The 2025 Interclub Dinghy National Championship was hosted by Cottage Park Yacht Club in Winthrop Mass on April 12/13.
Saturday’s weather proved un-sailable with 25-30 knots and driving rain. Sunday proved more favorable with a N/NW breeze of 12-15 with gusts in the high teens. PRO Sue Hardy ran 7 races with 13-time IC National Champion Jim Bowers and Julia Marsh Rabin winning a very tight series with 31 points over runner up Dave Nelson and Bri Connolly with 32 points. Rounding out the top 5 was was Simon Strauss and Clara Hewson with 33 points, Paul and Gaelen Adam with 39 points & Art and Jen Rousmainere with 44 points. Top Youth finisher was Jeremiah McCarthy and Jack Morgan with 87 points.
Larchmont Yacht Club hosted the 2024-2025 Interclub Dinghy Midwinters on December 14-15th, 2024. Raced in an A/B “College Style” format where teams swap boats with their teammates after 2-3 race sets, 13 teams competed in the two division regatta.
Teams raced until dark on Saturday, completing 6 light air races, and then another 10 races in a blustery and cold easterly on Sunday for a total of 8 races in each division/16 races overall.
Racing was extremely tight in a fleet that included 3 past IC National Champions, 5 former College Sailors of the Year, as well as junior and college teams. Only 5 points separated the top 4 teams, with Team 74 (Ted Ferrarone/Meredith Killion + Simon Strauss/Clara Hewson) prevailing by a single point over Team 78 (Senet/Lia Bischoff + Clay Bischoff/Estella Morris + Ed DuMoulin/Fiona Walsh), and Team 171 (Jimmy Barnash/Katie Murphy + Keith Taboada/Cole Buczkowski) in 3rd, just edging out 806 (Henry Burnes/Meredith Ryan + Eli Burnes/Gideon Burnes/Emma Cowles) in 4th. Graham Landy and Marly Isler won A Division and David Dowd and Marguerite Koehler won B division.
Note: if any other Fleet IC activity has transpired that you want listed here, please contact me.
2024 Nationals
Larchmont Yacht Club hosted the 2024 Interclub Dinghy National Championships on April 13-14. After being blown out in gale force winds on Saturday, Winter Sailing Race Committee Chair Karen Ronan and her team got an early start and ran 10 races on Sunday. The highly competitive 27 boat fleet saw 4 past National Champions finishing in the top 5, with 8 different teams winning a race in the 10 race series. 2017 Champs Ted Ferrarone and Meredith Killion came out on top, with the father/daughter team of Steve and Taylor Kirkpatrick taking 2nd place over 2003 Champion Ben Cesare with Jay Lurie. 2023/2011 National Champs Paul-Jon Patin and Felicity Ryan took fourth place over multi-time National Champs Jim Bowers and Julia Marsh Rabin. Full Results.
Photos by Maureen Koeppel Photography
2024 Midwinters
We had an amazing event on Sunday for the second shot at IC Midwinters. After last weekend’s glass off/blow out, the weather gods granted us perfect frostbiting weather on Sunday. Nick Langone and the RC team knocked out 14 great races in a very shifty breeze with extremely tight racing among the 16 A/B teams. Huge thanks to the Marine Facilities and RC teams who mobilized for last weekend and this weekend.
Note that in 14 races, we had 9 different race winners, and that of the 64 sailors this past weekend, 13 (20% of the fleet) were juniors, and 16 (25% of the fleet) were sailing with us for the first time.
Special congrats to the Fordham team for their win in the ultra-prestigious Chili Cookoff, we look forward to their title defense in 2025.
Great event with 13 races in 2 days. Racing was extremely tight with 2nd through 6th separated by less than 10 points. Full Results.
Photos by Maureen Koeppel Photography
Winthrop Frost Bite Sailing club Season
Fun season and congrats to all. Thanks to our RC crew who kept us safe and kept the whalers working, Tom Robinson, Ted Keenan, Brian Cote, Jason Frady, John Economides, Denise Economides, Ken Delpapa, Linda Epstein, Karl Hudson, Lindsay Reardon, Brendan Reardon, Dave Nelson, Dave Smookler, John Tagliamonte, Pam Desjardins and others.
