| Major Championships Decided; Consistency Pays Off with Big Wins |
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 The fifth biennial New York Yacht Club Race Week at Newport presented by Rolex hosted 168 boats over nine straight days with a variety of competitive sailing choices. The event's unique split-racing format makes it a popular draw, allowing sailors to customize their competitive experience in three different formats: handicap racing, one design racing and optional distance racing held on an mid-week day. The handicap racing session in the first half of the week (July 15-18) hosted 66 boats in three IRC and three PHRF classes as well as in separate classes for Classics and 12 Meters. In the second session (July 20-23) for one-design racing, 102 boats competed in seven classes with major championships determined in the Beneteau First 36.7, Farr 395, Farr 40 and the J/109 classes (North American Championships) and the Melges 32 class (National Championship). During the week, five competitors were rewarded for outstanding accomplishments with the ultimate prize, a Rolex Steel Submariner timepiece: Andrew Fisher (Greenwich, Conn.) in the IRC division, Tom Rich (Middletown, R.I.) in the PHRF division, Takashi Okura (Tokyo, Japan) in the Farr 40 class; Tom D'Albora (E. Greenwich, R.I.) in the Beneteau 36.7 class; and Jon Halbert (Dallas, Texas) in the J/109 class. Winning six of 11 races in IRC Class 2 and IRC division overall was Andrew Fisher, skippering his Swan 45 Bandit. 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 the final race, Bandit corrected out at only 4 seconds faster over the finish line than Sforzando." Posting 11 points - the lowest possible score over 11 races - was 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 timepiece 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. Although Takashi Okura's boat Sled posted impressive finishes in nine races over four days, achieving a win in this competitive class - where every boat is training for the upcoming Rolex Farr 40 World Championship, to be hosted by the New York Yacht Club September 6-9 - was quite difficult. "We started racing in the Farr 40 class at the 2000 Key West Race Week and there were 27 boats there," he said. "I was 27th every day, every race. At the bottom for the whole week! Since then we have been trying to improve every time we race. Sometimes, it can be challenging with five Japanese and five Americans on the boat. But, we have been sailing together for a very long time and we are comfortable with each other. "Winning this is fabulous," said Okura, who is a member of the Kansai Yacht Club in Osaka Bay. "It is a great team to sail with on the boat. I have been sailing with Tony Rey since 2001, and I am comfortable sailing with him. Chuck Brown (Newport, R.I.) trims our main sail; he was a trimmer for Stars & Stripes and he does very well." Also crediting his crew of many years was Tom D'Albora, who with his Coconut team won the Beneteau 36.7 class. "Most of us have been sailing together for the past 15 years," he said. "We had the best time. Clearly when you're winning it's great. We're all pretty excited." The class win gave D'Albora the class's North American Championship title. "It's funny I didn't know we'd also win a Rolex," he said. "We all joked around a bit about it, and when they read our names at the awards ceremony, we looked at each other. There were a lot of great boats out there and a lot of great sailors. Winning the Rolex sweetened the deal for us." The newly named Farr 395 North American Champion Roger Wagner (Upper Saddle River, N.J.) echoed the theme of the week: consistency. "The crew was working like a team," he said. "The sail changes, the spinnaker jibes were all really good." The Endurance team's not-so-secret tactical weapon was three-time Olympian Peter Bromby from Bermuda. "No question having Peter trimming the main sail and calling tactics helped us," he said. "He's a Star champion and delightful to have on board." Second-place went to Tsunami, the 2005 Farr 395 North American champion that is owned by three friends from Maryland: Preben Ostberg, Bud Daily and John Aras. In the J/109 class, John Halbert's Vitesse (Dallas, Texas) won the class and its inaugural North American Championship. Vitesse's win in the final race of the series, combined with Gut Feeling, owned by Ted Herlihy (S. Dartmouth, Mass.), being disqualified from the final race added enough points to Halbert's scoreline to give him the win and Herlihy third place. Relentless, owned by Al Minella (Greenwich, Conn.) was second. Another inaugural championship was the Melges 32 National Championship. It was won by Jeff Ecklund (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) with crew Harry Melges, III, Hans Melges, Bill Wiggins, Jim Condon, Andy Labanauskas and Bill Chamberlain on Star. "It's great being the first Melges 32 national champion," he said. "So far this is the largest turnout for a regatta. This was the first time that all of these boats have sailed against each other. The class is great and it's a growing class full of really good sailors. Our whole crew is happy and relieved because we've been duking it out against New Wave all week and they've beaten us before." New Wave, owned by Mike Carroll and Marty Kullman (Clearwater, Fla.) finished in second place. Holding onto his lead for most of the week in the Swan 45 class was Massimo Ferragamo (New York, N.Y.) and Bellicosa. Posting a total score of 26 points, Ferragamo narrowly edged out Andrew Fisher (Greenwich, Conn.) and Bandit, with 28 points. Tom Coates on Masquerade left few surprised by leading the J/105 class all week and winning Race Week for the second time. With a 3-1 on the final day, he ended with 18 points over second-place Indefatigable, owned by Phil Lotz (New Canaan, Conn.) with 30 points. "It really went our way," said Coates, who keeps two J/105s: one on the East Coast and one in San Francisco. "The scores aren't really indicative of how tough it was out there, how rough it was sailing, and how really competitive the fleet was. We had a flawless sailing week where things went our way, and when we were on the right side of the course it was because of Chris (Perkins)." Coates will compete in the J/105 North American Championship in California next month, and then in the Rolex Big Boat Series, in September in San Francisco. Greg Albrecht's (Sea Cliff, N.Y) 11-race scoreline earned him victory in PHRF Class 3. He led the class all week with his Farr 395 Avalanche. 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 White, the 12 Meter owned by Roger Right (Rio de Janeiro, BRA), which won the 12-Meter class overall and in Grand Prix division. The Around-the-Island Race, which was optional and scheduled to take place mid-week (July 19), was cancelled due to lack of wind. For full results of each class along with daily photos, go to the New York Yacht Club's website www.nyyc.org. Video produced by T2P TV can be viewed at www.t2p.tv, 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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