The 101st New York Athletic Club Yacht Club distance race to Stratford Shoal took place Saturday, May 15. The oldest distance race on the Long Island Sound racing circuit, it is a qualifier for a number of Yacht Racing Association of Long Island Sound trophies. The race has two courses: a spinnaker course of 60.8 nautical miles to and around Stratford Shoal Lighthouse and a non-spinnaker course of 32 nautical miles to and around Cable & Anchor Reef, four nautical miles south of South Norwalk, CT.Twenty-eight boats from 13 yacht clubs participated, and in addition to PHRF the race had an IRC class for the first time. This is a Newport to Bermuda Race year, and this early season race serves as an excellent tune up for boats, crew and equipment. It also meant owners were scrambling to get their valid IRC certificates back in time, based on modifications made to meet the Newport to Bermuda standards.
The entrants were assigned to four divisions: one spinnaker PHRF, two spinnaker IRC, and one non-spinnaker PHRF. Five entrants were double-handed boats: two in the spinnaker PHRF division (Adrian Little’s J/100 Flashpoint; Westport, CT and Todd Aven’s J/92 Thin Man; Brooklyn, NY) and three in the non-spinnaker division (Marc Luxemburg’s Hunter 35.5 On The Mark II (Norwalk YC), Wayne Gillikin’s Cal 39 Elusive (NYACYC) and Robert Ferraro & Tim Hurley’s Beneteau 30 Calypso (NYACYC).
The wind conditions at the start were 18 to 23, gusting to 30, which for some distance racers are ideal conditions. These conditions remained for the first two hours and then settled down slightly for most of the fleet, which meant a broad reach, one jibe trip out. But that didn’t mean it was leisurely sailing.
At the start of the race and throughout the first leg, there was a variety sail changes taking place to maximize performance. Among the longer distance racers, Steve Cain’s Beneteau 36.7 Shooting Star (Larchmont, NY) started with their #3 jib before changing to a Code 0. Mike Sleightholme’s J/109 Aspara (Summit, NJ) started with a jib top and changed to a blast reacher. Lenny Sitar’s J/44 Vamp (NYACYC) started with a #3, switched to a jib top a quarter of the way up the course and then alternated between the asymmetrical and symmetrical spinnaker. Carl Olsson’s J/105 Morning Glory (Larchmont, NY) also hoisted a Code 0 once the wind settled to 80 - 90 degrees and stayed with that sail until wind dropped to 16 knots, changing to the larger class asymmetric chute to reach the Lighthouse. Jim Shaughnessy’s Beneteau 44.7 Arbella (Greenwich, CT) started with a heavy #1, switched to a Code 0 and then to the 4A and 2A asymmetrical spinnakers. Richie Palmer’s Beneteau 36.7 Breakaway (NYACYC) started with a #3 and later switched to a #1. They “wished they had put the #1 up earlier with their lightweight crew.” Joe Mele’s Swan 44 Mk II Triple Lindy (New York, NY) had a solid start under main and #3, then immediately hoisted a 1.5oz AP spinnaker and selected a line just north of Stratford Shoal. When the fickle northerly moderated and shifted west enough, everyone got their chutes up for a reach to the mark.
At the start for the shorter distance racers, On the Mark II and Calypso both had their mains and jibs reefed while Sally & Vincent Giantasio’s Catalina 42 Relentless (NYACYC) and Paul Osmolskis’ Beneteau 33 Riff Raff (NYACYC) reefed the headsail only. It was a beautiful, clear spring day and the boats could keep their competition in their sights for most of the race. Steven Cain, skipper of Shooting Star, reported “spectacular visuals.”
It was a fast beam reach to both marks and most of the nonspinnaker fleet rounded Cable & Anchor and were on their return leg by 3:00pm. First to round was Bob Chuda’s Frers 44 Chieftain (Yonkers, NY), followed by Bill Manookian’s J/105 Max2 (New York, NY), Relentless, On The Mark II, Riff Raff, Elusive, Sid Kiwitt’s custom 34 The Real Macaw (Lloyd Harbor YC), Calypso and Elith Larsen’s 1936 Alden 38 yawl Aegir (NYACYC). Aegir took a gamble and tacked to the Connecticut side for lighter current and less waves, but the wind shifted north. The other boats that were sailing close hauled and heading to Manhasset, with stronger currents from the middle of the Sound, got the lift towards the finish.
In the spinnaker division, Lou Melillo’s Beneteau 36.7 Surface Tension (Middletown, NJ) beat Breakaway to the top mark because they “sailed the Long Island side with a spinnaker up and was able to heat it up to reach the mark.” It took a couple of jibes for some of the boats to get around the Lighthouse. Shooting Star and Bob Johnston’s Beneteau 40.7 Sans-culottes (Huguenot YC) found decent wind on the rhumbline and they dueled back and forth most of the way to the Lighthouse. Triple Lindy “noticed many of the boats on the outbound leg sailed on a much closer reach to maximize speed, but that hurt them as the neared Stratford Shoal and needed to run down to the mark from their position closer to the Connecticut shore.” Triple Lindy also reported that they “didn’t know precisely which boats were to windward of us on the outbound leg, but thought we needed to watch carefully for those in our class, and the larger boats in Division 2 [Ken Laudon’s Santa Cruz 52 Magic (Croton on Hudson, NY) and the J/44s] that might be making good time at a tighter angle to the wind.” Most of the spinnaker fleet rounded Stratford Shoal Lighthouse and were on their return leg by 5:30pm.
The Connecticut side seemed to be favored for the long distance boats. Morning Glory, Vamp, Arbella, Triple Lindy and others tacked to this shore. Boats were either on a broad reach, beat tack or close-hauled, depending on where they were positioned on the sound. Arbella knew that the J/44s were tough competition and it could have gone either way depending on the conditions. Jim Shaugnessy, skipper of Arbella, credits his navigator and tactician with making the right choices. Shooting Star and Sans-culottes “continued their duel and at one point Sans-culottes put some good distance between them but then Shooting Star set up perfectly to take advantage of a dying breeze and blew into the finish well ahead.”
Triple Lindy won the Emil Capita Trophy for best corrected time in the PHRF spinnaker divisions. At the division level IRC scoring, however, Shooting Star came in first and Triple Lindy placed second. Vamp won the Sitzmark Trophy for the first NYACYC boat to finish and Relentless claimed the Rapido Trophy for the best corrected time in the non-spinnaker division. The NYACYC Commodore, Flag Officers and Race Committee thank all the captains and crew for coming out for this race and look forward to seeing you on the start and finish line next year.
