J/Teams sweep PHRF overall at Vineyard Race

Vineyard Race © Stamford Yacht Club

Hosted by Stamford Yacht Club, Labor Day weekend's Vineyard Race is a classic American offshore yacht race. The 238.0nm course stretches from Shippan Point in Long Island Sound to the Buzzards Bay Light tower at the entrance to Buzzard's Bay, and then a return to the finish in Stamford Harbor.

Begun in 1932, it has attracted the finest sailors and fastest boats. Those who are successful nearly always credit local knowledge of these tricky waters, particularly at the notorious "The Race" and "Plum Gut" where currents can flow up to 5 kts, and a good deal of luck.

The Vineyard Race was described in Yachting Magazine as the following; "The greatest distance races of the world have several things in common - a challenging course, competitive fleets, and an interesting array of famous yachts. By those standards, the Stamford Yacht Club's Vineyard Race rates close to the top. Like a miniature Fastnet, the Vineyard has a combination of coastal racing, where currents play a big role, a stretch of ocean sailing, and a mark to round - the Buzzards Bay tower - before returning."

The race has proven popular with J/sailors over time, with many returning yearly as part of their end-of-summer sailing ritual to complete their summer sailing season. The teams have a choice to sail the classic 238.0nm race or the shorter "Seaflower Reef" race inside Long Island Sound.

Vineyard Race

PHRF 6 Doublehanded

As they have done previously, winning the Doublehanded fleet was Peter Becker & Adrien Blanc's J/105 YOUNG AMERICAN. Taking a hard-earned bronze medal was Todd Aven & Basia Karpinska's J/99 THIN MAN.

PHRF 8 Division

This eight-boat fleet was loaded with leading J/teams. Taking the bronze medal was John Greifzu's J/109 GROWTH SPURT, fourth was Don Irion's J/109 FULL TILT, fifth was Steve Landy & Derek Soohoo's J/100 SANGUINE, and sixth was Greg Kotzas J/35 OSPREY.

PHRF 10 Division

This ten-boat class was also loaded with veteran offshore teams accustomed to finishing "in the chocolates", so to speak! Leading a near sweep of the top five was Bill Klein's J/120 SPECK, followed by Bill Ingraham's gorgeous J/124 TENEBRAE in second place. Then, Richard West's J/120 CHARLOTTE took fourth place, while Brian Spears's J/120 MADISON took fifth place!

PHRF 11 Division

This nine-boat fleet was swept by very experienced J/Teams in the top seven! Winning was David Rosow's J/122 LOKI, followed by Bill & Jackie Baxter's J/111 FIREBALL in second, Constantine Baris's J/122 DIRE WOLF in third, Peter Chilean's J/111 CIAO BABY in fourth, John Sutherland's J/111 19th NERVOUS BREAKDOWN in fifth, Pito Chickering's J/111 THE ROOST in sixth, and Cao Deambrosio & Chris Nicholls's J/133 RHIANNON in seventh!

PHRF Overall

In addition, the top five PHRF Overall was a clean sweep by J/teams! Winning was Rosow's J/122 LOKI, with the Baxter's J/111 FIREBALL taking 2nd, the Becker/Blanc duet on the J/105 YOUNG AMERICAN was third, Baris's J/122 DIRE WOLF was fourth, and Klein's J/120 SPECK was fifth place! A remarkable performance by these teams!

PHRF 14 Division

Winning this class by one hour on corrected time was Macrae Sykes's J/125 GOOD NEWS!

ORC 12 Division

This nine-boat fleet saw a near-clean sweep of the top five places. Winning by over an hour was Albrecht Goethe's bright red J/46 HAMBURG II. Second place went to June & Amanda Kendrick's J/44 PALANTIR 5, fourth place was Trevor Roach's J/121 TOUCH OF GREY, fifth place went to Steve Brownlie's J/133 ASSARAIN IV, and sixth was One Haxthausen's J/133 RUMBA.

ORC 13 Division

Finishing with the silver medal in this half-dozen boat class was Len Sitar's beautiful J/160 COUGAR!

Cornfield Point Race

PHRF 3

Winning this half-dozen boat class was Blaine Davis & Melih Bagdatli's J/30 BOUNCE and, as a result, also won PHRF Overall for the Cornfield Point Race!

For more Vineyard Race sailing information.