NEW YORK YACHT CLUB RACE WEEK at Newport presented by Rolex (July 9-16) had two parts: Part I - Classics & Multihull Weekend July 9-10 with racing for Classics, 12 Metres and 6 Metres, as well as offshore Multihulls. Part II - One-Design & Handicap classes racing July 13-16.
NEW YORK YACHT CLUB RACE WEEK at Newport presented by Rolex (July 9-16) had two parts: Part I - Classics & Multihull Weekend July 9-10 with racing for Classics, 12 Metres and 6 Metres, as well as offshore Multihulls. Part II - One-Design & Handicap classes racing July 13-16.
A Rolex Submariner was given as the overall prize for Part I to seasoned classic yacht Skipper Joe Loughborough with his Belle.
Loughborough’s scoreline in the Classics Spinnaker Division, the final-race comeback that netted Courageous the overall victory in the 12-Metre class, and Stephen Cucchiaro’s steady sailing in the Gunboat class.
Among the other boats racing in the Classic fleet is Halsey Herreshoff ’s NY40 Rugosa, which was designed by his grandfather Captain Nat Herreshoff.
After struggling a little bit to get up to speed in the first race, Stephen Cucchiaro’s Flow won the second and third races to claim a one-point win in the class over Fujin, which finished second in all three races.
With 19 boats, the J/109 fleet was the biggest to compete in Part II. David Rosow’s Loki and Donald Filippelli’s Caminos started the day each with 23 points. With third place 14 points back and a morning delay limiting the class to just one race, the class’ North American Championship and a Rolex Stainless Steel Submariner Date timepiece came down to which of these boats beat the other around the track.
Dan Cheresh was no less excited about his win in the C&C 30 One-Design’s inaugural North American Championship. The C&C 30 One-Design winner was the recipient of the second of three Rolex timepieces awarded during Part II of Race Week at Newport.
The third Rolex went to the top-performing yacht among the 25 that competed under IRC. The winner was Stephen Murray’s Decision, which won IRC 2 with a three-point cushion over Andrew and Linda Weiss’s Christopher Dragon.
IRC 1, which featured a three-boat battle between TP52s, was won by Steve and Heidi Benjamin’s Spookie, with Jim Swartz’s Vesper in second and Richard Cohen’s Phoenix in third.
NYYC Rear Commodore Bill Ketcham started the regatta on fire, his J/44 Maxine winning the first four races in IRC 3. But a 10th in Race 5 put the lead back into play for Craig Albrecht’s Avalanche and Larry Landry’s White Witch. After two races, the difference between the three boats’ overall scores was just half a point, with Ketcham taking the class and Avalanche winning the tiebreaker for second.
The Swan 42 class competed for its 10th National Championship at Newport. With just five veteran boats competing, the competition was extremely tight. John Hele added a second national title to his resume, which includes two wins in the Rolex New York Yacht Club Invitational Cup.
Other classes competing at 2016 Race Week at Newport presented by Rolex include the J/88, which was won by Douglas Newhouse’s team on Yonder and the M32 catamaran class, which sailed a remarkable 19 races with Michael Dominguez’s Bronco claiming victory.
The ORC Club class, a new addition to Race Week at Newport, was won by Brian Cunha’s IRC 55 Irie with Alfred Van Liew and David Brodsky’s 52-year-old Odyssey coming in second.
