2001 Season Results

Leukemia Cup Regatta
August 18, 2001

Sail Newport ran four short races North of the Newport Bridge off the War College. The first two were sailed in a light WSW breeze that took the fleet across the East Passage and the shipping channel. By the end of the second race the southwesterly had filled in and stengthened so the RC moved north so that they could set the weather mark just north of the Bridge. The sailing was marked by strong currents and local knowledge was at a premium.

Andy Gillis and Pam Morris won their first one-design race and their first one-design regatta all in the same day. Pam and Brendan Kelley started slowly, but figured it out in the southwesterly and won two races. It was a light turnout for Fleet #14, but good racing, nevertheless.

-- Nelson

Buzzards Bay Regatta
August 3-5, 2001

                                         BUZZARDS BAY REGATTA 2001
                                                   J-105
                                               3-5 AUGUST 2001
Date: Aug 05, 2001
Time: 3:48pm                                                              (c)YACHT RACE SCORING INTERNATIONAL
**************************************************************************************************************
Yacht Race Scoring Systems   | RACE 1 | RACE 2 | RACE 3 | RACE 4 | RACE 5 | RACE 6 |     ||
                             |--------|--------|--------|--------|--------|--------|     || TOTALS THRU
                             | Finish | Finish | Finish | Finish | Finish | Finish |THROW||  RACE NO. 5 
                      SAIL   |  ----  |  ----  |  ----  |  ----  |  ----  |  ----  | OUT ||--------------
SKIPPER, ETC.          NO    | Points | Points | Points | Points | Points | Points | R # || POINTS| POS
-------------------- ------- |--------|--------|--------|--------|--------|--------|-----||-------|----
REESE HILLARD                |  2     |  3     |  TLE   |  1     |  1     |  ----  |     ||       |
HOSS                    237  |  ----  |  ----  |  ----  |  ----  |  ----  |  ----  |     || 9     | 1
FORT WORTH BC                |  2     |  3     |  2     |  1     |  1     |  ----  |     ||       |
-------------------- ------- |--------|--------|--------|--------|--------|--------|-----||--------------
DON PRIESTLY                 |  3     |  1     |  TLE   |  6     |  3     |  ----  |     ||       |
WET PAINT             51012  |  ----  |  ----  |  ----  |  ----  |  ----  |  ----  |     || 15    | 2
MASHPEE, MA                  |  3     |  1     |  2     |  6     |  3     |  ----  |     ||       |
-------------------- ------- |--------|--------|--------|--------|--------|--------|-----||--------------
JOHN HOURIHAN                |  4     |  4     |  TLE   |  3     |  2     |  ----  |     ||       |
PFM2                    315  |  ----  |  ----  |  ----  |  ----  |  ----  |  ----  |     || 15    | 3
AMERICAN YC                  |  4     |  4     |  2     |  3     |  2     |  ----  |     ||       |
-------------------- ------- |--------|--------|--------|--------|--------|--------|-----||--------------
SCOTT BENDER                 |  5     |  2     |  TLE   |  7     |  7     |  ----  |     ||       |
                        486  |  ----  |  ----  |  ----  |  ----  |  ----  |  ----  |     || 23    | 4
STONE HORSE YC               |  5     |  2     |  2     |  7     |  7     |  ----  |     ||       |
-------------------- ------- |--------|--------|--------|--------|--------|--------|-----||--------------
ED DAILEY                    |  1     |  5     |  TLE   |  8     |  9     |  ----  |     ||       |
STAR EYES               444  |  ----  |  ----  |  ----  |  ----  |  ----  |  ----  |     || 25    | 5
BEVERLY YC                   |  1     |  5     |  2     |  8     |  9     |  ----  |     ||       |
-------------------- ------- |--------|--------|--------|--------|--------|--------|-----||--------------
JOHN MCCOLLOCH               |  7     |  6     |  TLE   |  5     |  5     |  ----  |     ||       |
HOTSPUR                 398  |  ----  |  ----  |  ----  |  ----  |  ----  |  ----  |     || 25    | 6
AMERICAN YC                  |  7     |  6     |  2     |  5     |  5     |  ----  |     ||       |
-------------------- ------- |--------|--------|--------|--------|--------|--------|-----||--------------
LARRY HENNESS                |  8     |  7     |  TLE   |  2     |  8     |  ----  |     ||       |
WOODY                   353  |  ----  |  ----  |  ----  |  ----  |  ----  |  ----  |     || 27    | 7
DUCK ISLAND YC               |  8     |  7     |  2     |  2     |  8     |  ----  |     ||       |
-------------------- ------- |--------|--------|--------|--------|--------|--------|-----||--------------
JACK GIERHART                |  6     |  8     |  TLE   |  9     |  6     |  ----  |     ||       |
AEGIR                 51439  |  ----  |  ----  |  ----  |  ----  |  ----  |  ----  |     || 31    | 8
MARION, MA                   |  6     |  8     |  2     |  9     |  6     |  ----  |     ||       |
-------------------- ------- |--------|--------|--------|--------|--------|--------|-----||--------------
BILL PURDY                   |  DNC   |  DNC   |  TLE   |  4     |  4     |  ----  |     ||       |
40 WHACKS               354  |  ----  |  ----  |  ----  |  ----  |  ----  |  ----  |     || 34    | 9
MEGANSETT                    |  12    |  12    |  2     |  4     |  4     |  ----  |     ||       |
-------------------- ------- |--------|--------|--------|--------|--------|--------|-----||--------------
RONALD MORTARA               |  10    |  DNF   |  TLE   |  10    |  10    |  ----  |     ||       |
GIOIA                 50803  |  ----  |  ----  |  ----  |  ----  |  ----  |  ----  |     || 44    | 10
NEW BEDFORD                  |  10    |  12    |  2     |  10    |  10    |  ----  |     ||       |
-------------------- ------- |--------|--------|--------|--------|--------|--------|-----||--------------
J C RABY                     |  9     |  OCS   |  TLE   |  DNF   |  OCS   |  ----  |     ||       |
DECORUM                 442  |  ----  |  ----  |  ----  |  ----  |  ----  |  ----  |     || 47    | 11
NYYC                         |  9     |  12    |  2     |  12    |  12    |  ----  |     ||       |
-------------------- ------- |--------|--------|--------|--------|--------|--------|-----||--------------

