J/Crews dominant in the Vineyard Race 2020 at Stamford Yacht Club
by J/Boats 13 Sep 2020 22:17 NZST
4-6 September 2020
Hosted by Stamford YC, Labor Day weekend's Vineyard Race is a classic American yachting event. This 238-mile course stretches from Shippan Point through the swirling currents of Plum Gut past Block Island, and on to the light tower at the entrance to Buzzard's Bay. Once reached, sailors return by leaving Block Island to starboard en route to the finish in Stamford Harbor.
In the pandemic version of the race, crews had to sail with fewer people to satisfy the multiple constituencies governing the waters the fleet would be sailing through- including New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts.
This year's race was a fast one for most boats, with the fleet starting off in fast reaching spinnaker conditions. In the end, the race was a good test of all-around sailing boats, the strength of the J/Boats design team. With a good mix of beating, reaching and running, a number of J/Teams simply dominated their respective divisions. And for many crews, it was also their first outing of the year to go racing! As a result, all the more impressive to have such great outcomes in their first overnight race of the year!
Vineyard Race (longest distance)
Doublehanded J/Crews reveled in the conditions and gathered a lot of silverware. Winning the PHRF 7 Doublehanded Class was the Young American AYC team on their J/105 Young American. They were followed by David Rosow's J/109 Loki settling for the bronze medal, having just missed the silver by six minutes on handicap time. In the PHRF 8 Doublehanded Mixed Class, Sara and Josh Reisberg's J/120 Abilyn handily took the silver medal.
The dozen-boat PHRF 11 Class was dominated by J/Crews, taking five of the top six spots. Second was Dan Nash's J/109 Mistral, third was Arthur Hanlon's J/112E Dauntless just three minutes behind Mistral, fourth was Brian Spears' J/120 Madison a mere 1.5 minutes arrears of Mistral, fifth was Don Dwyer's J/109 Guardian J, and sixth was Charles Murphy's J/120 Truant.
In another J/Boats-laden class, the nine-boat PHRF 12 division, Bill and Jackie Baxter's J/111 Fireball took home the silver, with Kevin Kelley's J/122 Summer Grace in fourth and Pito Chickering's J/11 The Roost in sixth place.
The ORC Class 10 saw John Greifzu's J/109 Growth Spurt continue their hot streak, taking the silver in this hotly contested division. Then, in ORC 13 Class, it was Len Sitar's maiden voyage/ race on his beautifully reconditioned J/160 Cougar, loving the conditions to take home the silver medal! Also, enjoying the conditions was Steve Levy's J/121 Eagle, taking the bronze step on the podium.
Seaflower Reef Race (medium distance)
Winning their PHRF 4 Doublehanded Class by a substantial margin was Robert Pogue's J/92 Never Settle. They traversed the course in just over 28 hours. Then, in the eight-boat PHRF 5 Class a number of J/Teams sailed quite well. Frank Conway's J/105 Raptor took the silver, followed by Todd Aven's J/99 Thin Man taking the bronze, and Justin Scagnelli and Tim Price's J/88 Albondigas taking fourth position.
Cornfield Point Race (shortest distance)
Sailing in the PHRF 1 Class was James Weil's J/92 Vixen. Weil and team sailed a very quick race, covering the race track in 19 hrs 12 min to win their class by an impressive 3.5 hours. Similarly, Blaine Davis's J/30 Bouree in PHRF 2 Class also took the gold in their class. For overall honors, Vixen took the silver while Bouree took the bronze.
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