Thames Yacht Club Mount Gay Host Commodore's Cup by Mark Kondracky

Forty-three boats came out to race in TYC fifty-eighth commodore's invite.  A moderate Northerly swept down the river, but died as the fleet gathered near Vixen's Ledge.  Under postponement, the wind built and shifted from the West to the South.  The Race Committee was patient and soon the breeze built to around 10 knots.  The course was a windward leeward twice around.  The windward mark was the MoA mark off of Eel Pond and then back down to Vixen's Ledge.  With a flood tide, do you go left into the beach on Fisher's Island or stay right?  In the duel between Salud and Euphoria (always a good one).  Salud worked her way to the left.  This move didn't seam to pay off the first time around because of less pressure. Salud was able to hold off Euphoria and save her time on Mudslide to win by 54 seconds.  A trend mentioned before is the growth of the canvas classes.  In non spinnaker, Mast Transit II broke out of a mild slump to win her class.  The skipper, Dave Kelly, listened to his sister, and it paid off.  He saw more pressure to the right, so he tacked, taking the stern of Sagacious.  When he came back left, he was a quarter of mile ahead.  The Ensign class had 10 boats that were closely packed.  The boats were in a massive tacking duel up to the first mark.  With three Ensigns rounding at the same time, one needed to keep a rule book handy.  One the run back staying right early and then jibing over seamed to pay off.  That strategy would keep you up current so that you could sail fairly hot to the leeward mark.  After the race the sailors enjoyed a great party hosted by TYC.  The party featured great food and mixed drinks overlooking the Themes River. A special thanks to Mount Gay Rum, Defender and Gordon's Yellow Front Package Store. The raffle was for the Dick Roberts Fund. This fund sponsors scholarships to the New London Community Sailing to support youth sailing and the New London Sailing programs  We  hope to see you all for Off Soundings.

Non spin 2 1.  Celebration 2.  Vagabond 3.  Second Draft 4.  Kristina 5.  Fair Wind 6.  Acadia 7.  Irish Lady 8.  Sea Horse 9.  Billerina 10. Intuition 11. Fandango.

Ensigns 1.  Bonanza 2.  Magic 3.  Nightwind 4.  Sam 5.  Friendly Spirit 6.  Indeseas 7.  Team Work 8.  Swoose 9.  Grasshopper 11. Tailgunner (dnf)

Non Spin 1 1. Mast Transit II 2.  Encore 3.  Pursuit 4.  En Charette (Noe) 5.  Sagacious 6.  Montrose 7.  Syrah 8.  Seychelle

Spin 2 1.  Salud 2.  Mudslide 3.  Euphoria 4.  Mentor 5.  SeTherin 6.  One Up 7.  Rusty Nail

Spin 1 1.  En Charette (Jennings) 2.  Arabesque 3.  Nunehi 4.  Ripple 5.  Cold Duck 6.  Hot Flash 7.  Glory 8.  Bagatelle  (e is silent)