FISHERS ISLAND YACHT CLUB
50^TH ‘ROUND ISLAND RACE
THE STORY AND RESULTS
SEPTEMBER 2, 2006

 

The 50^th ‘Round Island Race was held in the weather conditions created by the confluence of tropical depression Ernesto in Western Pennsylvania and a Canadian high pressure area over Nova Scotia.  The gradient winds flowed with a vengeance from the high to the low and crossed our area between at 60 to 100 degrees true with a speed of between 30 to 40 knots.  The winds built slowly and steadily until late Saturday night when they veered towards the south and slowly began to subside.

There were 87 boats entered in ten classes.  Four classes were one-design boats.  These vessels are traditionally invited to the ‘Round Island Race even though they do not conform to ECSA offshore regulations.  The principal shortcoming of these boats for offshore work is the inability to shorten sail and their lack of self bailing cockpits.  The weather conditions were accurately forecast in the days leading up to the race.  Accordingly, the Race Committee cancelled racing for the one design classes, posting this notice on the website and personally communicating with key members of each class Friday night before the race.  Racing for the other classes was not cancelled.

Saturday morning broke under low clouds with strong but steady winds out of the east.  The Race Committee assembled and decided to put the Committee Boat on station to determine conditions in the starting area and see the number and type of boats coming to the start.  Upon anchoring, the committee regularly checked wind and sea conditions.  Of principal concern was the predictability of the conditions.  The wind strength and direction were quite consistent with minimal gusting and essentially non-existent wind shifts.  The tide would approach slack water after the planned starting time with the flood beginning.  The flood tide would make the wind and current flow in the same direction, tending to keep sea conditions from getting worse as the day wore on.

As the boats that chose to come out assembled in West Harbor, the conditions were stable, challenging and exciting.  With a steady wind, skippers could be confident that once started, they could predict the conditions in the immediate future and if they were too challenging, at least they would not be caught unprepared in a sudden deterioration in conditions.  The committee polled various skippers and many expressed great anticipation for the brisk winds and the hope the race would commence.  Frank Murphy screamed that these were the most exciting conditions all summer and would we please start the race!

The Race Committee announced over the radio the race would commence on time.  Since the Sailing Instructions called for a ten minutes sequence between starts and had published the starting times for the first three classes, the committee gave the first gun, the warning for class A at 10:00 but posted the Answering Pennant.  The AP remained hoisted until one minute before the warning for the first class with boats present and ready to race: class Foxtrot.  One minute before Foxtrot’s warning a gun was fired and AP lowered.  At the 5 minute warning, Foxtrot was hoisted and a gun fired.  The starting sequence continued for each subsequent class on the schedule posted in the Sailing Instructions. 

The conditions were pretty exciting for the Race Committee.  The starting line mark required ten feet of heavy chain, a 25 pound anchor and 60 feet of scope to keep it from blowing away.  The Committee Boat was heaving on its anchor making standing or moving about difficult.  There were several sound signals the committee missed as working with a loaded shotgun on the jumping boat was not always safely possible.  The visual signals were properly handled, giving the competitors a fair starting sequence.  After the race, many skippers said they could not hear the gun anyway as the wind blew the sound to leeward.

There were 21 boats that checked in prior to the starting sequence.  We observed several boats working to the starting area that either had equipment failures or determined the conditions were not for them and thus turned back.  Of the boats that checked in, only 14 decided to race.  Of the fourteen boats that started, ten finished.

The Race Committee sent observers to both Lord’s Passage and Race Point to evaluate the conditions at these rounding marks.  It was clear only the most seaworthy and fully crewed boats could be safely handled at these marks.  The Race Committee decided to use the Sound Course as specified in the Sailing Instructions.  We chose the counter-clockwise course, starting in West Harbor.  This course is specified as:

 

Course 4: Sound course, reversed: Clay Point Can (C-5) to starboard, Middle Clump Nun (N-2W) to port, Eel Grass Ground Nun (N-16) to port, Vixen Ledge Nun (VL) to port, Silver Eel Bell (R-2/SE) to port, North Hill Bell (R-2) to starboard, finish.

 
This gave an upwind leg to Middle Clump N-2W, a fetch or lop-sided beat to Eel Grass Ground N-16 and a downwind leg to Vixen Ledge with a reach to Silver Eel.  The committee had considered before the start to shorten the course at Silver Eel and as the day wore on, decided to do so.  This change avoided racing around North Hill where conditions were quite sloppy.

