Class racing starts tomorrow at NYYC Race Week
With but a few days to recharge, the New York Yacht Club (NYYC) race office is in full swing again for the second half of its sixth biennial Race Week at Newport presented by Rolex.
'NYYCRW logo'
Last weekend, classic yachts sailed in the first half of Race Week, which also doubled as the club's 100th birthday celebration for famed yacht designer Olin J. Stephens.
Starting tomorrow, two IRC, two PHRF and four one-design classes will begin a four-day racing series that includes the 2008 North American Championship for NYYC Club Swan 42s, the North American Championship for J/109s, the East Coast Championship for J/122s, and the Northeast Championship for Beneteau First 36.7s. Joining the racing on Friday will be both the Melges 32 class, sailing its National Championship, and the J/105 class, sailing its East Coast Championship. All told, 120 boats will take to the waters of Narragansett Bay and Rhode Island Sound for an action-packed three- or four-day 'weekend.'
As part of US-IRC's Gulf Stream Series, Race Week has attracted some standouts on the world yacht racing stage such as Hap Fauth's (Minneapolis, Minn.) new 65-foot Bella Mente, Roger Sturgeon's (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.) STP65 Rosebud/Team DYT, NYYC Rear Commodore Robert Towse's and son Farley's (Stamford, Conn.) 66-foot Blue Yankee, Ron O'Hanley's (Boston, Mass.) 50-foot Privateer and Sam Fleet's (East Greenwich, R.I.) Swan 601 Aquarius.
PHRF classes will be chock-a-block with local talent such as Ben Hall aboard the 32-foot Bluto and Dick Hyde aboard the 36-foot Freightrain. Hall, after seeing last weekend's tribute to Olin Stephens and recognizing that the living legend was there to see many of his own designs compete, noted that the designer of his boat, Bob Evelyn, in his '70s, would be aboard Bluto as crew. Earlier this year, Hall won his class at Charleston Race Week, also with Evelyn aboard.
The International Melges 32 Class Association says this will be its third, and largest ever, U.S. National Championship, with 22 entries confirmed. The class seems to be non-stop in its energy and appeal, claiming some of the world's top sailors, including America's Cup veteran Cameron Appleton (New Zealand) on Derek Campbell's (Seattle, Wash.) Banshee, J/24 World and North American Champion Anthony Kotoun (Newport, R.I.) on Edward Tillinghast's (New York, N.Y.) Dark N'Stormy, and 2006 Rolex Yachtsman of the Year Jud Smith (Marblehead, Mass.) on Bob Hesse's (Elma, N.Y.) Lake Effect.
John Kilroy (Los Angeles, Calif.), sailing his brand new Samba Pa Ti, will have aboard 2003 Melges 24 World Champion Brian Hutchinson (Traverse City, Mich.), while Melges 32 National Champion Jeff Ecklund (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.) will work to defend his 2007 title aboard Star. His 2008 crew includes multiple World Champion Harry Melges (Lake Geneva, Wisc.) calling tactics alongside of Scott Norris (Newport, R.I.), Sam Rogers (Lake Minnetonka, Minn.), Ladies Match Racing Champion Lindsay Bartel (Annapolis, Md.) with brother Clay Bartel (Annapolis, Md.), Jamie Randall (Lake Minnetonka, Minn.) and Peeter Must (New York, N.Y.). 'We are going to take inventory and focus on having good starts, getting around the corners and going fast,' said Ecklund. 'Two of the most important things to remember in this class are getting good starts and having great boat speed. We are hoping to do both.'
The J/105s and the NYYC Club Swan 42s are the next biggest classes with 20 entries each.
On-demand video will be available after 9 pm each evening of Race Week at www.nyyc.org, where complete results also can be found.
by Barby MacGowan 
ELANORA HEIGHTS, NSW