Narragansett Bay Championship
July 27-29, 2001

7.28.2001 00:12

BY DAVE PHILIPS
Special to the Journal

JAMESTOWN -- It was down on the schedule early in the year to be a major one-design weekend regatta in Newport: "Six to eight classes," said Pete Lawson of the Atlantic Race Management Team, "and three circles."

But as winter turned into spring it gradually became apparent that promoter Robert Taylor's plans weren't working out. By the time the regatta began yesterday the three circles had come down to one for the J-105 class.

There would have been no racing at all if J-105 skipper and Wickford Yacht Club member Nelson Weiderman hadn't said to Pete Lawson and his wife, Marshall, in May: "We still want to race, will you run races for us?"

The Lawsons agreed and the regatta survived as the J-105 Narragansett Bay championship. Fourteen J-105s were on the course south of Beavertail Point yesterday and they sailed three races in crystal-clear weather. A little more breeze would have been nice but there was enough for principal race officer Bill Riessen to give them three races over windward-leeward courses.

When the racing was over, Jim Sorensen of Sag Harbor, N.Y., on eastern Long Island and his boat, Wet Leopard, were the leaders with the low score of six points, two points ahead of Darden and Hillard Williamson of Fort Worth, Texas, and their boat, Hoss.

Sorensen, who keeps his boat in Jamestown in the summer, had 2-1-3 finishers and stood to pick up another point if his protest in the third race against Doug Riggs and Rigadoon, who finished ahead of Sorensen in that race, was upheld.

"I have a great crew, a very experienced crew," Sorensen said. "They're all off other very well-sailed, successful boats."

