18 teams participated in this year's 505 East Coast Championship, which was held in conjunction with the 2013 Newport Regatta. This regatta is one of the biggest multi-class dinghy and keelboat regattas in New England, and was a great opportunity to highlight the class among a broad spectrum of sailors. 9 races were sailed over 3 days in a variety of conditions ranging from 5-18 kts of wind. All courses were 4 leg windward-leewards with an offset mark and leeward gate.
Day 1 was sailed in a strong northerly. Only 3 classes sailed on Friday. The 505's shared a race track with the Stars and the Viper 640's. The racing area was North of the Newport Pell Bridge in Bretton's Cove. With the current ebbing hard all day, the left side of the race course was extremely favored upwind. In Races 1 and 2, Tommy Fink sailing with Augie Diaz and Drew Buttner Sailing with Mark Zagol traded for the lead as the rest of the pack played chase. In Race 3, Fink/Diaz unfortunately ran aground while hugging the shore for current relief. This ended their day and their regatta, as the boat suffered major transom damage. In similar fashion, Dustin Romey sailing with Henry Amthor ran aground in Race 4, which ended their day. However, the boat did not suffer as much damage and they were able to make the repairs and be out on the water again for Day 2. Parry Barclay sailing with Macy Nelson stole the Race 4 win, but Buttner/Zagol dominated Day 1 and were alone at the top of the leaderboard going into Day 2.
Day 2 provided much different conditions and a different racing area. The race course was about ½ mile Southeast of Beavertail Light, and 2 races were sailed in a dying Northeasterly wind. Current was a major factor on Day 2, which was surprising considering that we were essentially sailing in open water. Jon Wenderoth sailing with Henry Maxwell sailed a great Race 6 and took the win with Buttner/Zagol in second. The Race 7 start occurred with a monster current line immediately to port of the limit mark. As the breeze died, it was critical to stay to port of this current line; boats that tried to tack out to the right side of the course were disappointed when they tacked back to starboard. Race 7 was shortened to finish downwind between the gates after Leg 2. Mike Komar switched to his light air crew Kyle Carney on Day 2, which paid off in Race 7 to take second place.
Day 3 was sailed on the same race track as Day 2, but in completely different conditions. The forecast for Sunday was dismal, but in typical Newport fashion, a sea breeze began to fill by 10:00 AM and continued to build throughout the day. Two races were sailed in 10-18 knots out of the Southwest. Buttner/Zagol continued their dominance of the regatta, taking home another two bullets and the Championship. The bigger battle on Day 3 was for second place, as Barclay/Nelson were only one point back of Mike Curtin and Craig Thompson in slots 3 and 2 respectively. Curtin/Thompson were the pathfinder in Race 8, which forced them to the right side of the fleet. Barclay/Nelson were able to take advantage of this on the first beat, rounding with several boats between them and Curtin/Thompson. However, there were many passing lanes downwind, and Curtin/Thompson were able to sail their way to 2nd place by staying in the pressure downwind. In Race 9, Eric Anderson sailing with Matt Barry, sailed a great race to take 2nd place. The day was capped off by a great wire running sail back through the East Passage of Narragansett Bay among hundreds of other boats who wished they were sailing 505's!
A big thank you to Mark Linker, who graciously volunteered to drive the gate launch all weekend, and even went the extra step of taking some great photos (WHICH CAN BE FOUND HERE), and handing out cold Budweisers to the sailors after the day's racing. The race committee and all the other race volunteers who helped organize, tow boats to/from the race course, etc did a fantastic job. All the sailors genuinely appreciate you volunteering your time to help us race.
Results: http://www.sailnewport.org/LiteratureRetrieve.aspx?ID=182005
Note: Results only show one person's name, below is my best attempt at identifying the partners, I apologize for botched spellings or other errors:
Skipper / Crew
1. Mark Zagol / Drew Buttner
2. Craig Thompson / Mike Curtin
3. Macy Nelson / Parry Barclay
4. Mike Komar / John Ingalls (heavy) / Kyle Carney (light)
5. Tom Kivney / Gordon Russell
6. Whit Duncan / Nat Taylor
7. Henry Maxwell / Jon Wenderoth
8. Duane Delfosse / Sol Marini
9. Ben Greenfield / Dylan Breton
10. Ian Heusler / Zack Marks
11. Doug Watson / Gabe Watson
12. Henry Amthor / Dustin Romey
13. Matt Barry / Eric Anderson
14. Augie Diaz / Tommy Fink
15. Catherine Guiader / Chris Brady
16. Erika Seamon / Bruce Artman
17. Michael Breton / UNKNOWN
18. Ian Conners / Dave Shelley
Mark Linker's Photos: https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0Bz_-yS-ExGl1c0dOdWVVaFFuRk0&usp=sharing
Ro Fernandez's Photos: http://www.andesvisual.com/#!sailing/c1mlo
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