Planning has already begun — we invite your input

Winter has finally arrived in Stamford so we figured there’s no better time than now to start planning for the 2010 running of the Vineyard Race.

We received a lot of great comments about the 2009 race, our 75th running of the event, so we’re hoping to build on that success and excitement.

The start will be September 3 so mark your calendar now.

We have a lot of ideas for this year but we’re always looking for your input. Any suggestions, comments, requests — vineyardinfo@stamfordyc.com.

More photos from the start

PhotoBoat has some great shots from Friday’s start off Stamford. Click here.

Rambler wins NORT

Congratulations to George David and crew on winning the 2009 Northern Ocean Racing Trophy. Rambler won the trophy this year by virtue of his performance in major distance races this past summer.

Ten boats, in addition to Rambler, were in the running for this year’s championship with six of them entered in the Vineyard Race, a required race in the series:  Tom Hill’s Titan 15, Tom Carroll’s SirenSong, Lenny Sitar’s Vamp, Steve Cain’s Shooting Star and Shaun & Patti Ensor’s Fearless.

Congratulations to perpetual trophy winners

2009 VINEYARD RACE (75^th running)

PERPETUAL TROPHIES

TROPHY	CATEGORY	Winner
The Buzzard Trophy	Best performance by a member of the Buzzard’s Society	Walt Alder
Nina	First boat to round Buzzard’s Bay Entrance Tower and finish in good standing	Not Awarded
Gillespie Memorial	Best corrected time on the Cornfield Point Course on the return from Red Bell 8	Flashpoint
Corinthian	Best corrected time by PHRF boat on the return from Buzzard’s Bay Entrance Tower	Not Awarded
Jig Time Performance	Best corrected time by an IRC boat on the return from Buzzard’s Bay Entrance Tower	Not Awarded
William Ziegler, Jr. Memorial	Best elapsed time in the PHRF spinnaker class	Fin II
De Coursey Fales	Best elapsed time in the IRC class	Rambler
Chanteyman	Best corrected time in the IRC Double-handed class	Paladin
Bill Luders	Best corrected time in the largest IRC class	Paladin
Bounding Home	Best corrected time by a vintage boat	Fin II
Nirvana Trophy	Best performance by a 3 boat team	No Winner
Cotton Blossom – Nina	Best elapsed time in the IRC Double-handed class	Threebeans
Cornfield Trophy	Best corrected time on the Cornfield Point Course	Flashpoint
Cotton Blossom Performance	Class winner with the best corrected time over the second and third place boats	Flashpoint
Dotty Lorentzen	Best corrected time by a boat in the PHRF spinnaker class	Fin II
New England Lighthouse Series	Top performing PHRF boat fulfilling NELS qualification requirements	Tenacity III
DHORT	Top performing DH IRC boat fulfilling DHORT qualification requirements	Paladin
Vineyard Lightship	Best corrected time in the IRC classes	Partnership
Northern Ocean Racing Trophy	Top performing IRC boat fulfilling NORT qualification requirements	Rambler
Chairmen’s Award	Discretionary award of appreciation given to volunteer for their contributions to the event	Diane McKeever

Photos from last night’s party and awards ceremony

We’ve just posted photos of all the winners from last night’s awards ceremony at Stamford Yacht Club. Click here. Thanks to all who made it such a great event and congratulations to all the winners. Thanks to Rick Bannerot for his hard work behind the camera.

Final update from Partnership

From a posting on Sailing Anarchy.

Well after 11 hours of sleep I can look back and say that this was perhaps the most fun of any race that I’ve ever done. Drifting and spinning in circles included.

