(pictures by Bob Rude)

In a tightly contested series of 2 races on Saturday, July 12th, just outside of Bristol Harbor, Skip Mattos bested a fleet of 10 boats to with this year’s SS23 North Americans.

Skip Mattos and crew receiving their winning trophy from Carter

The wind gods were a huffin’. At noon, on a clear and sunny day, the winds were light, but increasing. At the start, however, whitecaps appeared. 15 minutes later, winds settled into 20 to 25 knots for the rest of the afternoon. We had a perfectly set W-L course set by Bill Stephens, the PRO for Bristol YC. Starts were close, as was the racing.  Skip went 1-2, George Cochran took second with 3-1, and Catani came in 3rd with a 2-4.  Rounding out the finishing were Brian Anderson in 4th, Bob Rude in 5th, and Ruth Souto in 6th. Lou Marino and Carter Hall tied for 7th. Halsey Herreshoff did not start the 2nd race, and Herb Brown withdrew from race 2 because of equipment failure.

Lou: “Man, does it feel good to be off the water!!”

We all retired to Bristol YC for our post-race cookout of hamburgers, hot dogs, and salmon burgers. And drinks!

Ruth and crew post-race celebrating

Everyone was pretty beat up, but feeling good. And already looking forward to next year.

Emelie Marino with Sue Hall, stalwart and strong crew for Lou and Carter

SEE EVERYONE NEXT YEAR!!!

The 2014 Sea Sprite Annual Meeting was held last week on May 9th at Bristol YC in Bristol. In keeping with tradition, it was a blast. We ate a fine buffet dinner catered by Morin’s Catering, had drinks from the bar, and sat back and enjoyed the view from the porch and each other’s company. And Bob Rude took some fine pictures.

The Owners!!

Carter opened the meeting with a State of the Association summary. Detailed budget line items are noted in the minutes from the Board Of Directors meeting last November. Currently we have close to 50 members signed up for 2014, and a total of 77 listed.  We have close to $2300 in our bank account. Estimated yearly cost to run the Association are about $500. Our goal is to have 6-8 years of operating expenses bank rolled to be sure of stability. We finance the SSA through membership only. There is no income from ads or businesses. We have interest in  our organization and in our boat both nationally and internationally The website gets 18,000 visitors per year with 100,000 views of pages from more than 50 countries. And we list members from 16 different states. The forum is robust. So are the Classifieds…6 boats have sold through the site in the past 3 months.

Racing also is robust. See website for details of Narragansett Bay racing. Also, interest in West Bay racing is growing. At least 5 racers from the west side of Narragansett Bay are known to be active and interested in racing the 3 north Bay events. A cruising event is possible, perhaps an overnight to Cuttyhunk or Block Island. Contact Chad Martin / Dana Mennillo with your ideas.

We moved on to awards. Herb Browne and crew almost swept the awards this year sailing Scot Free. They won the Amon Award (a half model given to us last year by Harold Tucker to be awarded to the winner of the Wednesday evening series)(Herb won the series in totally dominating fashion), and the Sea Sprite Regatta Bowl (2 races regatta held in early August). Herb was also awarded the Denise trophy, given to a member for their contribution to the organization. Herb has been sailing his SS23 for years, working hard to build the fleet. He remains the goto guy for local information about sailors and boats. He is a super racer, a fine sportsman,  and a real gentleman.

Herb with his crew

Bob Catani took home the Nancy Belle award for best Sea Sprite racer on the Bay with a narrow win over Herb Browne. His  4 race total (Sea Sprite Regatta and Herreshoff Classic) was 3-2-2-1 and Herb’s was 1-1-5-2. Bob also was victor in the ‘Round The Hog race, again barely beating out Herb.

We are exploring offering pennants to the Association for sale. See Dejan’s note on the Forum for details and pictures. We are also exploring ways to offer a few Sea Sprite items for sale through a ships store. Sales themselves will not generate money for the Association, but will be structured to generate income through increasing membership. Watch for details. The Board Of Directors was reelected by acclamation.

Dejan presenting flag options

And the kids had a ball, as well!!

The kids had a great time

It was a great evening, and a reminder that our northern sailing season is close at hand. Time to uncover our treasures and prep for a terrific sailing season!