All boats started cleanly.  On the first leg, boats went south of the clumps, beating along the Fishers Island shore.  On this leg, the first two retirements occurred.  Acadia, a Frers-designed cat ketch/schooner lost the main sheet bail on the boom.  They were able to control the sail without other damage and decided to retire.  Checkered Demon had a problem with his spreaders and rather than risk damage to his rig for which spare parts are difficult to come by, he decided to retire.  Sometime after this, Kaizan, a Mumm 30 for which these conditions must have been very exciting indeed, retired.  Finally, on the downwind leg, the only J-24 to start retired.  Streak was making good progress but on passing the Mystic River, probably decided they had enjoyed the day about as much as they wanted to.  So the remaining boats rounded Vixen Ledge and headed back towards Fishers Island in slowly, but steadily building conditions.

The Race Committee had moved anchorage to behind Flat Hummock for lunch.  With a 60 pound plow anchor and half-inch chain, we required 50 feet of scope to anchor in 8 feet of water due to strong winds.  We kept track of the fleet through communications with the photo boat following the fleet, shore based observers, an FIYC HBI on the water and binoculars on the Committee Boat.  As the boats passed Groton Long Point, the Committee Boat took up station at Silver Eel to shorten the race.

 As the boats approached the finish, we fired two guns and hoisted the Sierra flag.  The wind was blowing the strongest of the entire day at this time and position and the boats that got guns were unable to hear them!  Coming into the finish, it was a very close battle for first boat to finish with the lead see-sawing between Jolly Mon, Geordie Loveday, master, Salud, Reinhard Sarges, master and Euphoria, Doug McDonald, master.  These three boats were all in class Foxtrot and finished within one minute of each other.  Reinhard Sarges got the gun and was the first boat to finish.  These three boats also had the lowest corrected time for the race, with Jolly Mon winning on corrected time, Salud coming in second and Euphoria third.

The next boat to finish was Showdown, Bijan Rasadi, master.  In this class, Hotel, three boats finished.  Bijan won this class, followed by Corona, Brad Washburn, master and Lindy, Dave Dickerson, master.  Only one boat finished in class Golf and that was Crystal Slipper, Mike Cavanaugh, master.  Three boats finished in class India with She’s the Boss, John Sutherland, master, winning.  Quantum Leap. Pat Dillon, master was second and Ringle, Bob Rodgers, master was third.  The fastest boat around the course was Bijan Rasadi in Showdown.

The party was held as scheduled.  The Social Committee chair, Jennifer Parson and the Event Chair, Sarah Porter struggled with the preparations as the weather forecast for the race solidified.  330 party tickets were sold with yacht entry forms.  We typically see an additional 120+ tickets sold at the door and with complimentary tickets given to helpers and committee members, the attendance is usually around 500 people.  The Fishers Island Yacht Club ordered food and booze for this number, and the catering, done by our companion club, Hay Harbor Club was set well in advance.

So, the party went off as planned.  What an event it was!  Those who made it had a shared experience earned with bumps and bruises, wet bodies, tired muscles and exhausted constitutions.  Needless to say, there was enough food and booze to nourish these hardy souls back to health.

The Fishers Island Yacht Club thanks all those who entered, and for those who chose not to race, we respect your decision.  These conditions were not appropriate for many boats or crews and skippers clearly paid attention to the forecasts and actual conditions.  Only the skipper knows the condition of his boat: the rig, sails, and structural integrity but most importantly, the weatherliness of his crew.

For those who did race: well sailed!  We have had so many years of beautiful conditions or too little wind, when the weather turns foul, what can we do?  Fortunately, the conditions were forecast, predictable and consistent.  We most sincerely respect all our entrants and we hope you will consider racing with us again next year.

Final results for the boats that started are found on the next page.  The complete results are posted on www.fiyc.net in the ‘Round Island Race section. 

 

Photos are available at http://chipriegel.exposuremanager.com/g/new_work.

 

CLASS	NAME	SKIPPER		PHRF	Time	Time
Started and Finshed
F	JOLLY MON USA 37	Sarah Porter/	Geordie Loveday	195	117.23	104.20
F	SALUD	Reinhard	Sarges	175	117.10	107.27
F	EUPHORIA	Douglas	McDonald	177	117.83	107.61
G	CRYSTAL SLIPPER	Mike	Cavanaugh	114	120.90	122.12
H	SHOWDOWN	Bijan	Rasadi	111	108.02	109.66
H	CORONA	Brad	Washburn	132	121.25	118.87
H	LINDY - USA 31346	Dave	Dickerson	91	135.57	142.46
I	SHE'S THE BOSS	John	Sutherland	88	111.12	117.38
I	QUANTUM LEAP	Pat	Dillon	94	112.47	117.56
I	RINGLE	Bob	Rodgers	76	129.32	139.55
Started and Retired
G	ACADIA	Susan	Keenan	120		DNF
F	STREAK	Geordie	Heberd	171		DNF
G	CHECKERED DEMON	Neal	O'Connell	162		DNF
J	KAIZEN - USA 27	Scott Baker/	Moise Solomon	51		DNF