11 Photos
Spinnaker division winners, from left, first place Renegade, second place Alliance and third place Pipeline, hard on the wind approaching the north end of Robins Island. MICHAEL MELLA
Spinnaker division champion Renegade rounding buoy C-3 in the north race. MICHAEL MELLA
Third place in non-spinnaker, Jacqueline IV, reefed going to weather. MICHAEL MELLA
Bill Lehnert’s LS-10 Lunatic Fringe fighting the elements in the North Race under jib alone; his main halyard snapped during a gybe minutes after the start. MICHAEL MELLA
One of Oakcliff Racing’s pocket-rockets Melges 24’s passing the 36-foot J-111 Obsidian. MICHAEL MELLA
Fourth-place Obsidian in a tacking duel with first-place Renegade. MICHAEL MELLA
Skilled skipper Gary Krogman steers his J-30 back into a hard fought second place in the non-spinnaker division. MICHAEL MELLA
First place, non-spinnaker, Gypsy Moon out-pacing third-place Jacqueline IV, this moment so dark the boat’s running lights shine bright. MICHAEL MELLA
Alliance, on starboard tack, about to force right away to a port-tack Melges 24, with another Melges 24 in hot pursuit. MICHAEL MELLA
Alliance edging out Obsidian while port tack, Renegade soon to take and keep the lead. MICHAEL MELLA
A Peconic Bay Sailing Association standout, skipper Peter Carroll, who studied aeronautical engineering at Cambridge University, about to complete sailing around Robins Island on his J-70. Tuned to perfection (NB: there is no provision for reefing a J-70) by tightening the shrouds, a lot of crank on the backstay and maximizing outhaul and vang tension. With the carbon fiber mast able to take such bending, this flattens the mainsail so it's less like an aircraft wing and generates less lift and also less drag. MICHAEL MELLA
Last Saturday’s Whitebread Around The Whirl Regatta was one for the record books. Winds were howling out of the northeast at a steady 18 to 20 knots, with “near gale force” gusts; according to the Beaufort Wind Scale, “Near Gale” measures out to be 28 to 33 knots.
Seventy-three yachts hailing from clubs on Long Island, including Shelter Island and Sag Harbor, signed up for this highly anticipated final race of the season. What was to be a circumnavigation of Shelter Island — humorously named after the venerable Whitbread Round-the-World race — only 19 yachts made it to buoy R-18 where the first gun sounded at 8:30 a.m., given the horrendous weather conditions. The course was drastically shortened, never leaving Peconic and Noyack Bays, once before the race commenced and again halfway through.
In the end, 12 intrepid skippers and crew, against all odds, made it to the new finish line at R-16 in Noyack Bay.
