Last year, I took part in the 190 mile, 2008 Around Long Island Race. The course starts off Rockaway Point, NY, you then leave Montauk Point and the Orient Point Lighthouse to port, to the finish line off the Glen Cove Breakwater.
We had a blast but the conditions were so light that we did not finish. I did not take part this year as Knot Again was not racing. It sounds like a missed a lot of excitement. Last night I received this email from RYC Past Commodore, Vicky Jo Neiner in the daily club email blast:
The 2009 Around Long Island Regatta was started yesterday afternoon in some of the worst conditions in the event's history.
NJ was represented well. Some of the boats included:
RYC:
Sea Feather
Poppy
Quintessence
Beatnik
PersistenceKYC:
Desdemona
Healing PowerAHYC:
Surface Tension
Jade
Falcor
There were gale conditions at the start with 8-10' waves. The
direction was ENE at 30-40 knots which would make the sail to Montauk
directly upwind and into the waves. It was very difficult to make
decent VMG in those conditions. MANY boats decided to not even start,
and then saw speeds into the teen+ surfing home with reefed mains and
#4's.
Several of the boats who did actually start, quickly polled the crews
and called it quits. Horrible conditions, crew sea sick, and too much
water coming into the boats. Most of the fleet dropped out by night
fall.
As of 9:30 this morning, only 9 boats were left racing.
Zaraffa (NASS) rounded Montauk at 7:40 this morning, and a second boat, Tenacity, called in at Montauk just recently.
9 of the 10 NJ boats are confirmed DNS/DNF. There is not yet an
official report from Healing Power, (They deserve a survivor's award
if they braved the entire night)
I was concerned about the last bit as my crewmate Jeff Vrader was on Healing Power. As it turns out they retired too and were back on the mooring by 10 pm. It sounds like they made a go of it. Still that's along time in those conditions.
Remember the Woody Allen Rule.
http://propercourse.blogspot.com/2009/07/woody-allens-rule-for-sailing-success.html
You can’t win if you don’t finish. Sometimes you can win just by finishing.
and judging by this no one did http://www.yachtscoring.com/event_results_detail.cfm?Race_Number=1&eID=261
Wow! Notwithstanding the horrible conditions this year, I’d really like to participate in the ALIR. Adam, any chance you could help me get on a boat next year? Thanks.
Nobody finished? I’m surprised that nobody was stubborn enough to keep going just so he could say, “I won.”
Of course, Laser sailors don’t let a little old storm get in the way of a regatta … Funnel cloud? So what?
Yow! I did it in ’04, I think it was, and it was very different–before the start, another boat passed us and we saw that they had an anchor down, so we dropped ours and watched boats go past us backwards, spinnakers flying. They had to postpone the start for an hour for the wind to pick up enough so we could beat the current. Breeze didn’t really fill in decently until we got to Montauk–lots of rolling on the swell with the sails slatting. After that, it was great, though, and I’ll never forget looking back at the lighthouse in Plum Gut silhouetted against the rising full moon (as we just squeaked by before the tide turned).
The winds made for some great windsurfing, but I can imagine the full sail around Long Island would be tough.
Looks like we were premature. Adam’s link now shows that several boats finished including one who won her class as the only finisher.
Woody Allen Rules!!
Hmmm, the Long Island Race’s up-and-down wind years seem to prove my point…
On Average, the winds are perfect.
This is a race I’d love to try sometime.
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