The fleet had a 12 to 15 knot northeasterly breeze for the first race which gradually softened as the race progressed.

Riessen shortened the windward leg by half a mile for the second race and sent them off but the breeze was continuing to die and to be sure they beat the two-hour time limit, he ended that race at the second weather mark, shortening the race from six miles to four. By the time the fleet was approaching the new finish line the breeze had hauled from northeast to southeast, eventually settling in the southwest and building to 10-12 knots, enabling Riessen to give them a course to beat the two-hour time limit.

This is Sorensen's fourth year in the class and, he said, his third boat. "I tried a couple of different combinations with tillers and wheels and I decided I liked the wheel best and these boats hold their value so well I didn't lose anything," he said.

The schedule calls for three races today and there may be four additional boats on the course. The leaders: 1, Wet Leopard, Sorensen, 2-1-3, 6; 2, Hoss, Darden & Hillard Williamson, 1-3-4, 8.0; 3, Masquerade, Tom Coates, 3-6-1, 10; 4, Rigadoon, Doug Riggs, 5-5-2, 12.0; 5, No Surrender, Jack Colby, 4-7-6, 17.0.

7.29.2001 00:05 Narragansett Bay J-105 title to be decided today

BY DAVE PHILIPS Journal Sports Writer

JAMESTOWN --Clear the decks for a good match race today on Rhode Island Sound between Jim Sorensen's Wet Leopard and Darden and Hillard Williamson's Hoss to decide the Narragansett Bay J-105 championship. They're tied for the lead through five races and two days of competition, and both finished in the top five in all their races.

That kind of consistency is hard to beat. But two or three other skippers have a chance to get into the running if the leaders lose their edge on the final day of racing.

Masquerade, skippered by Tom Coates of San Francisco, has a chance at six points back. And Providence skipper Jack Colby still has hopes, too, after winning the second race yesterday on No Surrender.

Colby made a bold move on the second windward leg of the second race yesterday, splitting way out from the fleet on the left or seaward side of the course. That's where the most wind was and Colby caught everyone, going to that next weather mark, establishing a lead he held to the finish of the seven-mile course.

Masquerade and No Surrender will have a better chance of contending for the championship if principal race officer Bill Riessen runs three races today. The origial schedule called for just two races today, but Riessen wrote the three-race option into the sailing instructions and said he might try for three races if they get wind early today on Rhode Island Sound.

Patience was a necessity for Riessen and his race committee yesterday, holding off until they had wind enough to start a race. They'd hoped to run three races, with the first one starting at 11 a.m. but the wind at that time was about 3 knots from the northeast, too light for racing.

Their patience was finally rewarded at 1 o'clock, when the wind hauled to the southwest as it had the day before, and freshened to 6-8 knots. Then Riessen got 16 racing yachts away on a 3.5-mile windward-leeward course and he doubled the distance for the final race.

Hoss squeezed in ahead of Masquerade in the first race, forcing Masquerade on port to tack just short of the finish line pin and wear around, losing second place to Nelson Weiderman's Kima. Sorensen, meanwhile, had been buried at the start and in a race that lasted just under an hour, he didn't have time to catch the leaders.

Sorensen and his crew trailed Hoss by two points after that race but pulled even with their second-place in the final race, while Hoss was finishing fourth.

Coates from San Francisco and the Williamsons from Texas indicate in a small way how widespread the J-105 class has become in the 10 years of its existence. Class president Don Priestly, of Mashpee, Mass., calls it the fastest-growing one-design class in the country.

Besides Narragansett Bay, there are thriving fleets on Long Island Sound, on Chesapeake Bay, in San Diego, Chicago, in Houston and the Dalls-Fort Worth area, almost 500 racing yachts in all.

