze and some great sailing. Next,
it’s off to the training event in Larchmont followed by ECCs in Little Egg
Harbor. Hopefully, we will have a fleet of 30 plus boats…
Also, the award for
the best looking boat on the water (including all other fleets) goes to
Delfosse/Marini in 7773. Duane recently completed a full renovation of his
Waterat and she is looks beautiful.
Results
All photos are copyrighted by and courtesy of Nelson Weiderman.
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