Thirteen teams assembled on the “Old Grey Lady” of Nantucket for the 20th IOD invitational regatta on June 23, 2017. They represented Chester, San Francisco, Fishers Island, Gibson Island, MD, Manhattan Yacht Club, Marblehead and Northeast Harbor, joining six teams from Nantucket including one from the Nantucket High School.

Our arrival coincided with the remains of tropical storm Cindy making for stiff winds on Friday and Saturday. Unhappily one mast was lost in a collision in Friday’s second race. Saturday’s start was delayed until after noon and while the skies cleared of clouds there was no drop in the winds. Two races were sailed under the Y flag—no spinnakers. By Sunday, the situation had reversed and the wind was almost too light.

Six good races were sailed and each was one by a different team. Chester, Great Harbor (Nantucket), San Francisco in a light air race, Fishers Island, and two Nantucket regulars, Constable and McCausland.

At the end of the day, Sunday, the top place went to Ted Murphy from Chester on a tie-breaker with Richard Werdiger (Great Harbor) 12 points each. Murphy scored two seconds to Werdiger’s one. Third place went to Paul Manning from San Francisco with 14 points. He won the last race with a frantic tacking duel against Charlie VanVoorhis who wound up in fourth with 17 points.  (Shown is the winning team from Chester, NS. “I never before sailed with both my boyfriend and my mother.”)