More than 50 boats win Newport Bermuda prizes
His Excellency, The Governor of Bermuda, George Fergusson did his duty Saturday night on the podium in front of Government House. The seasoned diplomat shook hands, shared awards and trophies, and posed for photos 114 times with skippers and crews of more than 50 yachts. Sharing duties with the Governor were Royal Bermuda Yacht Club Commodore Leatrice Oatley, Cruising Club of America Commodore Jim Binch, and the RBYC Vice-Commodore Jon Corless. The RBYC Honorary Secretary Andy Burnett-Herkes was Master of Ceremonies.
Warrior Won, an Xp41, skippered by Christopher Sheehan of Larchmont (NY) Yacht Club took the main prize, the St. David’s Lighthouse Trophy. This silver replica of the island’s landmark lighthouse is awarded to the boat in St. David’s Lighthouse Division with the best corrected time. This division was the largest in the fleet with 110 entries.
Shearwater won the Cruiser Division’s Carleton Mitchell Finisterre Trophy for first place on corrected time. She’s a Mason 43 sailed by Daniel Biemesderfer from Stonington Harbor Yacht Club.
Spirit of Bermuda won the Spirit of Tradition Division against three other competitors and was awarded the War Baby Trophy. The crew of 32 and friends of Spirit accepted the prize from the Governor.
Swift and Dorade win in 2018
Swift and Dorade won the two divisions of the Onion Patch Series, skippered by Paige Krumweide and Pam Rorke Levy, respectively.
Two divisions of boats sailed in the 2018 Onion Patch Series, with combination scoring based on results from the New York Yacht Club Annual Regatta, the Newport Bermuda Race, and the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club Anniversary Regatta. In the first division, the Traditional OPS Division, an extra windward-leeward race was sailed in Bermuda, but in both the Traditional OPS and in the Navigators Series, the final result was a victory for a boat with a woman skipper.
Paige Krumweide skippered Swift, a Navy 44 Mk 1 designed by McCurdy & Rhodes, to a dominant 2-1-1 result among the 9 boats in the traditional Onion Patch Series, far ahead of two other 44-footers, the Navy 44 Mk 2 Defiance, skippered by Matthew Signorelli, and the J/44 Kenai, skippered by Chris Lewis. Defiance edged out Kenai on the strength of a better finish in the Newport Bermuda Race, which is weighted at 1.25 times the results of the other two regattas. This was Kenai’s second straight OPS podium finish, however, as the J/44 finished in second place in 2016.
Pam Rorke Levy’s S&S 52, Dorade improved throughout the series, finishing with a 3-2-1 among the 7 boats in the Navigators Division. Kevin McLaughlin’s Crazy Horse, a J/V 50 that won the Navigator’s Division in 2016, took the lead at the Annual Regatta but fell out of the running in the light airs of the Newport Bermuda Race, which favored smaller boats. Jay Gowell’s Temptress, a Taylor 41, scored steadily throughout the series to take second place with a 2-3-3 ahead of Bob Manchester’s J/120 Vamoose, which finished 5-4-2.
Newport Bermuda awards 114 prizes
Dateline Newport RI: June 24, 2016— An international group of sailors and guests at the 2016 Newport Bermuda Race prize-giving will celebrate the final moments of a spectacular week after starting the 50th Thrash to the Onion Patch Friday, June 17 in Newport, RI. Of the 185 boats officially registered to race, 133 boats set out expecting be sorely tested by difficult conditions in the 635-mile Gulf stream crossing. Forecasters were wrong. 122 finished with just ten dropouts coming from equipment failures or just drifting conditions. The race actually turned out to be one of finest with a full moon and normal offshore sailing conditions.
His Excellency, The Governor of Bermuda, George Fergusson and the Commodores of the Cruising Club of America, Jim Binch, and of Commodore of Royal Bermuda Yacht Club, Leatrice Oatley, will present 114 prizes. Five are major Division trophies and the remainder are for class podium finishes and other awards. The ceremony is held on the grounds of Government House overlooking Bermuda’s North shore channel.
The yacht Warrior Won, an Xp41, skippered by Christopher Sheehan of Larchmont (NY) Yacht Club took the main prize, the St David’s Lighthouse Trophy. This silver replica of the islands landmark lighthouse is awarded to the boat in St. David’s Lighthouse Division that is first on handicap corrected time. This division was the largest in the fleet with 110 entries.
In the second largest division, the Cruiser Division, Shearwater wins the Carleton Mitchell Finisterre Trophy for first place on corrected time. She’s a Mason 43 sailed by Daniel Biemesderfer out of Stonington Harbor Yacht Club.