Alarmist Tropical Storm Hanna Forecast Keeps Two-Thirds Of Fleet In Port
By STEVE & JANET CHALMERS Friday, September 12, 2008 Quissett Yacht Club held it 56th Annual Round the Bay Race on Saturday, Sept. 6, the day Tropical Storm Hanna was forecast to sweep across Buzzards Bay. When the mailing goes out in August we hope there won’t be any hurricanes around in early September. The closer we get to the Saturday after Labor Day, the more we hope. This year it did not work out all that well. Twenty-seven intrepid boats registered for the Round the Bay Race, down from 34 last year. It blew hard last year, causing some boats to reconsider. Twenty-five started that race.
Bay Bea and Kinship approach Centerboard Shoal buoy off Marion in sixth and seventh place. Tom Selforff sailed Kinship to his third Quissett Round the Bay Race victory in a row. Photo by Janet Chalmers.
This year we saw the consequences of a bad forecast. The National Weather Service correctly predicted moderate winds during the day with a tropical storm moving through late Saturday night, but another popular source was much more alarmist. Result: only nine boats showed up. Some willing skippers had actually let their crews vote on whether to race and been overruled! The nine brave boats spanned the entire entry, from rabbit to scratch boat. The starting line was never crowded. This is a pursuit race with the slowest boat starting first and the fastest last. In theory, if the handicaps are correct and the boats are sailed equally well, they should all finish together. After the rabbit went off at noon there was a 43 minute gap, then smaller gaps until the scratch boat started at 1:14. This year all of the starters were entered in the racing class. The Race Committee had seldom needed to set a course for a south wind, but had one ready, just in case. The course was a broad reach to Nyes Ledge, off Mattapoisett, then a short run to Centerboard Shoal, off Marion, and a beat back to the finish, 16 nautical miles in all. Shadowfax, the perennial rabbit, made the most of its 43 minute lead and was first around the two marks, but they could hear the thunder of hoofbeats as the bigger boats gained. As they approached the finish Kinship, which would have been the 24th starter but actually was the eighth, had passed all the slower boats and kept ahead of Avatar, the only boat to start after her. This was Kinship’s third win in a row. The rabbit, Shadowfax, sailed by Sandy Williams, won the Harbor Challange trophy as the first Quissett boat to finish.
The combination of a reasonable breeze and the short course had all the boats finishing before four o’clock, which gave then plenty of time to get home to secure for the blow overnight. The racers enjoyed themselves despite a couple of intense fresh-water rinses. Many thanks to Darryl Buckingham for once again providing his Mulberry Canyon as race committee boat. Joining us and Darryl on the race committee crew were David Burt and Dwight, Ginny and Ronald Williams.
Cutline: Bay Bea and Kinship approach Centerboard Shoal buoy off Marion in sixth and seventh place. Tom Selforff sailed Kinship to his third Quissett Round the Bay Race victory in a row. Photo by Janet Chalmers.
Quissett Yacht Club 56th Annual Round the Bay Race, Sept. 6, 2008 16 nm course, marks EG
Finish
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 1R 2R 3R 4R 5R 6R 7R 1Q 8R
Boat
Kinship Gut Feeling Avatar Bay Bea Aerion Constellation Shadowfax Whipped X-Dimension Shadowfax Evelyn E. Horizon Sea Hawk Nightwind Waltzing Matilda Water Wolf Arbella Beowulf Jazz Fusion Eider Down Wildflower Mirage Synergy Ursus Maritimus Blue Pigeon Too Blue Moon Dejavu
Type
Tom Selldorff Ted Herlihy Al Fougere Steve Ruel George Nelson Steve Woodworth Albert Williams Mass Maritime David Collins Bradford Butman Jack Costello John Flood Fred Kern Tom Bowler Bill Veno Edward Lobo Bill Saltonstall Mass Maritime Richard Leblanc Bruce Robinson Ron Noonan Mass Maritime Thomas McKenna Jim Masiero Marvin Gordon Marian Thornton Mass Maritime
PHRF
33 69 -9 63 87 72 267 105 87 183 177 162 153 147 141 138 135 111 90 90 87 78 63 51 45 30 -6
Skipper
Baltic 52 J-109 J-160 C&C 37R Quest 33 C&C 115 Holiday 30 Jon Meri 40 C&C 43 J-28 Sabre 34 Mk 1 Pearson 10 M Gulfstar 44 Sabre Mk ll J-30 Pearson Flyer J-30 J-29 J-105 Morris/Robinson 51 Sabre 402 C&C 39 First 40.7 J-120 Swan 53 Farr 395 Taylor 43
Yacht Club
New Bedford New Bedford Mattapoisett New Bedford Beverly Quissett MMA Beverly Mattapoisett Mattapoisett Blue Water Beverly Red Brook Low Tide Beverly MMA Mattapoisett Beverly MMA New Bedford SAYC Beverly Quissett MMA 3:20:05 3:25:30 3:28:56 3:32:38 3:32:52 3:35:38 3:48:08 3:58:29 DNF DNC DNC DNC DNC DNC DNC DNC DNC DNC DNC DNC DNC DNC DNC DNC DNC DNC DNC