The final day of competition at Helly Hansen Sailing World Regatta Series at Marblehead Race Week delivered on its reputation for being a highly competitive event where often the winner is not decided until the final day or even the final leg of the last race. Featuring 10 classes,100 boats and over 200 sailors, the 137th Marblehead Race Week lived up to its reputation for down to the wire racing — especially for Rhodes-19 winners Charlie Pendleton and James Raisides of Marblehead on Bad Hombres.
There was a lot on the line for this team that had just returned to the 22-boat strong Rhodes-19 fleet after campaigning nationally on a J70 sport boat for many years.
Pendleton and Raisides had always known they would return to the Rhodes-19, but this marked their first Race Week in the Rhodes-19 fleet in a long while. It meant they had a steady climb back but going into the final race it was unclear how it would turn out as veteran father-and-son team Jim and Nate Taylor were leading the regatta. They faced 21 other boats on the starting line.
“Saturday had been a light air race and we had 11th place in one race, so we needed to do really well on Sunday. We also knew that Jim and Nate Taylor are super-fast in heavy air and they were in first place going into today and there was a strong breeze.
The first race the breeze stayed up but we got first. That set the pace for the next two races,” Pendleton said.
The final score for the day was 1, 2, 2 giving them a total of 37 points “We love the people in this fleet, and it has grown extremely competitive,” Pendleton added.
Larry Ehrhardt and George Malcolmson on Rallie Rhodes 2435 finished second in the fleet beating the Taylors in a tie breaker. The Taylors finished third.
“Race Week gives us 10 races over four days so this is really full on. Because we do not have any throw-outs, you must try to stay in the top 10 each race. Further, we don’t have the opportunity to race in a large fleet as often today, so this is it,” Taylor said.
With many of the 10 fleets competing for either three or four days, Tomas Hornos of Marblehead also had to finish well in the final race if he were to get the overall win in the 19-boat strong Etchells.
“First place for us came down to that last leg of the regatta and it was between us and Tar & Feather. We were not leading the regatta this week until the very end,” Hornos said.
Both teams finished with 20 points, but Hornos and his team won it in a tiebreaker.
A tiebreaker in sailing relies on specific criteria like head-to-head results, higher-place finishes or the last race outcome to rank boats that finish with the same total points.
Tar & Feather owner Don Dowd of Rye, New York, raced with two of his sons and has been an Etchells sailor for 40 years.
“I really enjoy sailing here in Marblehead and we are seeing some big-time growth in the fleet here. We hope to be back again,” Dowd said.
Another tiebreaker came in the nine-boat strong International One Design fleet with Bill Widnall and Greg Mancusi-Ungaro finishing with 22 points, but the tie-breaking win went to Widnall.
The J105s were also facing some close racing with the overall win going to Charlie Gerrard and team on board Merlin. Gerrad noted that he went into today with a good lead and he was happy to be sailing with the team he has been with for over 20 years.
“When my veteran crew is all together, I do better and I don’t sail as well without them. I cannot say enough about this team,” Gerrad said.
Second place in the J105s went to Ric Dexter on Brouhaha who was incredibly happy with his second-place finish.
“On the final day, we moved up from fourth place to second. I am very happy about that,” Dexter said.
Race week is very often a kind of marathon where teams tend to improve performance by increments over the event, and then having it come down to the wire is what makes it exciting, and sometimes frustrating for competitors.
“What I like about J105 is it is a level playing field as we are all one design and you really have to rely on teamwork,” said Ken Bowden, who owns the J105 Knotless.
Whether in the Town Class featuring 13 boats or the traditional 110 and Lightings, there was a lot of focus on veteran tried and true teams this year, as the event does require a level of commitment from all.
“I think a lot of these fleets, like the Vipers or J70s and others, do a lot of traveling to get to regattas these days, but every sailing town should have that kind of event where everyone returns home to race. A lot of people did get out this week and had time to compete on a very level playing field. It is great to keep the traditions of a hometown regatta going,” said Dave Reed, regatta director and editor of Sailing World Magazine.
Reed added: “This event had a lot of highlights and the sailing was spectacular. I think because the event gives teams race consistently, through light and shifty air or stronger breezes like today, they really have to work for it and as an example, the Rhodes-19 hometown team of Charlie Pendleton and James Raisides, they were a team who wanted to come back to their home fleet and they really had to work hard for their win but I am glad they are back.”
This story was updated on July 29 to reflect Larry Ehrhardt and George Malcolmson on Rallie Rhodes 2435 finished second in the fleet.
