Hello Sea Sprite Sailors,
Wind, weather and participants were spectacular for this years Sea Sprite race around Hog Island on Saturday, September 11!
The day started early with Seeker from the Edgewood Yacht Club and Sailaway from Apponaug embarking on a long journey to Bristol Harbor and it continued with Mark Rotsky on the BYC dock proudly wearing a very official “Race Committee” shirt, together with Bob Rude, preparing the inflatable marks for our starting line.
Just like Swiss time, at exactly 1min to 1pm, the first warning signal was made and at 1:05pm the fleet was racing over the starting line and headed towards circumnavigating Hog Island counterclockwise. Great start for all and as always, New Hope hope placed itself in the most vulnerable position and was yet again pushed out by the masters from Bramasole, well done! 🙂 Very shifty winds made for a challenging upwind leg on the west side of the island, Bramasole leading the way while Artemis, Oasis and New Hope exchanged 2nd, 3rd and 4th place a few times, closely followed by Swallow. Seeker joined the fleet at that point and followed the race all the way around the island and to the finish. On the south side of the island, pushing against a strong and wavy outgoing current, New Hope, Oasis and Artemis were side by side only a few feet apart and New Hope enjoyed the advantage of being the leeward boat and pushing everyone up, that was fun! 🙂 Coming down the east side of the island, after enduring the waves by Mount Hope bridge, the fleet was led by Bramasole, followed by New Hope, Artemis, Oasis, Swallow and Seeker. Artemis put in the turbo charger going downwind but ran out of runway to catch up with New Hope but certainly kept that crew on their toes and looking more backward than forward!
Big thank you to Bob Rude, Mark Rotsky, Chris Healey and the BYC for providing the race committee, starting line, facilities and ordering the pizzas! Post race fun was had for sure and it was great to deconstruct the day’s race with all the sailors!
Final standings 2021 Sea Sprite race around Hog Island:
1. Bramasole
2. New Hope
3. Artemis
4. Oasis
5. Swallow
6. Seeker
7. Sailaway (getting big credit for trying to get to Bristol despite impossible winds from Apponaug!)
8. Vexatious (oh wait a minute, this boat was not even in the water anymore! Better luck next year Andrew, lets get these winches fixed!)
9. Lulabelle (oh wait a minute, this boat never even made it into the water this year! Good luck with the new furler installation Bob H./Sean R., we can’t wait to race against you guys next year!)
Thank you all for participating, great seamanship, great fun and friendships!!!
See you all next year at the Wednesday night races, the Sea Sprite regatta in July, and the race around Hog Island in September!
Cheers,
Dom