1, Hoss, Darden & Hillard Williamson, 1-3-3-1-4, 12.0; and Wet Leopard, Jim Sorensen, 2-1-1-5-2, 12.0; 3, Masquerade, Tom Coates, 3-6-1-3-5, 18.0; 4, No Surrender, Jack Colby, 4-7-5-6-1, 23.0; 5, Kima, Nelson Weiderman, 7-8-7-2-8, 32.0; 6, Wet Paint, Don Priestly, 6-2-10-10-10, 38.0; 7, Picante, Robert Salk, 8-13-4-7-7, 39.0; 8, Rigadoon, Doug Riggs, 5-5-dsq-8-9, 45; and Woody, Whitehead & Hennessy, 10-12-9-4-11, 46.0; 10, 40 Whacks, Bill Purdy, 11-4-13-11-13, 52.0.

7.30.2001 00:22 Sorensen, Wet Leopard win J-105 title

BY DAVE PHILIPS Special to the Journal

JAMESTOWN -- Jim Sorensen got a chance to smoke his victory cigar at the Narragansett Bay J-105 championship yesterday, but the Sag Harbor, N.Y., skipper couldn't think about lighting up until he and his crew on Wet Leopard cleared the finish line in the final race of the three-day series on Rhode Island Sound.

Sorensen thought Glenn Darden on Hoss, the skipper he was most concerned about, had taken himself out of contention by being involved in a port-starboard situation on the starting line and having to do a 720 (two complete turns) before resuming the race.

That put Hoss in last place in the 17-boat fleet. But Darden, his co-skipper Reese Hillard and their crew from the Fort Worth, Texas, Boat Club, staged an amazing comeback, passing 11 boats as the six-mile race progressed. Suddenly the competition race between the top two skippers, who'd started the final race just two points apart, was tight again.

Coming up to the finish on port tack, Sorensen and his crew looked over to see Hoss closing with them on starboard tack, one place behind them.

Hoss was perhaps 50 yards short of being able to force Wet Leopard to tack and produce an electrifying finish to the whole regatta.

"I can do without that kind of excitement," said Sorensen. "He (Darden) had a great, great race after a bad start."

"We knew we had to put a boat between him and us," said Darden later. If Darden and his crew could have done that, they would have tied Wet Leopard for first place and with two first places to Wet Leopard's one, Darden and his crew would have won the championship on a tie-breaker.'

Hoss held a two-point lead over Wet Leopard after the first race yesterday, the sixth of the series. But in the seventh race, next to last, Wet Leopard finished fourth and Hoss finished eighth, giving Wet Leopard the series lead once again.

Complicating the picture, Peter Colby had skippered No Surrender to a first and a second in those same two races yesterday, bringing his boat to within six points of the lead.

Both leading skippers were thankful Jeff Johnstone of Portsmouth and his boat, Polar Star, weren't able to race Friday, the first day of the series. Johnstone, the president of J-Boats, had the best score in the fleet for the last two days of racing, one point better than Wet Leopard and two points better than Hoss.

Johnstone downplayed his success."The three guys that were winning the regatta were racing each other," he said, "not me."

Winds were light, (6-8 knots) as they had been the whole weekend, allowing pricipal race officer Bill Riessen, assisted by Pete and Marshall Lawson and the Atlantic Race Management Team, to give the fleet two 3.5-mile, windward-leeward races lasting just over an hour; and then a 6-mile race, lasting an hour and a half, achieving the goal of an eight-race series.

The leaders:

1, Wet Leopard, Sorensen, 2-1-2-5-2-4-4-5, 25.0; 2, Hoss, Darden, Hillard & Williamson, 1-3-3-1-4-2-8-6, 28.0; 3, Masquerade, Coates, 3-6-1-3-5-8-6-2, 34.0; 4, No Surrender, Colby, 4-7-5-6-1-1-2-9, 35.0; 5, Kima, Weiderman, 7-8-7-2-8-6-1-4, 43.0; 6, Picante, Salk, 8-13-4-7-7-7-11-7,64.0; 7, Wet Paint, Priestly, 6-2-10-10-10-11-7-13, 69.0; 8, Polar Star, Johnbstone, dns-dns-dns-9-3-3-3-1, 73.0; 9, Rigadoon, Riggs, 5-5-14-8-9-14-9-10, 78,0; 10, Woody, Whitehead & Hennessy, 10-12-9-4-11-13-12-11, 82.0.

