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BRANFORD YACHT CLUB HOSTS ANNUAL INVITE                        by Mark Kondracky

Branford Yacht Club hosted a great regatta today.  The winds were from the West and built during the day.  Forty-three boats registered, despite a conflict with the Rum Challenge.  With that many boats, the Race Committee divided the number of boats racing canvas into two classes.  Bearcat won Class A.  She started on port and worked her way up to first mark.  Encore, last years winner, led most of the race, but got passed by Bearcat on the last leg, finishing only three seconds behind.  Class B was won by Slingshot a J-30.  Normally, she races spinnaker, but sailed a great race today. There seems to be an increase in the number of canvas racers.        Golden Rule won Class C.  The San Juan 30 started on port, along with Mentor.  On the first leg, she held off Arabesque.  The second leg features a long starboard tack, with a few hitches at the end to make the MoA buoy off of New Haven.  The flood tide helped push the fleet up to the mark.  En Charette held port tack longer, which may have been the difference in her second place finish to Kari for class D.  After rounding the boats broad reached with chutes in a building breeze.  After rounding, the boats worked back up to the first mark.  The freshening breeze caused a fair amount of flogging mains..... unless you put in a reef.  After rounding it was a sleigh ride back to the finish.         Branford always puts on a great party, but today they tried to out do themselves.  There was plenty of great food, and the bar featured a rum drink called a painkiller.  One nice feature was to give a painkiller package to each boat that finished last in her class.  This as well as the friendly nature of the club will help promote the sport of sailing.  Thanks BYC for a great day of racing.

Class A 1.  Bearcat 2.  Encore 3.  Magan 4.  Leda 5.  Barbcat 6.  Tre Scooch 7.  Evergreen

Class B 1.  Slingshot 2.  Brown Eyed Girl 3.  What's Next 4.  Surrender 5.  Paikea 6.  Bayou Bleu 7.  Aurora

Class D 1.  Kari 2.  En Charette 3.  Savage 4.  Wasabi 5.  Maelestrom 6.  Bruja      Anneliese  dnf

Class C 1.  Golden Rule 2.  Mentor 3.  Esperance 4.  Arabesque 5.  Black Diamond

Class E 1.  Spectre 2.  Meltemi 3.  Euphoria 4.  Sagacious 5.  More Magic 6.  Banshee 7.  Audacious

Class F 1.  Dr. Evil 2.  Fury 3.  Secret 4.  Spitfire 6.  Wild Eyes 7.  Go Dog Go 8.  TBD 9.  Flatline 10. Skibereen