On June 8-9, the Eastern Area F18 Fleet held the second of the Naragansett Cup Series at Madison, CT’s own Surf Club Beach by celebrating the memory ‘Share the Wind’ sailing school and catamaran sailing mentor, Joe Manganello. Sixteen F18 teams competed in the 6th Annual Joe Manganello Memorial Regatta, and completed 9 races over two days in highly unusual and changeable conditions.
Remnants of the Atlantic Hurricane Season’s first named storm, Andrea, threatened to wash out the regatta, and there was foul weather just hours before the start. While the storm brought extensive flooding to CT the night before the event, the forecast window for the regatta was for clearing skies and exceptional sailing weather on Saturday. The National Weather Service forecast timing did not disappoint! Though choppy and stormy at 8AM, the first beams of sunshine peaked through the stormy clouds over Madison beach right on schedule. By 10 AM, in sporty 13kt winds, partial sun, and a confused sea state (reflecting the 180 degree change in wind direction arising from the passing of the tropical system) an Open Class group of racers, and the F18 fleet set off for a day of changeable conditions, forecast to diminish throughout the afternoon.
Racing began with a quick course, which favored teams getting a good start. Following confidence that the prevailing southwesterly breeze had set for the day, (and no big race course changes were likely in the wake of the tropical storm), longer windward leeward courses with upwind finishes were the order of the day. With the fresh conditions, the open class participants had enough after a few races and headed back to the beach for refreshment. The perennial favorites of the very competitive New England F18 fleet tended to dominate. Despite the fact that several participants already had lots of time on the water this year (Olympic 17 prospects amongst less lofty aspirations), on Saturday the breeze was high, and some mid-fleet sailors consisting of heavier teams fared well and really surprised the traditional fleet favorites. Most notably a majority of boats finished within seconds of each other in the first 4 races. Interestingly, after several inches of rainfall, the combined tide and tributary currents were ripping in the sound, and several experienced racers found themselves towing the big yellow windward mark and doing penalty circles! As the day wore on, the breeze calmed, and boat-handling, tuning, and overall mass caused greater separations between all the boats, as the conditions calmed to a near drifter. Lighter and more experienced teams began to shine with the light conditions, as evidenced by a flip in the order of finishes in the mid fleet. Six races were posted by the end of the first day, and only a few points separating the 3rd-5th placing boats. Day 1 had the first protest of the series with a windward mark ‘tacking in the zone’ violation which cost Sandra in Max in the last race. The end of day 1 had Mike Easton and Stuart MacNeil on a Nacra MkII, followed by Sam Adelman and Chris Titcomb, and Brooks Reed and Jeff Dusek.
With calm weather forecast all Sunday, on day 2 racers tuned for slower racing and flat water for the calm conditions. The experienced front-runners, Sandra and Mike traded places in the 4 remaining races. While there were all the common signs of a building a sea breeze at around 1PM it was just a teaser, and breezy conditions failed to materialize into the afternoon. When the light air drifters were through, there was little movement in the leader’s standings, with the exception of rather obvious flip flop in finishing of the heavy and lighter teams in the mid fleet. In the end, experience and speed was again atop the leader board with First place going to Mike Easton and Stuart MacNeil, and 2nd to Sandra Tartaglino and Max Kramer. Brooks Reed and Jeff Dusek took third place. Award for technical improvisation goes to Brooks and Jeff, for fashioning their main halyard to serve as a tack line after it failed in the second race on day 2. Award for making the most of day 2 goes to Jim Zellmer and Joe Valante, who despite being a heavier team, gave up little ground in the light air. They made the most and sailed to a solid 4th place finish. (Sometimes those old farts can be just plain crafty.)
Weather could not be better for the end of racing on both days. After getting the boats onto the beach, a warm sun, a cold ‘Gansy Tall Boy, and hotdogs and burgers in plentiful supply were ready for the hungry sailors. The grill picnic in the tradition of Joe Manganello was prepared by Madison’s local volunteers and the UConn Sailing team-A real ‘Beach Catamaran Sailing event’. Special thanks go to the Organizers and Volunteers of the Madison event.
The USF18 Eastern Area Fleet continues its summer series June 15-16 at the Hampton Beach Regatta in Hampton, NH and the Statue Race July 6-7 at the Sandy Hook Bay Catamaran Club. For more information and a complete summer schedule, please see https://usf18.com/fleet-overview/eastern-area/