| Today's Around-the-Island Race Cancelled; One-Design Racing Begins Tomorrow |
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 The mid-week Around-the-Island Race was cancelled today at the New York Yacht Club Race Week at Newport presented by Rolex when no wind materialized before early afternoon. The 48-boat fleet, bobbing on Narragansett Bay atop glassy smooth water, starkly contrasted the previous four days of energetic sailing for Race Week's "first half," which included handicap racing for 66 boats in IRC, PHRF, Classics and 12 Metre classes. The Around-the-Island Race traditionally splits Race Week's first half from its second, which is devoted to one-design racing and begins tomorrow. The fleet will be 105 strong as North American Championships for the Beneteau First 36.7, Farr 395 and Farr 40 classes are sailed as well as the first-ever National Championship for the new Melges 32. Also sailing will be classes for J/105s, J/109s and Swan 45s. 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. That is the case with Farr 395 skipper Craig Albrecht (Sea Cliff, N.Y.), whose Avalanche was a class winner in PHRF, as well as Swan 45 skipper Andrew Fisher (Greenwich, Conn.), who steered his boat Bandit to an IRC class victory and a best performance overall for IRC in the first half, which earned him a Rolex Submariner timepiece. "We enjoyed really good racing under handicap," said Fisher, who also attempted the Around-the-Island Race, "and I'm really looking forward to the one-design racing." The Farr 40 fleet is the largest, at 25 boats. With the North American title at stake and the class's Rolex Farr 40 World Championship set for Harbour Court -- the New York Yacht Club's Newport Clubhouse -- in September, plenty of Olympic and America's Cup talent will be filling key roles for limited professional crew (owner/drivers must be amateur) allowed in this class. Two-time Olympic Gold Medalist Mark Reynolds will sail with 2002 World Champion Steve Phillips (Arnold, Md.) on Le Renard. Olympic Bronze Medalist Jeff Madrigali will sail aboard Jeff Siegal's (Portsmouth, R.I./Riverside, Conn.) Appreciation, while Richard Clarke, a three-time Olympian from Canada, sails with John Demourkas's (Santa Barbara, Calif.) Groovederci. Grant Simmer, managing director of Team Alinghi, will crew on Matt Allen's (Sydney, Australia) Ichi Ban. Simmer was aboard the victorious Australia II in Newport when it snatched the America's Cup away from the United States in 1983. Competing in the nine-boat Melges 32 fleet is multiple international one-design champion and three-time Melges 32 titleholder Mike Carroll (Tampa, Fla.) aboard New Wave. Recent J/80 World Champion Glenn Darden (Fort Worth, Texas) will be sailing Hoss. He won Race Week in a J/105 of the same name in 2002 and finished third in that same class in 2004. The J/105s and J/109s will sail with 21 and 20 boats, respectively, while Beneteau 36.7s will sail with 18, Farr 395s with five, and Swan 45s with seven. 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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