Race Committee work was outstanding. Thanks to event organizer John McLeod, PRO Sandy Grosvenor and the Eastport Yacht Club for organizing and running another terrific event.
Despite having won Star Wars twice before, Team 505 could not have been considered a favorite for this event. The Amthor brothers, though they used to race J24s, had not stepped foot on a J24 since Star Wars last year. Les Crane had never raced a J24 before, and had only sailed on one once. Doug Dereu did foredeck for the first time. Other Star Wars competitors included the top Mumm 30 team on the Bay, the top J22 team on the Bay, the top ranked Star team on the Bay, and two of the top J24 teams (past winners are automatically included, along with the current year's high point champion in that class), and a number of other top teams from a range of one design and cruising classes. The Amthor brothers qualified for this Star Wars both as past winners, and as 1998 CBYRA High Point Champions in the International 505 Class.
Despite these handicaps, driver Henry Amthor noted that Team 505 crew work was excellent, saying, "505 people can sail anything!" Team 505 survived serious hunting while leading a race, when a starboard tacker went head to wind in an effort to claim a foul, could not hit them, tacked and then claimed a foul anyway (for a 505 class discussion on hunting see URL: http://www.int505.org/98hunting.htm). A nearby competitor witnessed this incident but declined to witness for Team 505, saying, "We had to take a penalty in the previous race …". This forced Team 505 to do a 720 turn to ensure they would not be DSQ'd, dropping them from 1st to 7th in that race. Another 7th place (after winning the first two races) left them behind overall going into the final race. Team 505 went for it in the last race, working there way through the fleet passing the last J24 in front of them at the final hoist - Team 505 gybed inside - to win the last race.
The apparent winner of the event as the fleet sailed in was Team Mumm 30, but they had flown an I flag rather than take a 720 turn for a foul in race four, (the SI did not include provision for an I flag penalty), and ultimately retired from that race when they were protested by two other teams for not doing the required 720 turn. This gave the win to Team 505.
Once again Cecy Castruccio generously provided her J24, along with her best set of Quantum sails, for Team 505.
"The PRO's compliments to the whole fleet for their starts", said PRO Sandy Grosvenor. "Only one start had any individual recalls, but every start had well over half the fleet right there ... pretty to watch."
Grosvenor described the conditions in detail. "The wind started puffy, about due north, 12-20 averaging about 15knots. The RC flew the "Genoas are banned" flag for the first two races, then dropped it as the average breeze got down to 12 and they stopped seeing puffs over 15... then the northerly fought with a ENE breeze for most of race 3. The RC was in sequence for the start of race 4 when the ENE clearly and decisively won out, so we postponed and re-set up on the ENE (060) and the last two races were real pretty 8-10 knots average breeze, sunny, mid 60s. A real pleasure after freezing our derrieres off for the last couple of years."
From an interview with Henry Amthor and comments from PRO Sandy Grosvenor.
Complete Results, from the Eastport Yacht Club web site.
Coverage from Spinsheet Magazine