What I said about the first person getting breeze being untouchable was spot on. The AmGirl, Orbit and Avalance went far out into the sound while we buried outselves deep in Black Rock harbor followed by Beagle. Then, a breeze filled in from the Northwest while we were eating dinner and we tacked up the harbor to keep in the breeze and shot out within touching distance of Penfield light. We basically ate up the distance between the two boats in a matter of 20 minutes and upon passing Sunken Island we popped the 1.5A and smoked down (relatively) at 7 knots to G1 from there. We knew that we owed Beagle about 9 minutes and we had to recoup that because when we got the wind the distance between us was no more than 100 yards. By the time we had reached G1 we had extended our lead on Beagle by about a minute. From here on out we knew we had corrected over Avalanche, Orbit and American Girl (American Bitch as my watch captain called them) and that we were in a drag race with Beagle for the next 9 miles. For anybody that has spent an hour and a half in a sprint trying to get seconds on another boat you know how it felt. To those who haven’t I will just say that it was the highest stress level point of the race for everyone. Being a lighter boat we would stop in momentary lulls and they would have momentum carrying them through it meaning that their bow lights got too close for comfort. Eventually something we did enabled us to put on the afterburners and leave them in the dust. We had our best douse of the race going around The Cows and our preliminary stopwatch timimg told us that we had them by 10 seconds. We crossed the line and stood holding our breath as they finished outside our thinking of how much we owed them.

We motored home in an excited mood getting more and more pumped as we passed AVRA, Rocket Science and Great Shoal an hour out. We got in at midnight and sadly our two teammates Alibi and Afterglow were already at the dock, apparently they succumbed to the race. Cleaning up the boat took an hour and sleep took a minute.

Congratulations to everybody out there and I’ll see you all at the party tonight.

Partnership wins Vineyard Trophy

Congratulations to Partnership, winner of this year’s Vineyard Trophy.

Vineyard Race wraps up; class winners announced

Paladin, winner of IRC doublehanded class, at Friday's start.

At 10:30 this morning the last boat in this year’s Vineyard Race crossed the line off Stamford Yacht Club marking the end of the 75th running of the race.

“By all accounts it was a big success,” said Charles Goodrich, co chair of the event with Richard Nugent. “Because this was such a special year we wanted to make this a special race and I think we did. The only thing left is tonight’s party on the lawn of the yacht club.”

Seventy six boats started the race Friday afternoon off Bell 32. Sixty five boats raced the longer Vineyard course while 11 sailed the shorter Cornfield Race.

The Vineyard course, which normally takes racers out to Buzzards Bay and back, was shortened this year due to the forecast of light winds. “We talked to a lot of competitors before the race and the consensus was that a shortened course was the way to go,” Goodrich said. “The number of boats that withdrew due to the lack of wind and the comments we received by those who finished I think show that the right decision was made.”

As of 10:30 this morning the following class winners were declared. (The rest will be decided this afternoon after protests are heard.)

Cornfield Point

PHRF (non spinnaker)

1. Amy Beth

2. Alviento

3. Sirius

PHRF (spinnaker)

Protest pending

Vineyard Race

IRC doublehanded

1. Padaldin (winner of the Doublehanded Ocean Racing Trophy)

2. Wave Dancer

3. Strider

IRC 30

1. Shooting Star

2. Tenacious

3. Zest

IRC 35

1. Loki

2. Galadriel

3. Paul Steinborn

IRC 40

Protests pending

IRC 45

1. Beagle

2. Avalanche

3. American Girl

IRC 50

1. Barleycorn

2. Orbit

3. Mustang

IRC 0

1. Vanquish

2. Rima2

3. Titan 15

PHRF

Protest pending

Don’t forget tonight’s party

A quick reminder that Stamford Yacht Club will be welcoming all sailors and Club members to tonight’s arrivals party and awards ceremony. Tickets ($5 in advance, $10 at the door) are available at the Club. This is a great chance to catch up with all your fellow racers. There will be a live band as well. We look forward to seeing you there. Thanks to Thomson Reuters, our presenting sponsor, who has made much of this weekend possible.

Vineyard Race winds down

Quest and Forza approach the finish line Sunday morning.

Only a few boats remain on the course this morning.

For latest results, click here.

For latest finish photos, click here.

Finally, don’t forget tonight’s arrival party and awards ceremony on the lawn of Stamford Yacht Club starting at 1800.