Postscript:

Amazingly, there was not a single general recall and only three individual recalls in this regatta. Only one protest went to a hearing. This was due in part to the adequate starting lines and excellent race management by Pete Lawson's Atlantic Race Management Team. The competitors seemed to like the one-fleet format and many short races. Robert Salk of PICANTE hosted three social hours on the water north of the Newport Bridge with beverages, snacks, and awards by Fleet 14. Dave Phillips gave us excellent press coverage (above). Next year we'll do the NYYC Rolex in this slot, but Fleet 14 definitely consider getting ARMT to run another great regatta for us next year.

-- Nelson

Sail Newport Regatta
July 14-15, 2001

  Sail Newport's motto is "More sailing ... Less waiting" and they held true to form. They banged out six races on Saturday and Sunday on a racecourse that included, in addition to the 16 J/105s, 1D35s, Shields, Etchells, Frers 33s, and 45 J/24s. Their trick was to have separate starting and finishing lines and to start classes almost as soon as they finished. There seemed to be remarkably little cross traffic between the fleets. Kudos to Brad Read and Peter Reggio for pulling it off. They used offset marks and gates for all the classes which helped minimize congestion around the corners.

Remarkably, the fleet got off six clean starts without a general recall on a relatively short line. There were a few individual recalls, but in most starts there were no boats called back. The first race on Saturday was W-L-W twice around, with the remainder being W-L-W once around with weather legs from 1.3 to 1.5 miles. Given that the start-finish was one third the way up the course, this made for 4 mile courses with half upwind and half downwind.

On Saturday, iwindsurf.com was calling for less than 9 knots from the west with clouds. When the clouds failed to materialize, the sea breeze started to kick in shortly after the appointed 11 a.m. starting time. The wind built throughout the day and was pretty solid from 230 to 240. In the first race NO SURRENDER seemed to get the best start from the boat third of the line with speed. PLUM CRAZY made it to the top mark followed by NO SURRENDER. By the second lap it was PLUM, NS, and KIMA at the top mark. But when PLUM tried to raise their spinnaker, the shackle opened and the they lost the halyard up the mast. In the next several minutes they had their spinnaker flying on their jib halyard and had a crewman up the mast on the second jib halyard to fetch the spinnaker halyard. Once retrieved, the spinnaker came down and was rehoisted on the normal halyard. During all this they lost two boats, but maintained third place for the race. It was an amazing feat of seamanship by the PLUM crew.

One irony marked the day. In the first race, YIKES! and JATO had a close encounter of the third kind with JATO sending their bowsprit nearly down the companionway of YIKES! at the leeward mark. The damage to YIKES! was minor, but the pole of JATO was destroyed. It was ironic because the owners of the two boats sailed together at Block and are (still are?) good friends. Thanks to Kevin Coughlin of NO SURRENDER, JATO was supplied with a new pole in time for Sunday's racing. It took less than an hour to pull the old pole and install the new one. It will take JATO's owners a little longer than that to pay for it.

In the second race of the day, WET PAINT took the pin and squeezed out to a fast start while others languished in the pack. But the rest of the day was to start the dominance of HOSS who led at most of the marks for the rest of the regatta. Race two was marked by a fishing trawler which trawled through the picket fence on the layline for the weather mark (and later dragged away the weather mark before the J/24s arrived there). And on the downwind leg the boats that went to the left downwind were confronted by a huge tanker that didn't want to hear anything about sailboat racing. The third race started almost immediately after the second, and caught many teams just breaking out their lunches. This time the pin deflated just before the start and three boats were called over early, but later the redress requests were denied. The right paid early in this race and CYAN showed their stuff, but HOSS again prevailed for the win going away.

