News

August 17, 2006

NEWPORT, RI (Aug. 16, 2006) – Thirteen boats will rise to the overnight racing challenge posed by the second biennial Ida Lewis Distance Race, which starts Friday, August 18. Split into PHRF and IRC handicap divisions, the fleet will start at 3 p.m. off Fort Adams, with the IRC group sailing the longest of two courses (The Shinnecock at 245 nautical miles) and the PHRF group taking on the shortest (The Montauk at 175 nm). Both courses travel the coastal waters of Block Island Sound and Rhode Island Sound – with way points off Brenton, Sachuest and Montauk Points, No Man’s Land and Buzzards Bay Tower – and end up back in Newport, with their finish lines set off the historic Lime Rock location of the Ida Lewis Yacht Club in Newport Harbor. An audience of friends and families will join Ida Lewis members at the clubhouse on Saturday, August 19, to cheer on the fleet’s first finishers expected early that evening.

Among the Newport entrants are Hap Fauth, skippering his 66-foot Judel/Vrolik design Bella Mente with Peter Stalkus as tactician; returning competitor John Brim, skippering his Farr 60 Rima with Ed Cesare as tactician; Tim Woodhouse, skippering his Thompson 35 Rumours with Mark Nannini as tactician; Tom Rich, skippering his Peterson 42 Settler with Geoff Pryor as tactician; and Doug Mitchell, skippering his Reichel/Pugh 31 The Cone of Silence with Richard Feeny as tactician.

Tom Rich, who recently one the PHRF overall prize at the New York Yacht Club’s Race Week at Newport, will again sail PHRF with his two teenage daughters aboard and several of their friends. “As far as I know, seven of our nine crew have never sailed at night,” said Rich, “so that will be exciting for them.”

Familiar to these waters but hailing from Puerto Rico is Tom Hill, who will skipper his Reichel/Pugh 75 Titan 12 in the IRC division. Titan took line honors in the inaugural Ida Lewis Distance Race held in 2004 and won the PHRF division. However, according to the boat’s captain and trimmer Scotty Bradford, this time it will be tough to beat another out-of-town entrant – the Reichel/Pugh 66 Stark Raving Mad – boat-for-boat.

“Even though we’re bigger, that boat is proving really fast, and it’s hard to top their canting-keel technology,” said Bradford. Stark Raving Mad, which is owned and skippered by Jim Madden of Newport Beach, Calif., is a new boat and was brought to the East Coast this year to participate in several races. Titan matched up with the boat at the New York Yacht Club Annual Regatta and fell third to its second-place finish, while Bob Towse’s (Stamford, Conn.) Reichel/Pugh 66 Blue Yankee won. (Blue Yankee, sailing with tactician Chris Larson from Annapolis, Md., is also signed up for the Ida Lewis Race; it won the inaugural event in IMS division, which has been replaced by IRC.)

“This will be our farewell race,” said Madden, explaining that the boat will go on a truck back to California following this event. “We’re sailing with 14 instead of our usual 16, since it isn’t around-the-buoys racing.” Serving as tactician for Madden is Tim Lynch of Bermuda, and among the mostly-Californian crew are Newporters Mick Harvey, Aubie van Buren and Dave Dussett.

Bradford says his boat will be crewed by many of its usual race crew, such as tactician Mike Toppa and navigator Arthur Means, but also will bring aboard some new young blood for this race. “It’s a good opportunity to do that,” said Bradford. “We enjoyed the race last time. It was a breezy beat to Long Island, a little bumpy during the night, and then by dawn it had gone to light air. It’s a nice mix of conditions and current.”

Also joining the fleet from out-of-town is Boston’s Ronald O’Hanley, skippering his Swan 48 Privateer; New Orleans’ Stephen Murray, skippering his TP52 Decision with Andy Lovell as tactician; Franklin, Mass. sailor Daniel Heun aboard his J/105 Liquid Courage, with Greg Pitner serving as tactician and Ron Borgogni steering; and Boston’s Robert Laska, skippering his First 36.7 Relentless. (Privateer and Relentless both competed in the inaugural Ida Lewis Distance Race.)

All shoreside activities surrounding the event will be held at Ida Lewis Yacht Club, the lighthouse on Lime Rock where its infamous female namesake-a lighthouse keeper there from the mid-1800s to early 1900s-saved at least as many lives as are stars on the club’s burgee (18).

The Ida Lewis Distance Race is sponsored at the silver level by Prestige Motors; at the bronze level by the Rhode Island State Yachting Committee and Churchill Yacht Partners; and at the “starting line” level by New England Boatworks, New England Ropes and North Sails. Other contributors to the event are J Boats and Harken.

The race is one of the qualifying events for the New England Lighthouse Series (PHRF) and Northern Ocean Racing Trophy (IRC).

For more information, visit http://www.ildistancerace.org.
For information on the Finish Line Party, contact Ida Lewis Yacht Club at 401-846-1969.