114th Race Week Features
US Olympic Team Sendoff
July 14-21, 2012
Larchmont, NY
Race Week has always had its share of talented sailors on the racecourse, but the 2012 edition may have been the largest gathering of Olympic sailors at LYC at any one time, as the first day of Race Week coincided with the farewell party for 16 U.S. Olympic sailors a day before they flew to London to compete at the Olympics. A large group of sailors was there to see them off, among the approximately 1125 sailors competing in 557 boats across 21 classes over the eight days of Race Week. READ MORE.
The 2012 United States Olympic Sailing Team, gathered on the lawn
of LYC just before flying to London. Photo courtesy Kelly Foster/
US SAILING
The U.S. Olympic Sailing Team was the guest of honor at “Good Luck USA Send-off presented by Maclaren. US Sailing’s Olympic Sailing Committee and the Junior Sailing Association of Long Island Sound hosted the event at LYC for over 1,000 sailors, fans, friends and family to send-off the Team they day before they left for the 2012 Olympic Games in London, England. Over 1,000 fans of the U.S. Sailing Team attended to wish the sailors well and meet the team, who signed autographs, posed for pictures and answered questions from the crowd. The party ended with a rousing cheer from the crowd of “USA! USA! USA!” and a precision drill formation from the Silver Dolphins from Naval Station Groton. Video of interviews with the U.S. Sailing Olympians at LYC.
Laser Radial Olympian Paige Railey signs autographs for a junior
sailor in the LYC Pandemonium.
Photo courtesy Kelly Foster/US SAILING
Senior Race Week - Racer/Cruiser
Race Week started off well on July 14, with three races completed in a building southwesterly for the 33 racer/cruisers entered. Sunday of the first weekend did not have enough wind to sail, but the second weekend allowed most divisions to complete four additional races. Paul Beaudin from Harlem YC won the J/105 division for the second straight year aboard LouLou along with the Charles Vanderlaan Trophy for top performance among cruising boats. LYC Commodore Carl Olsson and his team aboard Morning Glory won races two and four, and finished three points behind LouLou overall. Morning Glory won the Vincent Monte-Sano Memorial Trophy for top performance by an LYC boat in the cruising class. Huguenot YC’s Adam Loory returned to Race Week with a new Soulmates, a refitted Goetz 40, which won the final three races to come from behind and win the PHRF spinnaker division by a single point over LYC sailor Bud Heerde’s X-34 Maudelayne. Art Karpf of Huguenot YC won the PHRF non-spinnaker division in Snow Goose and Sheila and Ted Graves’s Alden Q-class Nor’easter won the classics division. Results.
The Classic boats come out to play for the second weekend of
Race Week. Photo by Howie McMichael
Senior One-Designs, Ideal 18s and Vanguard 15s
Once again the Vanguard 15 class was the largest one design division at Race Week, with 28 teams competing, a dozen of whom had former collegiate All Americans aboard. Danny Pletsch won the class for the second straight year, and the Anne Kathleen Cullen Trophy for the first time, which is awarded to the one-design yacht with the best performance in Race Week.
H.L. DeVore’s Mermaid won three of the six races to win the 14-boat Shields class despite a very strong showing from Neil Meyer, Justin Gibbons and Phillips Johnston aboard Sandpiper. Mermaid also won the Thomas Fitzsimons Trophy for first overall in the Shields class. Jay Rhame won the final two races in the eight-boat Viper 640 class to edge out David Owen’s Vicious Panda. The Joseph Weed Trophy for winning the five-boat IOD class went to Jim Bishop Jr. on Nefarious. The Marx Brothers won the seven-boat Etchells fleet and the Stanley King Turner perpetual award. Howard T. Howard and Bill Simmons were the only one design sailors to post a perfect scoreline to win the seven-boat S Boat Class. Kees van Meel and Dan Dobryn of Old Greenwich YC won the Ideal 18 division. Results.
The Shields fleet was the largest of the senior one design keelboats
in 2012. Photo by Howie McMichael
Junior Race Week
293 boats competed for the three days of Junior Race Week, which was marked by excellent winds all three days, with only a final day thunderstorm curtailing the racing, but still allowing for eight races overall. Russell Clarida from Pequot YC won the 99-boat Club 420 class for the second straight year, this time with crew Tristan Sess. Clarida and Sess won the Commodore’s Trophy for top overall performance at Junior Race Week and the William S. Luckett Memorial trophy, for top performance in junior high performance. Gerard Eastman from Seawanhaka Corinthian YC won the 99-boat Laser Radial division and the George Hills Trophy for top overall Laser performance. Gillian Boehsinger from American YC placed second overall in the Radial fleet and won the O’Donnell Trophy for the female junior sailor exemplifying sportsmanship and seamanship. Ethan Stark of American YC won the Laser Full Rig division. Anna-Luisa Brakman and Christine Fiore of Noroton YC won the 55-boat Pixel division and the Al Bamberger Trophy and Fiore won the Crew Prize for outstanding overall crew at Junior Race Week. Sophia Rogers and Haley Horn of Huguenot YC won the Blue Jay division.
Laser, 420, Pixel and Blue Jay Results
Good breezes in 2012 allowed for exciting trapezing conditions
for the Club 420 division
Opti Day
187 Optimists raced on Thursday in Opti Day, and solid breezes allowed them to complete three to five races per division. Emma Kaneti from Larchmont YC won the Le Boutillier Trophy for her three firsts in the blue fleet. Lizzy Kaplan of LYC took five bullets in the white fleet.
Long Island Sound Challenge Cup
A new event in 2011, LYC ran the second annual Long Island Sound Challenge Cup Team Race in Ideal 18s. Six teams: two from LYC and one each from Boston YC, New York YC, Noroton YC and Riverside YC competed for the century-old sterling silver trophy. LYC 1 went undefeated through the 15-race elimination series and semifinals versus LYC 2, and defeated New York YC 2-1 in the finals. Noroton YC finished third. John & Molly Baxter, Danny & Ronald Pletsch and Cardwell Potts and Kendra Emhiser sailed for Team LYC. Results.
The finals of the Long Island Sound Challenge Cup were held off the
dock of LYC, allowing for great spectating opportunities.
Photo by Tom Spelman
Special thanks to sponsors Mt. Gay Rum, LYC Member John Leboutillier for providing our main attraction - Ben & Jerry’s, and Good Humor for keeping competitors cool throughout the regatta.