Fall Series (6 days sailed, 4 required to qualify) 685 MacRae – Hannah MacRae, Scarlett Koller, Liz Glavinski 818 Braverman 683 Frady 675 Laiosa
Spring Series (5 days sailed, 4 required to qualify) 717 Bowers – Julia Marsh Rabin, Sabina Van Mell, Cleveland Quezada 80 Bassett 675 Laiosa
Season Series (11 days sailed 8 required to qualify) 685 MacRae – Hannah MacRae, Scarlett Koller, Liz Glavinski 80 Bassett 818 Braverman 683 Frady 675 Laiosa
John Laisoa sailed 9 of the 11 days (10 if you count the last day he crewed for Dave Nelson) Teens Jamie Frady and Brandon Reardon had a lot of sailing days and improved throughout the season.
Back in the day (1970s) Employers like Sperry used to write about what their employees where do when not working in their newsletters. This piece is about Pedro’s Father who was also an IC sailor at MBYC.
My dad, Jack Clark, was one of the original frostbiters in Duxbury, MA in the 1950s. It was long before hi-tech clothing was developed to keep us dry and warm. As a child, I would crew for Dad dressed in my snowsuit and wool hat and mittens. I learned at a young age to feel a boat in the sensitive dinghy.
Every Sunday after church, the motley crew of fun loving enthusiastic sailors would push their Interclubs into the frigid waters of Duxbury Bay and with a beat-up Boston Whaler for the committee boat would set short triangular courses. If anyone flipped, the understanding was everyone would luff up b/c the committee boat could handle only one capsize at a time. As a child, I was delighted that the windward mark in December was a rowboat sporting a decorated Christmas tree.
The season started in late September with the Bug Light Race: that had a no-holds-barred le mans start in the Bluefish River to a mark set about 25 yards from the shore. The entire way out to the Bug Light at the entrance to Plymouth Harbor, the committee boat would serve champagne to the racers. My brother won one year because he was too young to partake and the other skippers had been overserved…
Eventually, Duxbury was hosting a well-attended spring regatta that attracted Finns as well as IC dinghies, and eventually 420s. I can remember traveling up the road a piece to Scituate, even Marblehead for regattas. A couple of times, we ventured as far away as Larchmont, NY and Essex, CT.
I loved listening to the clamor as the boats converged on the marks and the heated protest committee meetings at the Frostbite Shack afterward: a salt shaker for the mark and matchsticks to show the boats’ positions.
If anyone’s interested, I have a bunch of old clippings from the (hilarious and very witty) Frostbite Society column written by Lance Bennett for our local paper–the Duxbury Clipper.
PaulJon Patin and Felicity Ryan win the 2023 Nationals Presented by Patterson + Sheridan, LLP at Metedeconk Yacht Club. The regatta had some nice sailing conditions for the 14 teams. With the last regatta of the year, Ted Ferrarone came out on top of the Wharf Rat challenge in a three way tie with Simon Strauss and Bill Rothwell. See the full results and final Wharf Rat standings.
The 2023 Nationals Presented by Patterson + Sheridan, LLP will be held at the Metedeconk River Yacht Club in Brick NJ on April 15-16. All of the regatta information is posted on Clubspot and registration is open. If you register by April 7 it’s FREE thanks to the sponsor.
The 20202021 2022 Nationals are ON!! MBYC has rescheduled the nationals for April 9-10, 2022 and a planning a great event. Registration will be via Clubspot where you can find the Notice of Race and (eventually) Sailing Instructions. A few things to note:
Be ready to show that your Interclub meets the 240lbs IC National weight minimum.
Loaner boats will be made available upon an early request (contact Pedro).
Any IC Nationals swag will need to be pre ordered before the end of March for pick up at the event.
UPDATE 4 (1/3/2021)
MBYC has rescheduled the Interclub Nationals to April 17-18 and will hold the rescheduled New Years Regatta on April 10-11. The NOR for each will be available in the future.
