by Mark Kondracky
The Columbus Day regatta was hosted by Milford YC, Windjammers, and Housatonic Boat Club. Twenty-two boats came out to compete in this classic fall race held off of New Haven Harbor. It was a perfect day for sailing, and rather than work on my house, I decided to sail with Maximus. I arrived at the dock 5 minutes late, but Maximus was no where to be found! They had left 40 minutes early! Anyway I am thankful to the skipper of Secret for a ride to the starting line, and the transfer onto Maximus. The race started with Southwesterly winds of about 15-18 knots. With the ebb tide our strategy was to head for the beach (but not to close) on the western side of the harbor and try to play the shifts. We tried to catch a few shifts, but probably because of their good deed, or their crack Olympic crew, Secret caught 5 of the shifts, and was first at the windward mark off Pond point.
Sail selection was another factor that influenced our speed. Our heavy air number one never quite got dialed in. On the run back towards the breakwater we slowly but surely gained on Secret, but it was not enough. Secret rounded the starting pin and headed out to the entrance buoy on a close reach. She went on to get the gun, but Dr. Evil corrected to first. Again!
In the canvas class, Paikea, got her first gun. The boat is new to the McGovern team but the owners are looking to do more racing and eventually go Spinnaker. Encore, who has been unstoppable corrected to first in the class.
Class B had close competition with 5 of the class seperated by boat lengths on the final run. As the breeze died, Golden Rule was able to correct out to first. Nice job Joe and crew.
A big thank you goes out to all the volunteers and to PRO Alan Pritchard for hosting a great event.
My apologies for not filing this report sooner, but have been busy rooting for the Sox's.
1. Golden Rule
2. Kari
3. Bruga
4. Windshear
5. Wasabi
6. Esperance
7. Banshee
8. Anneliese
1. Dr Evil
2. Secret
3. Maximus
4. Orca
5. Meltemi
6. TBD
DNF Audacious
1. Encore
2. Silver Bullet
3. Paikea
4. Magan
5. Firefly
6. Windsong II
7. Evergreen