On Sunday the wind was from the North, but the Race Committee patiently waited for the southwesterly to fill in. While Saturday's wind was pretty solid, there were more shifts in Sunday's wind. And while the current was flowing the whole afternoon (3:41 p.m. high in Newport), there seemed to be anomalies in both wind and tide over the course. The first race started in a bit of a leftie and NO SURRENDER took the best advantage with a great pin start. In the second race there seemed to be a lift and some current relief on the right side of the course and more current push on the opposite side coming back down. HOSS, CYAN, and KIMA got the best of it. In the last race WET PAINT found her wheels was close on the heels of HOSS at the weather mark. In its first regatta No. 485, PRETTY SKETCHY showed some flashes of brilliance up to the weather mark, but seemed not to have the downwind angles figured out. The new PICANTE led at times on one race. NORDIC EXPRESS and WET LEOPARD had good regattas and would have finished higher, but for a lapse in the second race on Sunday when they both crossed the start/finish line leading to DSQs.

The full results will be posted here as soon as sailnewport.org posts them.

Newport Gold Regatta (Race)
June 2, 2001

    1     458    Polar Star         Jeff Johnstone
    2      17    Masquerade         Tom Coates
    3     322    Cloud 9            Brendan & Pam Kelley
    4      74    No Surrender       Jack Colby
    5     300    Kima               Nelson Weiderman

    The following were DNC, DNS, or DNF (scoring 17 points each)
          334    Wet Paint          Don Priestly
          247    Vale               Victor Bell
          307    Wet Leopard        Jim Sorensen
          256    The Cat Came Back  Linc Mossup 
          457    Yikes!             Steve Small
          350    Rigadoon           Bill Riggs
          165    If Only ...        Harvey Howalt/Ed Sisk
          413    Picante            Bob Salk
          442    Decorum            JC Raby
          317    Nordic Express     John Eielson
          417    MGoBlue            Ed Feeley/Bob Hooper

Commentary by Nelson Weiderman

I couldn't imagine much worse conditions for a fleet of eager owners wanting to get an early season regatta under their belts. Only five of the entrants finished the single race on Saturday. It was not as if the weather was kept a secret. The weather reports were discouraging all week long. All but the most intrepid set off Saturday morning to the rendezvous area off the north end of Jamestown Island. Some, including MASQUERADE and RIGADOON, set their chutes to get them to the course in the 20+ knot breeze. Others, including KIMA and RIGADOON reefed their mains to prepare for worsening conditions. It appeared that Jeff Johnstone on POLAR STAR was the only one with his dodger ready for action. Not all the boats could find the starting line and the race committee was not being much help. But the RC started us right on time in the midst of squall conditions.

In the early part of the only race, the wind was steadily in the upper twenties and the rain was stinging on the face. The boats that went left up the first beat found a lift off Prudence Island that propelled them to the weather mark. Jeff was first, Bill Riggs second, and Brendan Kelley in CLOUD 9 was third at the first mark. Jeff decided not to set his chute. Bill set his and was catching Jeff at 14 knots, but when he jibed the kite and tried to jibe the main, the top of his mast came off and then split in two! He promises to be back in time for Block Island. Along with the mast went the main, spinnaker, and possibly the jib. NO SURRENDER saw their spinnaker blown off the halyard. KIMAs kite shredded after a bad broach. By the second time around, the conditions lessened again to a manageable low twenties again and five boats of the starters finished the race. Jeff won without ever using his spinnaker. In retrospect it was a very wise decision. MASQUERADE managed two spinnaker runs and finished second. Ditto for CLOUD 9 for third. NS and KIMA finished without spinnakers.

After the first race, the racing was cancelled for the day and by the time the boats returned to Newport the wind had died almost completely. Sunday's conditions proved no better. The RC decided to start the race amongst heavy swells off of Castle Hill in visiblity that could not have been much greater than 100 feet at times. They gave their position in GPS coordinates, but did not anchor, so by the time you went to the reported location, they had been set out on the tide to the south. After an hour of this, the RC had had enough and cancelled racing for the day and for the regatta.

The other one-design classes started on Friday, so at least had one good day of racing. Perhaps the J/105 fleet might want to consider this for next year.