Update 3 (9/18/2020)
MBYC has confirmed the 2020 2021 Nationals will be held April 9-11, 2021. Pending conditions at the time of course.
Update 2 (4/9/2020)
MBYC is looking to hold the regatta April 9-11, 2021 with the dates still to be confirmed later.
Update 1
Due to the ongoing Pandemic the Nationals Regatta will NOT take place on April 18-19, 2020.
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The InterClub National Championship will take place on April 18-19, 2020 at the Manhasset Bay Yacht Club (MBYC) in Port Washington, New York.
Notice of Race, Registration and other information is located on the event website hosted on ClubSpot.
UPDATE: The regatta has been rescheduled to April 11, 2020. It was feast or famine, too much wind on 1/1 and no wind on 1/4. Hopefully it will be a “Goldilocks” breeze on 4/11.
Jim Bowers, with Lydia Brown as crew, eeked out the team of Ted Ferrarone and Meredith Killion by 2 points to once again claim the season finale of the Interclub frostbite season. Not far behind was Bill Rothwell / Linda Epstein in third, followed by Simon Strauss / Annie Paton who came on strong on Sunday to get by the top local tandem of Doug Kaukeinen / Adam Gesner to round out the top five. Conditions were light on Saturday under cloudy skies with crews only able to sit on the (windward) rail in parts of the final races on Sunday. One redeeming factor was that the fleet had all of the well-protected Irondequoit Bay to themselves all day Saturday and with a few exceptions Sunday so the only waves were from the busy-as-beavers mark boats who set meticulous courses – both long and short – both days under the discerning eye of PRO Robert Mendenhall and his RC team.
Led by regatta chair Ralph Simpson, the seemingly bottomless cast of support volunteers of the Rochester Canoe Club pulled out all the hospitality stops to welcome the small but energetic group of 12 teams. Food and sailing beverages flowed from morning to night time. I think I can speak for all those who attended that everyone went home, tired-yet-energized, nourished and entertained.
Back to the sailing, two highlights come to mind. One was watching the slug-fest of the two front-runners all weekend which was fun to watch from not far behind (don’t tell my skipper Jennifer I was watching it all). Back and forth Jim / Lydia and Ted / Meredith went, sometimes leading the other wire to wire but mostly playing close-quarters leapfrog in each race. Then there was the Bill / Linda pair, who were always close and in the fray, looking to sprint past the leaders like a horse on the stretch at the Derby as the front-runners beat each other up.
The other highlight was watching the local fleet improve over the course of the regatta. Remember that the Rochester Fleet sails IC’s single-handedly the rest of the year so you could see the rusticles of how to play the double-handed game flake off with each race. Signs of skippers standing up on downwind legs (a typical technique for single-handing these high-performance boats) early in the series gave way to more traditional positions. And the pack got tighter as the weekend progressed.
As has been the custom for over a dozen years, the Wharf Rat trophy was awarded to the team with the highest finishes in a series of pre-selected regattas including the Nationals. This year it was Ted Ferrarone who took home the trophy by barely a 2% margin of total points over Simon Strauss.
Ted Ferrarone/Meredith Killion and Danny Pletsch/Kendra Emhiser win the “First Annual” relocation of the Midwinters to Larchmont YC last weekend. A chilly weekend, but 92 sailors came out for the regatta.
Full Results here. Enjoy a picture slideshow by Maureen C. Koeppel Photography:
Larchmont YC has taken over running the Midwinters and will host the 2019 edition on Saturday Jan 26 and Sunday Jan 27. The Notice of Race, online entry form and Sailing Instructions are on their web site:
A little late, but the 2018 Nationals was run at the Hyannis YC on the Cape. Jim Bowers and Lydia Brown racked up yet another win! Given that Jim is such a young guy, how many more will there be??
