QUONSET, RI, AUGUST 11-12, 2012: The 20th annual New England 100 catamaran race was run out of Quonset Point last Saturday and Sunday, August 11th and 12th, in Rhode Islands scenic Narragansett Bay. The race is a 100-mile, 2 leg, distance race featuring spinnaker beach cats 18 to 20 feet. This year’s race featured 14 Formula 18 cats and a single Inter 20 open class boat. Racers came from as far away as New Jersey to compete for the perpetual trophy, and it was hosted by Hobie Fleet 448 and the Eastern Area F18 crew.
Both days started off to relatively light winds but filled in to a nice 15-18 kts on parts of the courses. Possible storms forced the races PRO Mike Levesque and event organizer Rick Bliss to err on the side of caution, choosing a shorter than usual racecourse for the opening day. Saturdays course was approximately 25 miles, out from Quonset point, downwind to the Mount Hope Bridge under spinnakers, then back upwind for a quick jaunt over to Hog Island. At Conimicut Light, the boats rounded a government mark and began the long upwind run back to the finish line just off Quonsets Compass Rose beach.
The fleet was well spread out over the course, as the early morning start meant some racers weren’t even on the beach at the starting gun. Jim Zellmer and Joe Valente used their skills to fend off Chris Titcomb, who grabbed 2nd place for the day, and Sandra Tartaglino who rounded out the top three in third place. The finishers rocketed around the around the marks in under 2 hours and 40 minutes, while the back of the pack struggled to get back to Quonset in under 6 hours. One unfortunate team pitch poled their Wildcat, sending the crew through the mainsail! They struggled to make upwind progress under just a jib, did an emergency reef on their mainsail (with a knife!) and finally made it back to shore under a tattered main.
Hobie Fleet 448, who held their own annual Quonset Hobie 16 race, the Megrew’s Cup, and also hosted a great BBQ dinner Saturday evening. Great food and drink was had by all!
Sunday morning brought light winds again, but with the promise of a building sea breeze proved to be true, providing steady wind around the 15 knots with gusts to close to 20. The course for the second day of the race was a large figure eight, starting with a counterclockwise navigation of Jamestown, downwind past Newport, with a clockwise (not all teams paid attention to this detail!) route around Prudence Island, then a quick reach back into the beach. The course was around 40 miles as the crow flies, but boats probably logged over 50 miles due to the zigzag nature of sailing.
Brothers John and Peter Guiliano made a quick jump off the beach, making good progress upwind in the light to marginal conditions towards Beavertail light. The crossing chop and a building breeze made for a lumpy spinnaker run towards the entrance to Newport harbor. Flatter conditions inside the harbor plus some nice current relief towards the shore made for some good gains as Sandra Tartaglino and her crew Max Kramers put the hammer down, taking the lead through Newport, which they held onto for the remainder of the race. The leaders blast reached around the southern tip of Prudence Island, over to Quonset for a commanding finish, almost 10 minutes ahead of the next overall finisher. Final results of the top five were Sandra and Max at 7:02:52, Jim Zellmer and Joe Valente at 7:08:39, John and Peter Guiliano right behind them at 7:08:47, Chris Titcomb and Lindsay Marie at 7:11:59 and Brooks Reed and Jeff Dusek at 7:12:34.
Luk and Jack Puk captured the open class win at 8:09:23 for the first open boat.
Awards were given for some of the more humorous events, such as Rex and Rich Denton getting the award for “Leading Others Astray” as several boats behind them found it easier to follow their hot pink spinnaker rather than actually sailing the right course (Counterclockwise on Prudence!!), but it was all taken in stride and good fun. Even the author had second guesses, but his navigation skills were proved correct by running into the Dentons again around the island, rather than the leaders of the race!!
Thanks to everyone who volunteered to help put on this great event. It’s a unique and challenging change to the “around the mark” type racing that we do most of the year. We are already looking forward to next seasons New England 100. Up next for the New England F18 Fleet is the Canadian National F18 Championship, August 24th to the 26th, held at CORK, in Kingston, Ontario. After that, several crews and boats will be making the journey across the country to Long Beach, California for the 2012 Globaltech F18 World Championship. We look forward to seeing how our local gang stacks up against some of the best racers in the world! For more info visit http://www.nensa.org.
Part of the Narragansett Beer Eastern Area F18 Summer Series:
