Boat Den

New York Classic Week 2010

Last Friday I sailed onboard Blackwatch (design #218) in the Verrazano Bridge Race. It was very wet! Rainy and windy, we experienced the tail end of the tropical storm that had pounded New York throughout the night.

We spent the day chasing two 12-meter racing yachts around the race course, both S&S designs. Northern Light, (design #239, classic 12-meter, built in 1938) and America II (design #2500, modern 12-meter built in 1984). Northern Light is the boat with the tan sails above and America II is the boat with MOET written on the main sail.

By the time we got down to the leeward mark at the bridge we were seeing gusts of 30 knots. It never ceases to amaze me how much punishment these old classic yachts can take. After rounding the mark we tacked away from the 12s and experienced a terrible override on a primary winch. This locked the sheet with the genoa at centerline or a bit to windward and there was not a lot we could do. The helm was unresponsive and the boat was well heeled with water up over the side deck. A crew member finally cut the sheet and the sail tacked and the boat came back on her feet and off we went.


Here we are back at the dock after racing.