PHRF East Coast Style

By Laurie Fullerton

Marblehead, MASS - The PHRF New Englands wrapped up Sunday, Aug. 24 after three days of intense racing with strong, southwesterly winds offering fast and at times, dangerous conditions.

With winds gusting to 30 knots and the boat moving at 12 knots, the Aerodyne 38 "Loonatic's" mast snapped under full spinnaker. The mast came crashing down over the bow of the boat and the spinnaker and Genoa immediately dragged the torn Kevlar spar around to the back of the boat. Owner Tom Dreschler and crew, including world champion sailor Dave Curtis were unhurt, and in typical understated fashion, helmsman Bump Wilcox said "we were finally winning a race when the backstay broke and the whole rig came down."

John Fisher, president of Saucony shoes, is standing at the tiller

"Loonatic" was in a close race for second place with John Fisher's "Jazz Sensation" in Class 2. Jud Smith was the victor aboard his Aerodyne "Kismet."

"Loonatic and I have a special, friendly competition going but when a rig goes down, it spooks the herd," Fisher said. "You really feel terribly for them. I look at it this way, though. There are two types of sailors. There are those who have lost a rig and those who will lose a rig."

Fisher was ultimately pleased with his second place finish in the race and pleased to have a good strong regatta.

"We got the wind no one gets in August around here," Fisher said. "When we get the big breezes like this, it is a great equalizer."

Top finisher in Class 2, Jud Smith had five first place finishes and did not need to race the final, sixth race because of his strong performance.

"These were pretty fresh conditions and at times we were moving at 13 knots," said Smith, a former mainsail trimmer for Dennis Conner aboard Stars and Stripes. "We sailed well and we have such a good, talented group. There is way more talent then we need on the boat but I am glad they come and sail with me."

Smith explained that he often prefers the relaxed big boat racing to the more competitive one-design atmosphere. As a multi-time Etchell's world champion and former Cup sailor, he is currently preparing for the Etchell's Worlds in Connecticut next month.

"Sailing with Jud is so great as we didn't have to challenge the boat as we were just out in front enough to do what we needed without risking any mistakes," said Rick Meyers, a crew member aboard Kismet.

In Class 1, Dan Meyer's dominated the fleet aboard his Taylor 51 "Numbers" with great racing over all three days.

"The conditions were a little over the band for us, as they were for everybody but we had fantastic crew work," said Meyers. "Having a major regatta like the New England's in our backyard is terrific, too. If you look at the caliber of sailors right here in town, people like Jud Smith, Dave Curtis, Jack Slattery, J.B. Braun, etc. it is inspiring. You know that these guys could go off and do elite regattas only but they are more often running a youth sailing program or willing to help grow a smaller event. They have made this sport the institution that it is here, Meyers said. "That is the spirit of sailing in Marblehead."

While many of the fleets battled the strong winds, where spinnakers caused many boats to broach, or nearly capsize, most of the sailors agreed that the conditions were great.

In Class 7, Bruce Baker had a fantastic regatta aboard his Ffly 31 "Blixten" and like many local sailors who have drifted through August in Marble'dead' this race had all the right conditions.

"This is one of the best New England's we've seen as far as breeze goes," Baker said. "We raced a tactical race, with good starts, clean air and we used one design techniques from the get go."

For Melges 24 sailor Arthur Saulsberry in Class 6, going up against the Frers 33, J34s and Ols 30, wasn't a day in the park in the big breezes because "the Melges is a very exciting boat. It rewards good sailing and punishes bad sailing. Severely. Practice matters and it is a small, light boat with a whole lot of sail area. But, going downwind in a breeze, the Melges is an E-ticket."

The New Englands is emerging into a big boat one design regatta as the years go on, and with the event in its 20th year, the J105 fleet had 15 boats on the line giving everyone a race to remember.

Kevin Colcord aboard "Circe's Cup" was the winning boat and local talent Fritz Koopman, who raced aboard "Vigilante" said that "with 15 or 16 J105s on the line it can be a lot of fun if you are at the top, but if you get sucked in to the back, forget it. You have to make sure you are playing the shifts, and that you are on the right side of the shift."

In the cruising class, boats did not fly spinnakers but found the conditions to be do-able.

"I grew up sailing in a lot of places where there was a lot of wind, places like Newfoundland and Nova Scotia," said David Felsenthal, who placed first in Cruising Class 2 aboard "Atlantea" with six first place finishes. "We had nine people on board and we needed them. But, for us, it was all about staying on the shifts."

In Cruising Class 3, Ralph Carlton placed first on Corsair with five first place finishes.

"We were surprised we did so well in the heavy air because our boat likes lighter air," said Peter Carlton, who sailed with his father, Cutter Herlihy and John Webster. "But, we sailed with what we had and although it was blowing like stink, we made no mistakes, had no gear failure and had a great regatta."

08/27/2003