It’s a wrap! The final – for now anyway – Interclub Midwinters at SSA is done. We had a beautiful day of sailing Saturday with temps in the 50s, sunshine and a shifty SE-SW breeze. We shared some great new and old Interclub Midwinters stories after dinner. Unfortunately, Sunday brought rain, thick fog and zero wind and we abandoned for the regatta at 12:30. Thanks to all that came to help us officially close out the latest incarnation of the SSA IC fleet, it was a great final hurrah. Many thanks to Jesse Falsone for keeping the torch lit all these years and – as Jonathan Lange put it – carrying the rest of us along, sometimes against our will.
Congratulations to the winning team of Steve Benjamin/Trevor Davis and Jim Bowers/Lydia Brown for a consistent regatta to edge out the team of Simon Strauss/Julie Lelek and Jesse Falsone/Erika Seamon by 3 points.
The 2018 Interclub Midwinters will be held at SSA on January 27-28, 2018. This will be THE BIG ONE as we no longer have an active fleet and want to have one last big blowout regatta and party a la an Irish Wake. This is the standard A/B collegiate style regatta we have always run. There is only a nominal fee of $20 per division ($40/team) that includes the racing, dinner and party. We want all the old regulars to come and celebrate this regatta with us.
Cottage Park Yacht Club in Winthrop Massachusetts was host to this year’s Interclub Dinghy National Championship on April 8 th and 9 th . 27 boats made the trek to battle it out among some of the best dinghy sailors in the Northeast.
With sailing taking place right off of Logan Airport, Saturday greeted the teams with a strong breeze from the Northwest which continued to build throughout the day toping out at 25+. Although many teams were hoping the wind would die down enough to sail in the afternoon, the Race Committee smartly made the decision to cancel racing and looked for a better day on Sunday.
The forecast proved correct for Sunday and with temperatures reaching the mid 60’s, the race committee under the direction of PRO Sue Hardy knocked out 10 great races in a shifty 10-15 knot breeze.
10 time National Champion Jim Bowers and crew Lydia Brown started strong and were looking good with 3 wins in the first 5 races only to fall victim to a capsize in race 6 caused by the “down draft” of an incoming plane to Logan Airport. In the ‘no-throw-out’ regatta, Bowers/Brown had to count a “29” to their scores and all hopes for an 11th National Championship were all but gone in the tight fleet.
The top spot became a battle between multiple IC National Champion Steve Benjamin and Brooks Daley; 2011 IC National Champion Paul-Jon Patin and Felicity Ryan; and long-time Larchmont sailor Ted Ferrarone and Meredith Killion.
In the end, it was Ferrarone/Killion who pulled away to win their first IC National Championship by 19 points. Ferrarone/Killion were by far the most consistent in the fleet with no race worse than a 6 th and finished with 37 points. Benjamin/Daley finished 2nd with 56 points and close behind was Patin/Ryan with 57 points.
Rounding out the top 5 was the husband/wife team of Art and Jen Rousmaniere in 4th place with 60 points and Bowers/Brown in 5th with 66 points.
The NOR for the 2017 IC Nationals hosted by Cottage Park Yacht Club in Winthrop MA on April 8-9, 2017 has been posted and registration is now open. We are working to make this as easy as possible for visiting teams to participate by having housing, loaner boats available and even airport pick ups at Logan airport (10 minutes from the club) should you be flying in.
And you won’t want to miss the Saturday night dinner with great raffle prizes!! More information will be forthcoming but if you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact any of the regatta organizers below. We hope you can make it!
Sadly, for the foreseeable future, the Midwinters has left it’s home base in Annapolis. But don’t despair, the 2017 Interclub Midwinters will be held at Larchmont Yacht Club January 28-29, 2017 in all it’s “collegiate style” goodness. Each team shall have two skippers and crews, who will sail in ‘A’ or ‘B’ division. Teams will be able to stay warm in between sets in the clubhouse with food and hot chocolate.
The 86th Annual New York’s Frostbite Regatta was hosted on December 31 and January 1 by the Manhasset Bay Yacht Club of Port Washington, New York. We reviewed the Notice of Race for any mention of air or water temperature parameters that might limit racing. There were none, which can only mean that if you have to ask, than perhaps frostbiting isn’t for you. The name of the event should be sufficient. Wining the Interclub class was Simon Straus with crew Anne Patin, followed by Paul-Jon Patin with Felicity Ryan with Steve Benjamin with Daley Brooks in third.
