This year, just for the sake of charity and fun, I decided to enter my Laser 2 in the 3rd annual Sail For Hope charity regatta in Newport, RI. This is a 26 mile
race around Jaomestown, RI which is located on Conanicut Island, at the southern end of Narragansett Bay. I was fortunate enough to recruit former Laser 2 World Champion crew Ryan Donahue as my crew for the event.It is a good thing I had such an experienced crew, because it turned out to be a hell of a day. With winds gusting to 35 knots, and seas on RI Sound passing 15 feet in height, the regatta saw numerous ocean-worthy keelboats requiring rescue. This included two dismasting, and a swamping resulting in an utter destruction. For us to attempt this in a 170 lb trapeze dinghy was a major undertaking.
We survived unscathed, and received major recognition for this accomplishment from Sail Newport. Our picture was on the front page at www.sailnewport.org (archived), and our boat was mentioned, and several pictures included, in the regatta report by Sail Newport director Brad Read.
We are also fortunate that photographer Cory Silken found us interesting enough to take several more excellent pictures of us.