The Twenty Hundred Club opened their season on Saturday May 22 with the second annual Bridge Fiasco Race. The rules are simple: start the race just south of Prudence Island and sail under each of the three bay bridges in any order: the Newport Bridge, the Jamestown Bridge, and the Mt. Hope bridge. The race is 27.8nm long. The format of the race is pursuit style which means your handicap is taken at the start of the race. The highest rated boat, Moon Shadow (an O’Day 30) sailed by Aaron Lathrop, started at 9:05 and the lowest rated boat, Gamecock (a Melges IC37) sailed by Peter McClennan, started at 10:48.

There were 18 boats that competed in three classes. There were thirteen spinnaker boats (in two classes) and 5 cruising class boats. This was down slightly from last year (21 boats) which was likely caused by moving the race two weeks earlier into late May and many boats were not yet in the water. The Jamestown mooring field was mostly empty.

The forecast was ominous for being able to complete the race – the high wind of the day was 11 knots at noon and dropping to 8 by midafternoon. Low tide was at 10:35 which meant most racers would choose either the Newport or Jamestown Bridges first. The 27 nautical miles race, with generally north-south routes, means 13 nautical miles of downwind sailing (with following currents) and 13 miles of tacking upwind against some very strong currents. Having to tack for half the race means the boats sailed about 40 nautical miles. As fortune would have it, right around 9:30 the wind picked up to 12-16 knots for the remainder of the day.

The fleet was equally split between Jamestown and Newport as the first bridge. All boats were able to enjoy a long downwind sail to the Mt Hope Bridge. As the fleet approached Mt Hope there was a sudden and dramatic wind shift that caused emergency take downs of the spinnakers. Tim Grimes, who sailed Zephyros to victory in Spinnaker A, said “The day was all about hiding from the current as much as possible and minimizing maneuvers.”  

Overall the race was a great start to the 2021 season for the first of the club’s 6 races this summer. For more information on their schedule and how to join, visit twentyhundredclub.org/race-page.

Nick Bowen is the Commodore of the Twenty Hundred Club and races his Lyman-Morse e33 on Narragansett Bay. He can be reached at commodore@twentyhundredclub.org.

Results:

Spinnaker A Class (PHRF <= 92)

1. Mischief, David Schwartz
2. Gamecock, Peter McClennan
3. Amadeus V, Jay Turchetta
4. Alliance, Eric Irwin
5. Vento Solare. Bill Kneller
6. Bully Circus, Buster Pike
7. Heat Wave, Jim Archer

Spinnaker B Class (PHRF > 92)

1. Zephyros, Timothy Grimes
2. Blitz, Chris Tate
3. Epiphany, Nick & Wendy Bowen
4. Spirit, EC Helme
5. Party Tree Racing, Michael Filimon
6. Dog Watch, Raymond Way

Cruising Class

1. Magoo, Bobbie Marelli
2. Serendipity, Gary Venable
3. Pegasus, Scott Walker
4. Cetacean, Peter Maloney
5. Moon Shadow, Aaron Lathrop