The 86th Annual New Years Frostbite Regatta hosted by the Manhasset Bay Yacht Club will be held on Saturday and Sunday December 31-January 1 2017 in Port Washington, New York. Read the full Notice Of Race.
Jim Bowers and Gaelen Adam won a record tenth Interclub Dinghy National Championship on April 9-10, hosted by Larchmont Yacht Club in Larchmont, NY.
The weather ran the gamut, with a puffy easterly on Saturday causing the Race Committee to tuck the 44-boat fleet inside the breakwater to allow for seven chilly races in the rain on short courses, with Sunday’s sunnier skies and longer courses featuring large wind shifts and 1.5 knots of flood tide to keep competitors and the race committee on their toes over the remaining five races.
Larchmont teams took spots two through eight on the podium, with Paul-Jon Patin and Felicity Ryan in second, and event chairman Jay Rhame and Katie Murphy in third. Henry Fernberger, with dad Peter as crew, won the B division, Brouck Anderson and Jack Kneisley won the C division, Ben Cesare and Nicholas Patin won the Masters division, and Jen Rousmaniere of the Winthrop fleet was named the top women’s skipper.
The 2016 Nationals will be held this year at Larchmont YC in New York on April 9-10. In addition, two weeks earlier is the annual Stanley Bell regatta that is great as a warm up and you can leave your boat there in the interim.
Registration for IC Nationals is now open: http://www.larchmontyc.org/Yachting/Winter-Sailing/2016_IC_Nationals.aspx The last time LYC hosted in 2009, there were 55 boats on the line and given there were just had 34 on the line for a random Sunday in February a few days ago, all signs are pointing to another large event.
A limited number of loaner boats and housing may be available on a first-come, first-serve basis. That said, if you own an IC, preference is not given as to loaner boats since we’d rather use the loaner boats to promote the regatta and class to non-IC sailors.
If you have any questions about either or both events, please reach out to Jay Rhame (rhame – at – gmail – dot – com and or Peter Beardsley (wpbeardsley – at -gmail – dot – com). Please encourage everyone in your area to attend — easy trip, big fleet, high quality racing, hopefully good weather (in 2009 the first day was sailed in shorts and had 14 races).
Update: Blizzard Jonas was indeed a massive storm setting a record 30 inches of snow and 50 knot winds on the bay with a travel ban on local and state roads Saturday and Sunday, so this was without a doubt the right call. Instead of the regatta, enjoy a trip around downtown Annapolis in the snow as the eye of the storm passed on Saturday.
Original Post: The Nor’easter weather situation for this coming weekend’s regatta has not improved and may have gotten worse if considering sailing conditions on both weekend days. Traveling to and from the event will be hazardous and the prognosis for sailing is poor. Therefore, we regret that the IC Midwinters will be canceled this year. Many thanks to everyone who has continually supported this event in the past and those planning on coming this year.
The 2016 Interclub Midwinters will be held at SSA on January 23-24. It is the standard A/B style regatta as in past years. The notice of race and online registration is available at the SSA Web site. The link to the NOR is at the bottom of the page.
Jim Bowers along with Gaelen Adams wins an unprecedented 9th IC Nationals. The regatta was held at the Metedeconk Yacht Club in NJ – 2015 Nationals Full Results.
The 2015 Stanley Bell Regatta will be held at LYC, March 7-8March 21-22, 2015. The change is due to the icy conditions in Larchmont Harbor. The NOR and online entry form are posted at http://www.larchmontyc.org/Yachting/Winter-Sailing/2015_Bell_Regatta.aspx There will be a chili cookoff Saturday night (if you don’t bring a chili, you can be one of the judges, don’t worry). Loaner boats will be available for visiting teams on a first-come, first-serve basis, and should be reserved in advance via email.
