The 136th running of Marblehead Race Week featured strong performances by both local sailors and world-class professional teams. The pros were here to not only win Race Week but to prepare themselves for upcoming national and world championships. Sailors came from as far away as the United Kingdom, Bermuda, California, Texas and Florida to compete over four days of racing for some fleets, and three days for others.
With 10 fleets racing on three lines, the J/70 fleet faced fierce competition, but it was two-time Rolex Yachtsmen of the Year and 10-time world champion Jud Smith of Marblehead and his team including Peter Duncan, Willem van Waay and Victor de Leon who took first place in the J/70 fleet. The win also netted the team the Norm Cressy Award for best performance at Marblehead Race Week.
“It is never easy racing in Marblehead, and I have been sailing here for over 60 years, and it is always surprising,” Smith said. “It has its own set of challenges and the idea that there is local knowledge is a myth, but the bottom line is that at this Race Week we did have wind, and we are glad we did well. We will be competing against some of these teams and more in Argentina in October. “
The fleet was chock full of world class sailors meeting either before the J/70 worlds in October in Argentina or here in Marblehead in September when the Eastern Yacht Club hosts the J/70 Corinthian worlds, which is for non-professional teams.
Charlie Pendleton and Jim Raisides, both of Marblehead, were ninth overall in the J/70 fleet but are counted as finishing second in the Corinthian (non-professional) J/70 class which bodes well for them in September when the town hosts the J/70 Corinthian Worlds.
“We are looking forward to the J/70 Worlds but being out there this week and sailing well against some of these top professional sailors is amazing practice. For us, it is like racing against the Tiger Woods or Michael Jordans of sailing. It has been great to sail well,” Pendleton said.
The 22-boat strong Etchells fleet saw four-time world champion Luke Lawrence of Biscayne Bay Yacht Club and Peter Shumaker of Bayview Yacht Club finish first with 17 points. The fleet featured a lot of traveling teams but is also seeing the resurgence of younger local talent like Marblehead’s Will Hundahl who placed ninth overall mentored in part by Etchells sailor and world class competitor Tomas Hornos of Marblehead whose team placed seventh overall.
“The local Etchells Fleet 4 has been continuously racing in these waters for well over 50 years,” Hornos said. “We are thrilled to see that the class is seeing a resurgence, and Fleet 4 is doing a good job creating opportunities for younger people. Recently, a donated boat has been slowly transitioning to becoming a ‘Pleon Etchells’ available to junior sailors.”
In the Rhodes-19 class, Marblehead’s Nate and Jim Taylor took first place with 48 points, with Larry Ehrhardt and George Maclomson finishing a close second with 49 points. Debbie Noble and Adam Roberts placed third with 52 points.
“The Rhodes-19 sail four days, and we have a total of 11 races, and it is grueling,” said 76-year-old yacht designer Jim Taylor. “I am lucky to sail with my son, Nate, and we have been racing together for over 15 years as adults, and he always raced with me when he was a youngster. He drives the boat now and he is a good sailor. But this was close. We went into the final race today, with our 11-point lead from the day before down to one point. In the final race we finished third by a hair but that gave us enough points to win it overall.”
In the Town Class fleet, which featured 11 boats, Andrea Dodge and Nick Caan of the Dolphin Yacht Club took first place with 25 points. Second place went to Molly and Tom Bushman of the Eastern Yacht Club with 40 points, and third place went to David Cooke and David Goldsmith of the Corinthian Yacht Club with 42 points.
“It was a rough few days of racing for the Town Class and on the final day it was blowing about 25 knots. Much of the fleet thought it might be too windy to race but finally the wind died down before the start,” said Caan who has been racing Townies for about five years. “After some rough weather over three days. It was exhausting and exciting.”
Marblehead’s Nicolas Regnault won the Laser Class with 13 points. At age 18, Regnault has been competing very well and said, “It was my goal this time to place first, and I am extremely proud that I reached it. I have been pointing very well and keeping the boat flat and did have a slight advantage when I picked the correct side of the course on the second to last day of racing. Today it was also strong winds, but I think I was just into a good groove, and it just happened to be a strong regatta for me.”
In the J105 fleet, Charlie Garrard was fighting hard for a podium finish particularly against the rival team from Texas, ending up third overall with 26 points. In the eight-boat strong International One Design fleet, the octogenarian Bill Widnall won first place with 17 points.
“We made mistakes, especially with some of our starts but we clawed our way back. Our teamwork was also excellent,” Widnall said.
Carolyn Corbet and her team placed second with 20 points followed by Greg Mancusi Ungaro and his team who finished third with 29 points.
Finally, the Lightings and the 110s, both fleets that once had a big presence in Marblehead and returned just for Race Week had a strong win by visiting teams Connor Godfrey of New York winning with 18 points in the Lighting fleet. South Shore sailors Joe Berkeley and Linda Epstein took first in the 110-fleet winning with 15 points.
For race committee chairman Mike Michaud, the overall event faced challenges on the water with changing weather and strong winds. But he feels they put together a great regatta with an amazing long stretch of highly competitive sailing.
“The wind shifts made it challenging and on Friday, we did get a squall with wind gusts to 30 knots but we put all three lines with varying conditions quite well,” Michaud said. “We have been planning this event since January, and the caliber of sailors and the sponsor Helly Hansen has made it something we were really looking forward to. It was challenging but overall, an excellent Race Week.”
Local photographer Bruce Durkee hit the water this Race Week and shot these photos. Enjoy!
