Rappahannock River Yacht Club Defends Rappahannock Cup
The Rappahannock Cup is the annual sailing championship of Rappahannock River, contested each year between Rappahannock River Yacht Club (RRYC) and Yankee Point Racing and Cruising Club (YPRCC.) Saturday, September 19, RRYC defended the Cup taking three of the first four finish places and winning the Cup 35-79!
As the defending club, RRYC supplied the Race Committee headed by PRO Brian McCauley. Eight boats, five from RRYC and three from YPRCC showed up for the three races held between the Norris Bridge and Towles Point on the Rappahannock River. With sustained NNE winds of 15-17 knots and gusts over 23 knots the conditions were exciting. The strong winds, with a long fetch coming out of the Corrotoman produced waves of over 2 feet allowing the boats to do a little surfing downwind. Smaller jibs were the order of the day to reduce heel and keep leeway to a minimum. Winds were also shifty with 30 degree oscillations.
Signal Boat operator George Kuper remarked that, “Boat handling was excellent by all sailors, especially Ian Ormesher and Judy Fay sailing their 35 foot Sloop Geleniea by themselves.”
In the first race, a once around windward-leeward(2.54 NM) race a few boats got bad starts due to sailing around before the start with their jibs down to save effort and getting them up late. PHRF Fleet Commander, Glenn Solt’s Freedom, an Alerion 28, (crew John Congdon and Buddy Spencer) had no such problem and got an excellent start. At the windward mark Hot Air, a J-24(crew Bill Decoste Jr, Ed Johnson, Lew Thatcher, Tom Chapman) tacked just ahead and inside Freedom and with both boats surfing waves on the downwind leg it was an exciting battle that Freedom won, rounding the leeward mark just ahead. Going upwind to the finish, Hot Air with a crew of four was able to hold the boat flatter, pointing higher and overtaking Freedom to finish first. The battle for second was close with Freedom edging out Warren Ryan’s Whistler(crew George Bott and Will Linne) by just 10 seconds on corrected time.
In the second race, a twice around windward-leeward race (5.08 NM) Arabella Denvir’s J-24 Trouble (with crew Dave Tabor and Carol Vaughan) got a good start and finished second to Hot Air, besting Freedom by one minute. Unfortunately, YPRCC’s opportunity to win the cup was hampered when Warren Ryan’s J-24 Whistler, while preparing to jibe was caught by a large wind shift that caused the boom to swing across the deck unexpectedly and hit one of the crew in the head during the second race. Exercising an abundance of caution Ryan headed for shore in case of a concussion but luckily the crew just had an annoying bump on his head.
The third race, an Olympic course of 5.72 NM, was a little tamer with the wind dropping a few knots but still gusting around 20 KTS and exhibiting the 30 degree shifts. YPRCC’s Silver Fox (Win Schwab and Ed Richardson) had their best showing with a third place finish. Win commented that, “it was a little too much wind for their Santana 20 to perform at their best but it was a great day of racing in any event.”
First overall was Hot Air, with Freedom second. Trouble beat out Silver Fox for third on a tie breaker. See Chart below for complete individual results.
At the awards ceremony on the porch of RRYC special thanks was given to the Race Committee that ran a flawless event. They were; on the Signal Boat, Wildfire, firs time PRO Brian McCauley, Tami McCauley(scoring), George Kuper, Lee Capps and Jim Harding. Bouncing around on the mark boat all day long were Greg and Susan Kirkbride, in good spirits when they arrived back at the club. Tami in her first time as a PHRF scorer had the results calculated when Wildfire reached the dock. Our volunteer race committee capability continues to grow!
Boat
|
Skipper
|
Club
|
Race 1
|
Race 2
|
Race 3
|
|
Total
|
Place
|
Hot Air
|
Tom Chapman
|
RRYC
|
1
|
1
|
1
|
|
3
|
1
|
Freedom
|
Glenn Solt
|
RRYC
|
2
|
3
|
2
|
|
7
|
2
|
Trouble
|
Arabella Denvir
|
RRYC
|
6
|
2
|
4
|
|
12
|
3
|
Silver Fox
|
Win Schwab
|
YPRCC
|
5
|
4
|
3
|
|
12
|
4
|
Irrational Exuberance
|
Jesse Swartz
|
RRYC
|
4
|
6
|
5
|
|
15
|
5
|
Geleniea
|
Ian Ormesher
|
RRYC
|
7
|
5
|
6
|
|
18
|
6
|
Whistler
|
Warren Ryan
|
YPRCC
|
3
|
8 DNF
|
8-DNS
|
|
19
|
7
|
Ariel
|
Warren Hottle
|
YPRCC
|
8
|
7
|
8-DNF
|
|
23
|
8
|