| 102 Boats Revel in Gorgeous First Day of One Design Racing |
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 Outstanding, challenging conditions greeted the 102-boat fleet on the first day of one design racing at the New York Yacht Club Race Week at Newport presented by Rolex. Three races were run on each of three race circles in 10-12 knots of wind, building to 17-18 knots by the third race. Major championships will be determined this weekend including the North American Championships for the Beneteau First 36.7, Farr 395, Farr 40 classes and the J/109, which is holding its inaugural North American Championship. The Melges 32 class is sailing for its first-ever National Championship. Also sailing are classes for J/105s and Swan 45s. All will be gunning for a chance at a coveted Rolex timepiece to be presented at the Award Ceremony on Sunday, July 23.The Beneteau First 36.7 class, one of the largest at 17 entries, is led by Chuck Bayer (Detroit, Mich.), who sailed consistently with his Grizzly and posted results of 2-1-5. A two-time 2006 Land's End NOOD Regatta class champion (Annapolis, Md. and Detroit, Mich.), Bayer credited his success to having the same crew - all from Michigan's Bayview Yacht Club - onboard for the season. "We seemed to have had good boat speed all day," said Bayer. "However, the level of competition is great and there are five or six boats that are in contention. Any of them could win it; there's still a lot of racing left." Only one point separates the top three and the rest of the fleet is very close behind. John Finkle's Seaweed (Youngstown, N.Y.) is in second with nine points and Foxtrot Corpen, owned by James Keen (Solomons I., Md.), is in third with 10 points. With a strong lead in perhaps the most hotly contested class, the 25-boat Farr 40 class, Nerone scored an almost perfect day with two bullets and a second-place for an overall score of five points. The 2003 world-champion winner was helmed by co-owner Antonio Sodo Migliori, standing in as alternate helmsman for co-owner Massimo Mezzaroma, who could not participate in this regatta, but is planning on being here for the Rolex Farr 40 World Championship in September. "Things went our way today so we feel pretty fortunate with our finish," said Hamish Pepper, the Olympian and America's Cup sailor from New Zealand who is serving as tactician for Nerone. "It certainly wasn't as easy as it looked. To come out with a 2-1-2 is pretty unexpected in those conditions. The first two races were pretty tricky - the pressure was up and down - and it was quite patchy. There were big gains and losses throughout all of the races. If we had a total score of 15 points, we'd consider that pretty good in this fleet. To have that big of a jump is nice, but we can easily lose it in the next few days. The fleet is tough with everyone here training for the Worlds." Rounding out the standings is Temptress, owned by Alan Field (Los Angeles, Calif.), in second with Matt Allen's Ichi Ban (Sydney, Australia). Tight competition was also found on the race course where the Melges 32 class was sailing. The nine-boat class shares the circle with the Farr 395 and J/109 classes. With finishes of two firsts and one second-place, Jeff Ecklund's Star (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) currently leads. "This is our first national championship," said Ecklund. "So far this is the largest turnout for a regatta. The first was Key West (Race Week), and this is the first time that all of these boats have sailed against each other." Ecklund gave credit to his crew for their hard work, especially in the third race when they had to struggle back after a ripped spinnaker at the first leeward mark rounding cost them the race lead. "We had to prepare another spinnaker while going upwind," he said. "There was a lot of current, but we got back into the hunt. We worked ourselves back bow-to-bow with everyone, but New Wave and Grins got us at the finish line. It was a little painful." Although Michael Carroll's New Wave (Tampa, Fla.) beat Star today, Ecklund knows they will continue to be formidable competition along with Rick Orchard's Grins (Duluth, Ga.). "New Wave has been tough, it has been winning everything it has entered, and we've been second every time. They are tough and fast, but we finally found our speed and are going well." All of the entries in this emerging class are strong, including Melges Asia Pacific that despite standing in fifth-place overall, it features well known sailor Chris Nicholson, who recently competed aboard Movistar in the Volvo Ocean Race. "They have a very good team there, a lot of good guys on that boat," said Ecklund. "Most of the guys have sailed here before and it's pretty much a grand prix group, not weekend warriors. By the last race, everyone was getting dialed in and performing well." At press time, several protests were pending in the Beneteau 36.7, Farr 40 and Farr 395 classes and all scores are provisional. Full results of each class along with photos can be found online at www.nyyc.org Race Week's unique format allows sailors to compete in both handicap and one-design racing at a single event. In some cases, the sailors compete on two different boats, but in others, the same boat competes with the same crew in both sessions. For the second half of Race Week, North American Championships for the Beneteau First 36.7, Farr 395, J/109 and Farr 40 classes will be determined. The Melges 32s will determine their National Championships. Video produced by T2P TV can be viewed at www.t2p.tv after 9:00 each night, compliments of Rolex Watch U.S.A., which has been the exclusive presenting sponsor of NYYC events since 1994. Supporting sponsors of Race Week include Mount Gay Rum and Heineken USA. Related Items:
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