Sunday, October 11, 2015

Greenport Ocean Race Preview

J/100 sailing offshore (Greenport, New York)- Over the Columbus Day Weekend, the Chinese Yacht Club and Old Cove Yacht Club, with additional support from The Village of Greenport, Shelter Island YC, and the Orient YC, hold their end-of-season offshore yacht race known as the Greenport Ocean Race, a 90nm navigation around the buoys and islands that comprise the eastern end of Long Island Sound and Block Island Sound.  Simultaneously, the also host the Greenport Bay Race of about 32nm for smaller boats.  It’s a popular event in those parts and celebrations are many at the clubs afterwards— almost legendary, in fact.

J/Teams are well-represented in both events and given the conditions forecast for the weekend, a good mix of beating, reaching and running should suit them in the quest for the holy grail of pickle dishes and nut bowls to toss onto their mantel pieces.

In the Greenport Ocean Race, sailing in PHRF Spinnaker class is Sedgwick Ward’s J/111 BRAVO from Shelter Island YC and Brian Prinz’s J/125 SPECTRE from Branford YC in East Haven, CT.  Taking part in PHRF 2 class are mostly J/teams, including two J/109s ( Don Dwyer’s GUARDIAN J from Essex YC and Jim Vos’ SKOOT from Stamford YC) and two J/105s (Stephen Guyer’s ALLIANCE and Tom Wacker’s TRADING PLACES from Old Cove YC).  Joining them is the J/40 MISTY skippered by Carter Holliday from Watch Hill YC.

The shorter Greenport Bay Race has a mixed bag of J’s sailing in PHRF Spinnaker class, including Dan Motero’s J/100 GRACIOUS from Breakwater YC, Harry DiOrio’s J/105 BELLA from Shelter Island YC, Lucas van Praag’s J/105 MAX2, Paul Krelling’s J/27 ZOOP! from Greenport and Robert Grammatica’s J/80 MERLINE from Shelter Island.  Check out their Greenport Ocean Race Facebook page here.     For more Greenport Ocean Race sailing information