Jay Rhame/Ted Ferranone (sorry I don’t have the crews names) won the 2015 Midwinters Regatta. It was a rainy/snow raw weekend but at least temperatures were above freezing. Each division completed 10 races. Full Results
Have you ever gone to an event that is draped with sponsor banners, yet it’s unclear what the sponsors are paying for? Keith Taboada reports that this won’t be a problem at an event he is organizing…
With many one-design fleets withering on the vine, we wanted to try something novel to encourage participation for the U.S. National Championships in a great traditional one-design class, the Interclub Dinghy. As a result of generous sponsorship by Medifast, Inc., we have organized the event to be held without an entry fee. Dinner, lunch and trophies included. Event dates are April 10-12.
Will Jim Bowers continue his recent dominance? Will Steve Benjamin unleash some new trickery? Do John and Molly Baxter really model for Vineyard Vines? To find out in person, there is plenty of time to dig out an IC and come down to Metedeconk River YC, located at Hurricane Sandy ground zero in Brick, NJ.
The Nationals are the climax of the IC winter season, attracting some of the best sailors on the East Coast. The event is guaranteed to be the best regatta money can’t buy. Get the notice of Race (NOR) at the MRYC Web site.
PAUL-JON PATIN – 98
TED FERRARONE – 94
PEDRO LORSON – 92
SIMON STRAUSS – 89
JAY RHAME- 88
The Mass Bay and Tally Cup were cancelled this year so the challenge was calculated base on the New Years, Midwinters, Stanley Bell and Nationals results.
The 2014 Interclub Nationals was a regatta of the extremes! Port Washington, New York, the Manhasset Bay Yacht Club hosted the 2014 Interclub Nationals on April 5th and 6th. A front greeted the sailors on Saturday morning with wind gusts pushing into the mid to upper 20 knot range so the Race Committee postponed until 1:30pm. At that time the RC found a small window of time to get in two races in before the return of the “20 plus” wind conditions.
Jim Bowers and Alexa Shuler
Sunday’s conditions were quite different as the competitors sailed out to the race course in a light 5mph NW breeze only to see it die. A few waves of 2-4mph west/northwest breeze allowed the Race Committee to squeeze in two more races over the course of the day.
Jim Bowers/Alexa Schuler, from the Winthrop Frostbite fleet, were crowned the 2014 Interclub Nationals Champs. Dave Nelson /Julia Marsh, who are also from Winthrop, were 2nd and Paul-Jon Patin/Felicity Ryan, from Larchmont, were 3rd. Rounding out the top five were Steve Benjamin/Mac Christopher (Larchmont) in 4th and Pedro Lorson /Mimi Berry (Manhasset Bay) in 5th. Top Master (over 60) was Ted Toombs and Marianne Simms from Manhasset Bay.
Saturday night’s activities included a barbeque dinner followed by a showing from Emmy award winning Thurston Smith on his documentary about “Frostbiting.” Following this presentation and some Q&A, some IC sailors found it necessary to go out into cold dark night and reposition some their fellow competitor’s ICs. The next morning, Interclubs could found inside the yacht club’s MBO room right next to the morning breakfast.
Paul-Jon Patin and Felicity Ryan
The Interclub Nationals was also the last leg of the Wharf Rat Challenge, whereby your best two results from outside regattas are combined with your results at IC Nationals. The 2014 winners were Paul-Jon/Felicity Ryan, 2nd was Ted Ferrarone/Meredith Killion and 3rd was Pedro Lorson/Mimi Berry.
The Nationals are the climax of the IC winter season, Manhasset Bay YC will host this year on April 5th and 6th. The competition is fierce, with some of the best sailors on the East Coast attending.
After dinner, there will be 25 minute documentary on “Frostbiters” that explores the extreme sport of Frostbiting – where it’s done, who does it, and why.
The 2013-14 Wharf Rat Challenge schedule is attached – please distribute to your respective fleets. There should be a large number of qualifiers this year — looking forward to resuming Interclub racing in a couple of weeks — hope everyone has had a good summer.
Attached is the NOR for the 2014 MBYC New Year Regatta. Please pass on to your IC fleet members and encourage them to come, as we are also the venue for this year’s IC Nationals.
