Sail For Hope 2003 Brad Read /Tony Bessinger 2003 Sail For Hope Results Beavertail showing it's nastiness to the fleet................Cory Silken Photo.
Thank you to all of the participants, Volunteers and Sponsors of this year's Sail For Hope. It is truely a unique event that has everything from A CTM 66 Blue Yankee, to a Laser II going around the Island. We raise a good bit of money at this event for our chosen charities and we at Sail Newport are proud to host it. This year we certainly had some interesting stories, including my own! It was a great test of our picket boat system around the Island that we were able to respond to any developing situations.
Special thanks go to those picket boats and to Kim Cooper who held it all together on our base station donated by Challenge Electronics: Thanks again to: Wink: Nancy Hood We're Here: Billy Black Nancy B.: Dick Allphin Tunk: Jim Marshall and Cory Silken Vim: Chris Barlow and Ryan Miller Dan Davis Naiad Boats: Steve Connett Brad Beebe Special Thanks to: The Crew of Odraccas that stopped for 4 minutes. When they asked for 4 minutes for stopping, We gave them 6! The Crew of Cygnet that stopped to help for 3 minutes. When they asked for 3 minutes for stopping we gave them 5! The Crew of Celerity that stopped in the West Passage to help out the Cats that pitchpoled and decided to stay with them. You all are heros! All of the folks from the Jamestown Fire and Rescue and the US Coast Guard.
J/46 helmed by Jeff J launches off of a big one! J/24 gets pinned down after a tack Billy Black Photos.
Thanks again to all of our sponsors: Brewer Yacht Yard, IYAC, IYRS, Zelda's, Bud Light, Mt Gay Rum, Cory Silken Photography, Sail Newport, Mac Designs, Crystal Spring Water and Billy Black Photography. While we all have stories to tell about the race, let's remember why we do this race.........lest we forget.
Initial Fundraising #s: Jamie Boeckel Fund: $9720!! Red Cross RI Disaster Relief Fund: 5015!! Newport Harbormaster Fund: $3750!!
LaserII helmed by Avram Dorfman makes it around the Island.......Rumours Rounds Beavertail Billy Black Photos.
It would be easy for someone who didnıt know the players, the event, and the area, to think of the third annual Sail for Hope regatta as a bit of a carnage fest. After all, two boats were dismasted and a 110 class sloop ended up on the bottom after 30-knot breezes blasted the 98-boat fleet near the end of the . But thanks to great management by Sail Newport, a heads-up race committee, and a web of safety vessels, no one was hurt, most everybodyhad a hell of a good time, and over 20,000 dollars was raised for local Rhode Island charities, and for the Jamie Boeckel Memorial Safety at Sea Fund.
Created three years ago in the direct aftermath of the 9/11 attacks and originally named Sail for Pride, Sail for Hope is a popular end-of-season celebration and fundraiser. Boat owners put off hauling, professional and amateur crewmembers donate time and money, and everybody gets one last sail around Rhode Islandıs Conanicut Island as well as a bash at the International Yacht Restoration School after racing.
This yearıs Sail for HOPE race began with a downwind start, with racers heading north under the Newport Bridge. The smaller, slower boats started first, with some rounding the northern end of Conanicut Island, three miles away, before the big boats and fast multis even started nearly fifty minutes later. Rain squalls, with brief blasts of wind up to 22 knots, made for a quick run up the Bay for most. The beat down the West Passage of the Bay saw the bulk of the fleet head west for the mainland shore to get out of tidal current, and to pick up a strong right-hand shift. By the time the big boats and multis rounded the mark southwest of Conanicutıs Beavertail Point, thewind had piped up to 30 knots, which made for tough going for the rest of the fleet. Billy Black Photo.
First to suffer a breakdown was Caliente, a Formula 40 cat that had a headboard pull out of the main. Then Tom Richıs Settler, a Peterson 42, suffered what looked like a headstay failure that caused the top of their rig to crumple. Then, a multihull that was sailing as an unofficial entrant, pitchpoled, launching a crewmember so far away from the boat that he decided to swim for the beach at Beavertail rather than swim back to his faraway ride. Next to suffer was the 110, which swamped near the Beavertail buoy. Multihull blasts their way up the West Side of Beavertail......Cory Silken Photo.
Shortly after rounding the mark and setting the kite, a Melges 24 driven by Sail Newportıs Brad Read, snapped its backstay and dropped its rig. "We bore off, set the spinnaker, and immediately planed off," said Read. "We must have been going in the low to mid-20s and having the ride of our lives when we heard a sharp report. The backstay broke two feet from the top of the rig, the weather spreader crumpled like a piece of cellophane, and the rig broke 4 feet up from the gooseneck. A boat next to us said that we were still fully planing when the tip of the mast hit the water." Our fearless leader Brad Read and Team "It seemed like a good idea at the time" ....Billy Black Photo. Read gives great credit to Sail Newportıs Regatta Director, Kim Cooper, for keeping a cool head and coordinating the fleet of rescue boats spotted around Conanicut Island for the event. Talking with racers, the Coast Guard, and a fire/rescue boat from Jamestown on the VHF radio, Cooper made sure that all who needed assistance were helped and that all sailors were accounted for.
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Sail Newport 20th Anniversary Celebration
Newport Regatta 2003
Sail For Hope 2003
