Crew of locals steer Members Only boat to victory at 38th annual Newport Regatta
NEWPORT — The Sail Newport Newport Regatta, held last weekend, again proved why the City-by-the-Sea is synonymous with sailing.
Competitors experienced what has made Newport a sailing capital of the world — warm summer weather, brilliant sunshine, challenging conditions and sailing on the spectacular sapphire blue Narragansett Bay.
The annual Newport Regatta has been running for 38 years and has always been a “must-do” East Coast competition for sailors. The local and visiting competitors in Newport have a combined passion for sailing like few other places.
On the first day of the regatta, July 9, the IC 37 fleet started racing in a 10-12 knot northerly breeze on their course off of Brenton Point. The competitive IC 37 fleet showed tight racing early on and continued with close mark roundings and finishes for most of the regatta.
The Members Only team, including co-skippers Hannah Swett and Benjamin Kinney, won the regatta with their core members who have been together for four years.
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After a tough first start, when the boat tacked shy of the layline and hit the weather mark losing critical time executing a penalty circle, Swett “focused the team past that and forward to winning each race” she said.
“We had an open mind to what we had to do well — sail as well as we could, we never focused on certain boats or who to beat, we just focused on being a good team,” she adds.
With great starts, Swett added, tactician Victor Diaz-de-Leon had us in “the right place at the right time.”
The Members Only winning crew also included Martha Fortin of Middletown, Brian Fox, James Hacket of Portsmouth, Linda Lindquist-Bishop of Newport, Joan Porter of Tiverton, Julia Reynolds and Whit Rugg of Middletown.
A seasoned one-design sailor, but new to the IC 37 fleet, Chuck Kenahan of Newport and his team onboard Mahalo scored the first win of the regatta. Steve Liebel on New Wave finished second, and the Jamestown Sertl family (Cory, Mark, Katja, and Nicholas) and crew aboard Das Blau Max slipped over the finish line to score third place.
Surf Club monopolizes F-18 fleet early and didn't stop
Michel Easton on the F18 Surf Club had a strong day with three first-place wins and a third. He was in first place after Saturday's four races, continued to dominate Sunday and went on to win the regatta.
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Kaleigh Morgan was only a few points in second and would closely hunt Easton for the rest of the regatta, eventually winning second place overall on Savasanaasa.
Todd Riccardi on Fly Tradewind posted three second-places, but had a costly ninth for Race 1 (Did not Start) but rebounded to place third overall in the fleet.
Big turnout for competitive VX One fleet
In the VX One Fleet of 23 boats strong, Doug Clark on Sideshow took first place, followed by John Porter's Far Side in second, but not to be confused with Geoffrey Moore's The Far Side in third.
“It was challenging racing, nothing is a given, and you have to work hard,” said Clark, a 25-year veteran of this event.
In the Ensign Class, Dennis Mclaughlin skippered Hamburglar to first place in the fleet. The standings showed the next three boats tied with 10 points each, including Tina Clark on Brou ha ha, Michael Macina on Firebird, and David Hall on Nightwind.
2023 Newport Regatta to combine over a dozen classes
Although smaller than in year's past, sailors from several countries and from 12 U.S. states entered the regatta this year. The sailing community as a whole is increasingly building back to pre-COVID participation levels.
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Next year, Sail Newport will again include multiple dinghy classes in the Newport Regatta, which had been moved to an August stand-alone event for the past two years to follow state guidelines for sporting events and socials.
The Newport Regatta will take place July 7-9, 2023, which will be Sail Newport's 39th year of running the signature event.
“Iʻm always impressed that Sail Newport can run a world-class regatta and at the same time teach all the fourth graders and people how to sail. The breadth of what Sail Newport does is astounding, and weʻre thrilled to be a part of it,” Swett said.
For full results, visit sailnewport.org/calendar/newport-regatta-2.
This article originally appeared on Newport Daily News: Sail Newport 2022 Newport Regatta results
