| First Half of Race Week Concludes; Around-the-Island Race is Tomorrow |
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 In a heat wave, the New York Yacht Club Race Week at Newport presented by Rolex completed two final races for three IRC and three PHRF classes as well as a class for 12 Metres. This brought to a close the first four days of handicap racing that served as the Race Week's first half and hosted 66 entrants. Another hundred or so boats will join the competition during the second half, designated for one-design racing. That session starts Thursday, July 20, and will run for four days through Sunday, July 23. Splitting the handicap and one-design portions of Race Week is tomorrow's Around-the-Island Race, which is scored separately. Best Performances Earn Rolex Watches Winning six of 11 races in IRC Class 2 was Andrew Fisher (Greenwich, Conn.), skippering his Swan 45 Bandit. The Race Committee awarded him a Rolex timepiece for the best performance among all IRC competitors. His nearest competitor was second-place finisher Blair Brown (Newton, Mass.), sailing his Taylor 45 Sforzando. "Early in the week there were a couple of other boats we were concerned about rating-wise, but Sforzando ended up being the most competitively sailed boat relative to us," said Fisher. "It was good handicap racing," he added, explaining that the two boat's IRC ratings were so close that in today's final race, Bandit corrected out at only 4 seconds faster over the finish line than Sforzando. Bandit will now switch gears to sail in the Around-the-Island Race and then in the one-design session (in the Swan 45 class), where no handicaps apply and the first boat over the finish line is the winner. Posting 11 points -- the lowest possible score over 11 races -- was Middletown's Tom Rich aboard his Peterson 42 Settler. He earned one point for every race he won, leaving nine others in his PHRF Class 5 behind him. That performance also earned him a Rolex watch for best overall performance in PHRF. "We won the starts and then we were gone," said Rich. "No one ever passed us except once in the first race. We didn't blow a tack or mess up a spinnaker set--we made no mistakes, and we were always in clear air." For Rich, it was not just about flawless crew work. It was about family, too. Among his all-Rhode Island crew were his two daughters, two nephews, a cousin and his wife. Other Action According to Principal Race Officer Robin Wallace, "It was the quintessential Newport day: a smoky sou'wester with a little bit of swell -- no wind-against-the-current chop." Oddly enough, those conditions put the only two non-winning scores in Greg Albrecht's (Sea Cliff, N.Y) 11-race scoreline. Sailing his Farr 395 Avalanche for some added practice before the Farr 395 North Americans in Race Week's second half, Albrecht was on a winning streak until today (his finishes were 2-3), but he still easily won his PHRF Class 3 after leading from the first day. Others who led from day one were Four Stars, Timothy McAdams' (Brewster, Mass.) Beneteau 44.7, which won IRC Class 4; Freight Train, Dick Hyde's (Belmont, Mass.) Frers 36 in PHRF Class 6; Stark Raving Mad, the Reichel/Pugh 66 skippered by Jim Madden (Newport Harbor, Calif.) in IRC Class 1; and Wright on Right, the 12 Metre owned by Roger Right (Rio de Janeiro, BRA), which won the 12-Metre class overall and in Grand Prix division. 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 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. For more information, visit www.nyyc.org or contact the New York Yacht Club Sailing Office, Harbour Court, 5 Halidon Avenue, Newport, R.I. 02840; phone 401-845-9633; fax 401-846-3303; email This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it Related Items:
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