2004 Clark Cup Wild and Wet –NYRA Wins Team Award

It was a dark and stormy weekend. Blackbeard Sailing Club hosted the annual Clark Cup, which attracted 20 PHRF boats in three classes, 7 San Juan 21’s and several Sunfish. It was also an Inter-Club Racing Committee (ICRC) Team event. Thanks to BSC for a great job by the RC’s, for putting on a good dinner despite the rain, and for accommodating all the visiting boats.

The PHRF starts on the windward-leeward-windward river course were in 12-20 knot winds with light rain. In the performance jib and main class, the starts were very hotly contested with all eight boats hitting the line within a few seconds. Art Tierney (ODC) in his Bristol 35.5 Quixotic and Mark Brennesholtz (BSC) in Compass Rose corrected to the same second, but Art won the race by a fraction of a second! In the second race, Bill Jarvis (NYRA) in Piccolo had a perfect start at the pin end and stretched out on the windward leg. Toward the end of the race, the rain fell so hard that visibility dropped to less than a quarter mile, which made finding the leeward mark a little dicey. Piccolo held her time by two minutes corrected over Compass Rose. Quixotic was third. At the end of two races, Quixotic and Compass Rose were tied.

Sunday was drier but the wind started about 10 and built to 25 by mid-race. Several boats were overpowered and broaching was common. The JAM start was again really tight causing a general recall. During the start, Quixotic and Piccolo swapped some paint and Art was still securing his stern pulpit when we restarted. It didn’t seem to bother him, though. He corrected to finish one second behind Piccolo and 29 seconds in front of Compass Rose to take the class for the regatta.

Spinnaker boats had their own dramas. Seven highly competitive boats started race 1. Dick Johnson’s Blue Bayou (NYRA) edged Don Gray (NYRA) in Devil Dog by about a minute, and nemesis Blueprint by two minutes. Several boats reported running aground near Hampton Shoal. The water level was down about two feet due to strong south winds. At the start of the second race Saturday, Lee King’s Anytime (NYRA) put her anchor roller through the starboard quarter of Blue Bayou when a gust caused some broaching on the start line. Blue dropped out and Lee was DSQ’d. Devil Dog won this race by less than a minute over Tom McKnight’s NFN. Sunday, with five on the line, Devil Dog again won, this time by less than 30 seconds over Jay Hood’s Blueprint (NYRA). Don took the spinnaker class and the Clark Cup by having the best record in the biggest fleet.

The cruising class had five entries. Dave Whitney (BSC) in Silent Pursuit won the first race with Gary Bielejeski (BSC) second in Namaskar and Charles Slauter (ODC) third in Seagull. The second race was won by Charles, with Gary second and Dave third, so there was a three-way tie Saturday evening. On Sunday, only Charles and Dave came out, and Seagull edged Silent Pursuit by half a minute to take the class.

NYRA won the ICRC Team trophy for the first time with the top three finishes in Spinnaker, a second in JAM, and a second in the San Juan 21’s. Congratulations to team members Don Gray, Jay Hood, Tom McKnight, Bill Jarvis, and Jeff Thomas. This sets the stage for a highly competitive team competition at the August ICRC Team event in Oriental, where four teams expect to compete.

Oriental Dingy Club

Pamlico Sailing Club

Blackbeard Sailing Club