| Intercollegiate Offshore Regatta Preview |
 The Intercollegiate Offshore Regatta will be hosted by Storm Trysail Foundation and Larchmont Yacht Club October 9-10. This is the largest "big boat" collegiate regatta in the country with something approaching 40 teams from all over the US. The event relies on owners to "donate" their boats for two days for the college teams to use. While this might strike some as lunacy, each boat is required to carry the owner or an owner's representative to "supervise" the team and familiarize them with the boat. The teams are responsible for calling their own tactics but the competition is close and there is a huge amount of pride at stake among the competitors. The 109s generally boast a strong contingent and are joined by one design classes of J/44s, J/122s, J/105s and a class of IRC yachts. This is a popular event that has grown every year where the only limit is the number of boats that can be rounded up to support teams interested in participating. The 109 owners, along with the other classes are proud to "give back" to the sport by helping train the next generation of "big boat" sailors.
Event website
|
RUSH Takes East Coast Championship and Overall NOOD Trophy
|
(Excerpted from a Sailing World article)
The final event of the 2010 Sperry Top-Sider NOOD Regatta series in Larchmont, NY also served as the class East Coast Champs. 70-something entries in nine classes sailed two race-packed days: one with brilliant sunshine and mind-bending windshifts, and one with a 20-knot easterly pushing in big swells and steep chop. There was plenty of current, too. Just to make things interesting.
While the lighter winds and shifts of Saturday rewarded those with their collective heads out of the boat, Sunday was all about speed through the waves and finding the stronger winds.
With 2009 overall winner Rick Lyall's STORM in attendance, it was going to be a full-spirited battle among the top-three boats in this eight-boat fleet. But that was before the close of business on Saturday, when Bill Sweetster's RUSH sailed into Larchmont Harbor with three bullets notched on the results sheet. On Sunday they won the first race, and by finishing second in the other two secure not only the class win but overall regatta title-- which earns them a berth at the Caribbean NOOD Championship in November where they'll take on winning teams from the other eight NOOD Regattas.
As fast as team RUSH appeared on the water, they were even quicker once they hit the dock--- off they rushed to catch flights back to their hometown Annapolis, unaware they'd won. Second was Rick Lyall's STORM from Cedar Point YC with a 4-4-2-2-1-4 record for 17 points. Adrian Begley's MAD DOGS AND ENGLISHMEN from Atlantic Highlands YC was third with a 6-7-4-3-3-1 record for 24 points. FULL ARTICLE
|
Rolex Big Boat Series: ELEKTRA Tops IRC D
|
 | | Photo credit: Rolex/Daniel Forster |
On the final day, Thomas Brott's J/109 Electra knocked Gerard Sheridan's Elan 40Tupelo Honey out of first place in the seven-boat IRC D with a second place finish.
"We just had to put a boat between us and Tupelo, which we did when we got an advantage on them at the start," said Electra's tactician Harry Pattison. "Then they had trouble with their spinnaker set and jibed, taking a gamble that didn't pay." He described the first race of the series, a bad one for them right off the bat, with a jib halyard problem before the start that made it impossible to sail.
"With a DNF that first race, we were coming from behind the whole regatta," added Thomas Brott, "but it was having a great crew and being able to concentrate on driving that did it."
FULL RESULTS
|
Long Island Sound IRC Championship
|
109 's finished 1,3 in clas 4 of the 2010 Long Island Sound IRC Championship hosted by Storm Trysail Club and Riverside Y.C. Rick Lyall's STORM won the ten boat class and Jack Forehand's STRATEGERY took third. Photo by Maureen Koeppel. More info
|
Rick Lyall sent this class update: