Two divisions of sailboats competed on Bermuda's Great Sound on Friday in the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club's Anniversary Regatta.
Eighteen competitors from the Newport Bermuda Race took part in the RBYC's Anniversary Regatta on Friday, with eight boats sailing a two-race series beginning with an around-the-buoys course. Another 10 boats joined the event in the afternoon when both divisions sailed a longer race that ended with a finish in Hamilton Harbour in front of the club docks.
Zoe II, a Beneteau First 40, skippered by Francois Brassard of the Quebec Yacht Club, won both races in the first division. First to finish in both races in the first division was the 50-foot Wahoo, representing the Naval Academy Sailing Squadron and skippered by Viktor Turner, but on corrected time, they finished well back in the pack. In second behind Zoe II was Swift, another Naval Academy boat skippered by Paige Krumwiede. Third went to Apollo, a new J/121 owned by Donald Nicholson.
In the single second-division race, the featured match-up was between the 88-year-old Sparkman & Stephens yawl Dorade, a 52-footer, and the 80-year-old S&S yawl Black Watch, a 68-f00ter. The pair hit the starting line in tandem and sailed beautifully, putting on a good demonstration for all the modern boats in the class, finishing first and second on corrected time. In the end, the longer, newer boat, skippered by John Melvin and Trevor Fetter finished far enough ahead to take the win over the shorter, older boat, skippered by Pam Rorke Levy and Matt Brooks.
It was a beautiful sailing day with 12 to 18 knots of wind from the southwest, and even before the start there was some great and surprising action. Our media team's Nic Douglass - Adventures of a Sailor Girl was on the water filming when the J/44 Kenai did a practice spinnaker set and to the surprise of one female member of the crew, there was a special message emblazoned across the chute! Watch this video recorded live, plus more race starts and the prize-giving.
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