NEWPORT REGATTA- JULY 16 & 17 2005

This year's Newport Regatta turned out to be an exclusively Fleet 12 event, with seven boats racing a seven race series. The shaky weather forecast and thick fog had thankfully yielded to bright sunny skies and a light but steady southerly by late Saturday morning. 

Besame, sailed by the Largess brothers and Katrina Salk, then proceeded to smoke the fleet on day one with three bullets and a second. Pink (USA 1344) had the other win and was second overall, trailing by six points. Bill Porter skippered Blues eRacer for the vacationing Mariorenzis, and Fleet Captain John Quinn was back at the helm of Bad News after another stint of blue water sailing. Machbuster, sailing both days with only two aboard, threatened to win the last race, but couldn't hold off the flying Besame at the day's only windward finish. The only thing out there hotter than Besame was the 12 gauge pump being fired repeatedly by the Race Committee's own Annie Oakley.

Sunday's postponement was longer than Saturday's, as the committee boat had to reposition itself after a brief rain shower was cleared by the weak and variable breeze now from the SSW. The left side had been generally favored Saturday and Chaos wasted no time parlaying that strategy into a nice win in the first race. They were followed by Paladin (USA 1540) and Pink. Machbuster and Besame gave away their early lead by sailing each other into a huge hole on the right as the breeze went left. Besame's resultant sixth became a ray of hope for the rest of the fleet. Machbuster, having also learned a bitter lesson, quickly redeemed herself with a wire-to-wire win in Sunday's second race, followed closely by Paladin, Besame, and Pink. This set the stage for the seventh and final race of the regatta. Besame now led Paladin and Pink by only four points. Machbuster, down by ten, was out of contention, despite its win. The course was a windward/leeward gate/windward finish and the breeze southerly at 8-10 knots, the tide still flooding as it had most of both days. Machbuster led Paladin and Pink again at the windward mark with Besame surprisingly now buried near the back. So when Paladin passed Machbuster at the leeward gate, they not only led the race, they led the regatta! The final beat found Paladin, Machbuster, Pink, and Blues eRacer all on a long, favored port tack with only 500 yards to the finish. Then, yet again, the backing breeze and pressure from the left helped the trailing, but leftmost boats -this time Pink and Blues eRacer - lift off of Machbuster and Paladin. Suddenly Pink led both the race and the regatta, and Paladin, desparately in need of a lift, fell to fourth behind Pink, Blues eRacer, and Machbuster. Chaos then held off Besame for fifth which clinched the regatta for the very deserving ladies on Pink, a mere point ahead of Besame and three ahead of Paladin.

Although participation by the J/22 Class had been in doubt, Fleet 12 had more boats than several other classes, very balanced racing (4 of 7 boats won a race), three different regatta leaders during the the last half of the last leg, and perhaps most importantly, an admirable level of Corinthian spirit on the water. No recalls, no protests, just two days of fun, competitive sailing.

Pink 2 1 3 5 3 4 1 19

Besame 1 2 1 1 6 3 6 20

Paladin 3 3 4 4 2 2 4 22

Machbuster 4 4 6 2 7 1 3 27

Blues eRacer 7 5 2 3 5 6 2 30

Chaos 5 6 5 6 1 5 5 33

Bad News 6 7 7 7 4 7 7 45