For this regatta, as well as Nationals, loaner boats are available – at no charge.
Should you have anything for our Special Awards Committee for our New Years Regatta, please pass on to Peter Beadsley.
Jim Bowers and Alexa Schuler win the 2013 Nationals. With win number 7, Jim surpasses Jack Slattery for the most nationals wins. The regatta was a 15 race series held in beautiful Annapolis spring conditions.
Leg 4 of the Wharf Rat Challenge is in the books after the 2013 Stanley Bell Regatta. Only two more Wharf Rat events remaining: the Tally Cup in 2 weeks in Winthrop, and the Nationals next month (Apr. 13-14) in Annapolis.
Larchmont YC hosted a spectacular Stanley Bell Memorial Regatta. 33 teams raced part or all of the weekend. Sun and warmth into the 50s on Saturday, with wind from the NNE with lulls around 5-6 kts and puffs around 10-11 kts, allowing for 7 races. John & Molly Baxter were launched in the standings after Saturday’s racing with a 17-point lead. Eight teams participated in the chili cookoff post racing, which was won by long-time crew and expert cookoff trash talker Felicity Ryan in a close battle over Ted Ferrarone and Simon Strauss. Sunday’s wind forecast was better than predicted on all fronts — a fluky, light SSE breeze never showed, and instead we had a solid easterly around 10 kts that clocked slightly to the right as the day went on, allowing for an additional 8 races, 15 in total. Guest skipper Parker Shinn from San Diego YC and Coco Sprague narrowed the gap on Sunday to a single point going into the final race, but the Baxters held on for the regatta victory.
Perhaps some of you have seen the frostbiting documentary trailer by Thurston Smith? Well, Thurston will be down in Annapolis for the IC Nationals and he’s looking for more great footage. He’s looking to have two additional videographers on the water. If you know anyone that might be interested (and has access to a decent HD camera), please let me know (jessefalsone@gmail.com). Additionally, if anyone has a Go Pro video camera that they would be willing to mount on their boat, Thurston would love to get this type of footage.
The Annapolis InterClub Fleet is pleased to announce the construction of a new IC Midwinters Perpetual Trophy. The large plaque is being constructed by High Tech Engraving and will be presented to the current winner at the Nationals this year. Nameplates for past winners will be added. The large trophy will reside at Severn Sailing Association.
We are trying to assemble an accurate list of past winners. If you have any information or corrections, please contact Jesse Falsone (jessefalsone@gmail.com)
The 2013 Stanley Bell Regatta will be on Saturday March 9 and Sunday March 10.
SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
Saturday, March 9
1100 – 1230 Registration –on the Veranda
1245 Skippers’ Meeting on the front lawn
1300 Harbor Start
1330 First warning
1800 Event Dinner – Chili Cook-off in the Junior Clubhouse
Sunday, March 10
1300 Harbor Start
1330 First Warning
Award ceremony following the completion of racing
A strong Northerly will delay high tide at the Severn and will cause a stronger, longer duration ebb. The current may vary significantly over the course. Watch for foam on the water running from the Naval Academy breakwater going southeast . This is a current sheer, and the current on the east side of this line will be stronger. In a Northwesterly during an ebb tide, you must decide if its better to go for stronger wind and more adverse current on the right or less current and less wind on the left. The left tends to have larger, more frequent shifts, especially as you approach Spa Creek. The wind can also get light on the left as you approach the breakwater. Either side could be favored in these conditions. The left can win out when a strong left shift filters down Spa Creek. The right can pay big with more wind and more predictable wind shifts. The key is to watch the water for the puffs. If there is consistent wind on the left, that is the way to go as you approach Spa Creek. This rule applies more at the end of the beat when the Creek is a factor.
What should you wear??
With the air temperatures in the 60’s, water temperature at 51, strong winds and a long day of sailing, I’m inclined to vote for the dry suit over a wet suit on Saturday. The call will probably be the same on Sunday with an early start before things heat up. A wet suit will still work well, but I would wear a spray top to keep the wind off. I don’t think you will need frostbite gloves unless you have poor circulation or get cold easily.