Summary

A fun weekend with some respectable results, considering we were sailing away from the leeward mark searching for wind on Sunday!

The following article written by Alyssa was published in the Providence Journal (Link on bottom)

"Bay teems with boats 25 years after America’s Cup loss"

After two false starts, 23 sailboats jockey for position northwest of Prudence Island at 2:50 pm Sunday, waiting for the last race of the J/30 North American Championship to begin. Orders echo over the water as crews scramble with lines and skippers maneuver to avoid collisions. To impose discipline, the principal race officer announces boats will now be disqualified if they jump the gun.

“This is a situation where every one of them is going to get religion,” says George Crocker, a race judge who lives in Portsmouth.

With a minute left to start, the boats approach the line cautiously to avoid disqualification. Mike Campbell of Bristol edges his J/30 Grits ahead of a few boats and leads the pack out of the gate along with Evelyn, skippered by Luke Buxton of Salem, Mass. Their gambles pay off, for the principal race officer declares a clear start.

The competitors spread out across the Bay in search of wind lines. With Poppasquash Point on their left, Portsmouth looming ahead and a current working in their favor, the tacticians plot their course, avoiding wind shadows from other boats. The fleet approaches the first mark around 3:15 pm.

Twenty-five years earlier, on Sept. 26, 1983, just after 5 pm, the United States lost the America’s Cup to the Australia II off Newport, bringing New York Yacht Club’s 132-year winning streak to an end. After recovering from the initial shock, some Rhode Islanders wondered how the loss would affect sailing and business in their state.

According to Executive Director of Sail Newport Brad Read, three local businessmen got together that fall and asked themselves, “What’s next? We just lost. Sailing as we know it in Newport and Narragansett Bay could be over. What do we do?”

The trio—Bart Dunbar, Dr. Robin Wallace and Paul Buttrose—established Sail Newport to attract sailing events to fill the void left by the Cup loss. Sail Newport has grown into Southern New England’s largest public sailing center, serving thousands of children and adults each year in regattas and learn-to-sail programs. And sailboat traffic on the bay has increased.

“Now, on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday nights, and over the weekends there are endless numbers of regattas and racing series, so competitive sailboat racing has flourished since we lost the Cup,” says Read. He says J boat designer Rod Johnstone deserves much of the credit for this trend.

Johnstone built the first J/24—the most popular keelboat ever produced—in his garage in 1975 after taking a correspondence course in boat design in the 1960s. He designed Ragtime with speed and comfort in mind, as he wanted a boat the entire family could enjoy. He tested his creation in races off eastern Connecticut during the summer of 1976.

“We went out with a family crew—a bunch of young teenagers and my wife and various other relatives—and we always won every race,” recalls Johnstone. “And we were racing against guys who took their racing pretty seriously.”

With J/24 sales booming, Johnstone decided to design a slightly larger boat—the J/30, which also proved popular among sailors who enjoy racing and cruising. J/30 class rules require skippers to be owners, which prevents competitors from using paid professionals to steer their boats. Mark and Kathy Rotsky of Somerset acquired their J/30 in 1996 with family time in mind. They hoped to race the boat with their children Brad and Susan, who had been sailing since they were young.

“Our first boat was a Lightning, and the kids would crawl up into the bow and fall asleep in the sail bags,” says Kathy Rotsky.

The family moors Nemesis at Bristol Yacht Club, which organizes a Wednesday night series for performance handicap racing that combines several classes of boats each summer. Nemesis won Class B this year, and Mark Rotsky says the races (affectionately dubbed “beer can” races) provided his crew with terrific training for the 2008 J/30 North American Championship (though Kathy and Susan Rotsky did not participate in this particular regatta), hosted by their own yacht club.

The Championship attracts boats from outside New England, and the competition is fierce. With the sixth and final race coming to a close, Grits has lost its early lead. Several boats have already crossed the finish line.

Nemesis approaches on a port tack (i.e., the wind is coming over the left side of the boat), vying with two competitors on starboard tacks for a ninth place finish. Boats on a starboard tack have the right of way, and it looks like Nemesis will be squeezed out, but Rotsky finds room to tack and slip inside the mark, crossing the finish line just behind Mallorca (skippered by David Bows of Marblehead, Mass.) and Smiles (skippered by John McArthur of Stratford, Conn.). Although another skipper protests his move, Rotsky prevails at a hearing, and the results hold.

After three days of racing, Nemesis places fourth overall. A first place finish in the fifth race helped the crew lock this position. Under Mike Campbell’s guidance, Grits also faired well, ranking eighth overall, with a first place finish in Race 3. The 26-year-old credits his family with introducing him to the sport when he was young. Campbell—the youngest skipper in the competition—will likely prove a major force in future championships.

Fuzzy Wuzzy (skippered by Bengt Johannson of Watchung, NJ) placed first overall, followed by Evelyn (skippered by Luke Buxton of Salem, Mass.) in second and Blue Meanie (skippered by Stephen Buzbee of Highland Park, NJ) in third. Blue Meanie did well overall, despite losing a man overboard on Friday. Crew member Brad Carl went for a swim during a sail change, but he managed to catch a line and hang on, saving recovery time.

In addition to Grits and Nemesis, several other local boats participated in the regatta. Rhapsody (out of Newport, skippered by Wayne Iurillo) placed 10th, Falcon (skippered by Charlie Stoddard of Barrington) placed 11th, Keltyk Knot (skippered by Pat Kelty of Barrington) placed 16th, Good News (skippered by John Howell of Warwick) placed 21st, and Karinosa (skippered by Steve Adkins of Warren) placed 22nd.

Alyssa Kneller is the daughter of Bill Kneller, who was chair of the J/30 2008 North American Championship and the tactician aboard Rhapsody.

http://www.projo.com/sports/content/EB_BARRINGTON_REGATTA_26_09-26-08_AKBN0MB_v18.1a5b2e2.html