Racing

VulcanSpirit
Richard & Alison Brunstrom
Sun 19 Jun 2011 02:26
Newport is the sailing capital of the USA and is located on beautiful Narrangansett Bay, a huge area of protected water absolutely ideal for sailing. And they do a lot of it - I counted 57 Optimists out the other day. The town, home of the New York Yacht Club and therefore the Americas Cup until Dennis Connor lost it to New Zealansd, is currently hosting the first regatta for J Class yachts since 1937 (when they were competing for the Americas Cup). Only a few J Class boats were ever built but they are experiencing a bit of a renaissance at present. Only two boats, Velsheda and Ranger, are racing here (unhappily a third had to withdraw at the last moment due to rig problems. These boats are big; Velsheda is 39m long and weighs 140 tonnes. Her permanent crew of eight grows to over forty when racing.
Here is a shot today of her deck near the mast (running rigging stripped of and washed between races, so the deck looks very clean); note the rows of giant powered winches.
 
 
And here she is under sail in the second race, with Ranger in the background. Just look at all those people on deck:
 
 
And here are a couple of shots of them under spinnaker, both of which really show their huge size - just look at the sails towering over the land in the first shot, and over the ants on deck in the second:
 
 
 
The regatta has not been close. Velsheda, sailing under a British flag, lost the first race by one second, but has been beaten more convincingly in the three subsequent races (Ranger has had better starting tactics in all races, absolutely crucial in sailin). The final race is tomorrow.