Industry Partners:

New York Yacht Club: Season kick-off Rolex Regatta a success

Monday, 14 June 2010 - Known as the longest running regatta in America, the New York Yacht Club’s 156th Annual Regatta presented by Rolex also has the distinction of kicking off the sailing season in New England. This past weekend, June 11-13, over 1,000 sailors on 111 boats gathered from across the U.S. and Europe for three days of racing on Narragansett Bay and Rhode Island Sound.

The start to the weekend was the Around the (Conanicut) Island Race on Friday, which is scored separately from the Saturday/Sunday races. The race has become a popular "add on" for competitors, especially those gearing up for the biennial Newport Bermuda Race the following week. George David’s (Hartford, Conn.) Custom Maxi Rambler took line honors, finishing the 19-nautical mile distance in two hours, 10 minutes. However, Titan 15, a Reichel/Pugh 75 owned by Tom Hill (Puerto Rico) finished in first on corrected time with Hap Fauth (Minneapolis, MN) in second with his Mini Maxi Bella Mente. “We really love the competition,” said Hill after racing. “We have been having so much fun racing Titan that to be that close to the other boats is really enjoyable.” Rambler finished in third.

The Rolex Cup - presented to the best performing two-boat team in the Around the Island Race - was won by Rush, a J/109 owned by Bill Sweetser (Annapolis, MD) and Spitfire, a J/122 owned by Pierre du Pont (Rockland, DE).

On Saturday, the first day of the two-day buoy racing, most classes completed three races. The skies may have threatened rain but didn’t deliver much on that promise. Come Sunday, the promise of ideal conditions didn’t materialize until late in the day, and most classes ended up adding only one more race to the total score.  The IRC boats were split into six classes, with Classics, 12 Metres, 6 Metres, J/105 and NYYC Swan 42 one designs rounding out the fleet.

In IRC 1, Bella Mente won three of four races and took the overall title. An IRC 69 from Reichel/Pugh, the Mini Maxi adds this title to a recent victory in Storm Trysail Club’s Block Island Race, in May, and the 2009 IMA Mediterranean Circuit. The much-anticipated duel among Bella Mente Titan 15, Rambler and Rán, Niklas Zennström’s (London, U.K.) Judel/Vrolijk 72, proved exciting with the 90-foot Rambler taking line honors in some, but not all races, and the fleet finishing within minutes of each other.

Sforzando, Blair Brown’s (Padanaram, MA) Kerr 55, used consistency to take the IRC 2 title. With four second-place finishes, Sforzando held off Natalie J, Philip O’Neil’s (Bloomfield Hills, MI) TP52, race 1 and 3 winner finishing in second overall, and Snow Lion, Lawrence Huntington’s (New York, NY) Kerr 50, winner of race 2. The U. S. Naval Academy’s TP52 Invictus finished in third.

Rounding out the IRC classes was IRC 3 overall winner Cool Breeze, a Mills 43 owned by John Cooper (Springfield, MO), with four victories in as many races; Wings, a J/122 co-skippered by Mike Bruno/Tom Boyle/Jim Callahan (Irvington, NY) won the largest class, the 14-boat IRC 4; Storm, the J/109 owned by Rick Lyall (Wilton, CT), winner of the 12-boat IRC 5 class; and Bluto, the Evelyn 32 owned by Ben Hall (Tiverton, RI), winner of IRC 6.

See Regatta Images

New York Yacht Club 156th Annual Regatta presented by Rolex

Preliminary Results

Top 3 in each class

IRC 1 Overall (6 boats) - 4 races
1. Bella Mente, Mini Maxi, Hap Fauth (Minneapolis, MN) 1-1-1-2, 5
2. Rán, JV72, Niklas Zennstrom (London, UK) 3-2-2-1, 8
3. Titan 15, RP 75, Tom & Dottie Hill (Puerto Rico) 2-4-6-3, 15

IRC 2 Overall (7 boats) - 4 races
1. Sforzando, Kerr 55 Blair Brown (Padanaram, MA) 2-2-2-2, 8
2. Natalie J, TP52, Philip O'Niel (Bloomfield Hills, MI) 1-7-1-3, 12
3. Invictus TP52, USNA (Annapolis, MD) 6-3- 4-1, 14

IRC 3 Overall (13 boats) - 4 races
1. Cool Breeze, Mills 43, John Cooper (Springfield, MO) 1-1-1-1, 4
2. Nasty Medicine, Corby, Stephen Sherwin (Hamilton, RI) 3-2-4-3, 12
3. Temptation ,Taylor 45, Arthur Santry (Arlington, VA) 4-4-2-4, 14

IRC 4 (14 boats) - 4 races
1. Wings, J/122, Bruno/Boyle/Callahan (Irvington, NY) 3-2-1-2, 8 points
2. Christopher Dragon, Andrew Weiss (Mamaroneck, NY) 4-1-2-4, 11
3. Spitfire, Pierre du Pont(Rockland, DE) 1-3-4-5, 13

IRC 5 (12 boats) - 4 races
1 146 Storm Lyall 1.0420 New York J109 10 1 2 4 3
2 51 Rush Sweetser 1.0410 New York J/109 12 5 3 2 2
3 156 Out of Reach III Nees 1.0460 Other X-35 15 3 5 1 6

IRC 6 (8 boats) - 4 races
1 53194 Bluto Hall 1.0110 Other Evelyn 32 9 4 3 1 1
2 51920 Elan Hammel 1.0190 New York Beneteau 36.7 10 3 1 4 2
3 1976 Mischief Schwartz 1.0070 Bristol Seguin 40 10 1 2 3 4

Rolex Cup Results - Team top score combined, Around the Island Race

Top 3 (of 8 teams)
Team - Boat and Boat
1. THE ISLANDERS - Rush and Spitfire
2. RAMBLER - Act 1 and Rambler
3. FORTY THIEVES - Upgrade and Nasty Medicine

Interested in using IRC?

Owners and Organizing Authorities wishing to adopt IRC for their events should contact US-IRC Executive Director Luiz E. Kahl for help with the process luiz@us-irc.org.

The US SAILING Offshore office administers the IRC rule in the US. Yacht owners should contact Eric Baittinger at irc@ussailing.org for help with certificate application or with rating questions.

For all US-IRC latest news, events and seminars check out the US-IRC web site at www.us-irc.org and go racing with us.