Sandy Hook Bay Catamaran Club
Atlantic Highlands, NJ July 6-7,2013
The Statue of Liberty Distance Race was held on July 6th with a day of buoys racing on July 7th. This annual event attracted forty boats consisting of everything from F18s, Hobie 16s, to all sort of catamarans. Saturday’s 38 mile distance race starts just inside Sandy Hook, NJ leading the fleet under the Verrazanno Bridge around Liberty Island, home of the Statue of Liberty and then back. At the start the F18s had the slight advantage of being able to carry spinnakers in a light air close reach off of the line. Progressively turning into a moderate breeze beam reach the first boats reached the Staten Island side of the bridge in an hour and a half. On this side of the bridge there are large bluffs that cast a large wind shadow. Combined with a strong current the top three boats were stopped intheir tracks, causing them to consolidate into a group that went under the bridge within seconds of one another.
Once clear of the bridge the wind quickly picked up into the mid to upper teens. Typical NY Harbor conditions, all the large ships, buildings, and land created an extremely gusty jib reach up the lower Hudson River towards Liberty Island. F18 team of Todd Riccardi and Brendon Scanlon were first to get into the new breeze and blasted away from the next two boats which were also F18s. One of these boats, Luke & Jack Puk were caught off guard by a gust and capsized, breaking their tiller crossbar, with minimal steerage they were forced to turn around. Despite also capsizing in the harbor, the next F18 of Jessica Teunis and Sam Carter rounded the Statue clearly in second. Most boats chose to round the island clockwise starting off with a jib reach and quick spinnaker run. A nice change was the ferry dock was moved since last year allowing the fleet to get much closer to the Statue, obviously with great views of the packed tourist attraction. Once around the Statue it was a similar jib reachback through the maze of ferries and freighters to the Verrazano where it appeared it would an upwind straight back to Sandy Hook. However, soon the wind shifted a bit further right turning the leg home into a jib reach. Riccardi/Scanlon with a large lead made the decision to go for a bit of extra horsepower and double trapeze three sail reached straight to the finish line to finish in 3 hours 36 minutes and 24 seconds. Approximately 12 minutes later Teunis/Carter finished followed 9 minutes later by the local Hobie 20 team of Bob Fraser and Joe Valnotti.
With the large time cushion on line honors, Riccardi/Scanlon were able to take first place on corrected as well. Rob and Dawn Turbett corrected to 2nd place sailing their Shark . Bob Fraser and Joe Valnotti corrected to 3rd on the Hobie 20. Teunis/Carter on the 2nd place F18 corrected to 7th while the 3rd place F18 of Emily and Scott Rathburn corrected to 23rd.
F18 Class Results (6 Boats):
1) Todd Riccardi & Brendon Scanlon 3:36:24
2) Jessica Teunis & Sam Carter 3:48:55
3) Emily & Scott Rathburn 4:13:55
F18 Distance / Buoys Scores Combined (6 boats):
1) Todd Riccardi & Brendon Scanlon 1 1 2 Total 4 Points
2) Jessica Teunis & Sam Carter 2 2 3 Total 7 Points
3) Emily & Scott Rathburn 3 3 4 Total 10 Points
Overall Corrected (40 boats):
1) Todd Riccardi & Brendon Scanlon F18
2) Rob & Dawn Turbett Shark
3) Bob Fraser & Joe Valnotti Hobie 20
