3 Photos
Non-spinnaker winner Philip Walters at the wheel of the J35 August Sky, left, rounding the weather mark with the winner of the spinnaker division Bud Rogers, Commodore of the Breakwater Yacht Club, on his J-109 Big Boat. MICHAEL MELLA
Steve Kenny’s J-109 Gossip, left, Ray Pepi’s J-109 Cleo and Lee Oldak’s Henderson 30 Purple Haze with spinnakers flying. MICHAEL MELLA
Skipper Tom Wacker of the J-105 Trading Places giving a “hats off.” MICHAEL MELLA
Blue skies with fluffy cumulus clouds on the horizon and a northerly 8-12 knot breeze greeted 19 skippers in Noyack Bay for the Antigua and Barbuda Hampton’s Challenge Regatta this past Saturday.
The regatta has been an instrumental fundraising event for eastern Long Island’s charitable organization, i-tri, which was founded in 2012 by Theresa Roden and linked to this regatta ever since. One of i-tri’s core mantras is: “What if every girl, everywhere, learned to love herself for who she is now and who she is becoming?”
The racing was competitive, eyes set keenly on the biggest amateur sailing prize on the East Coast. The winning skipper and crew of five receive an all-expense paid trip to participate in next year’s Antigua Race Week, one of the world’s most prestigious regattas.
The race organizers set up a five-leg windward/leeward course, two hard on the wind, two downwind, followed by a beat to the finish line. Close-quarter combat was de rigueur.
Bud Rogers, commodore of the Breakwater Yacht Club, on his J-109 Big Boat, was both the winner of the spinnaker division, by two minutes, and overall winner and recipient of the grand prize. Second place in the spinnaker division was Ray Pepi at the helm of his J-109 Cleo, followed by Jim Vos, the seasoned skipper of Godzilla.
In the non-spinnaker division, August Sky, a J35 with Philip Walters at the wheel, was first, followed by Bill Lehnert’s LS-10 Lunatic Fringe and Gary Krogman’s J30 Back In.
